Does anyone play the lottery? I usually only buy a Mega Millions here and there but I played pick 3 yesterday because the one play is just 50 cents and I ended up winning $250. 

I only play Mega Millions or Powerball when they get up over $200M.  I think the most I've ever won was $10.

I’m way to cheap. But I used to throw in a couple bucks when a group at work would buy a bunch

I do the Bundle Play twice a week. 

For $5 you get Lucky For Life, Mega Millions and Powerball, which is a $1 savings. 

I've won a few dollars here and there, with my largest win of $25 on Lucky For Life. I have a lot of fun with it, though. 

I rarely play mega or powerball but I do buy scratch off tickets pretty often.

My father-in-law will give us scratch off ones for Christmas every year. Usually the ones that cost $20, too. When we inevitably end up winning nothing I wish he'd just give us the cash instead. 

5 bucks a weeks on "Lucky for Life" as part of a group at work. The group is big enough that we have every number covered at least once so we're guaranteed to "win" a minimum of $4 per draw. Usually hit for $13 to $40. The most was $166. The kitty gets spent on Powerball, mega millions, or scratch offs. 

I never heard of Lucky for Life.  Payout kind of sucks given the odds.  It's about 10X more "winnable" than Powerball, who's prize starts at $40M(?) and increases without a winner.   

versus $260k a year for life.....does that have an average present value of even $10M?  Just doesn't seem "rich" for hitting a 1 in 30M chance.  I don't know, would rather save my money and dump it into Powerball/MM when those jackpots get over $200M.

Dad used to do $10 a week. $5 on Wed and $5 on Sat...back then the pot was anywhere from $1,000,000 to typically not more than $6,000,000. 2x he hit 5 of the 6 numbers and won $1600 and $2200. The one time the pot was $4 million and he hit 5 of the 6 and had a #6 instead of the #8 as the only miss. Also during that 15 year span of playing the store that always sold him his ticket had a $6 million dollar winner that was unclaimed and after a few days the rumor got to be it was him and when I got home we had 21 messages on our answering machine and I couldn’t get ahold of him (he was golfing)...when he got home he broke the news he didn’t play that day 🙁....the Veterinarian who live up the road had won.

^^^^^^ Quite possibly your best story ever. 

posted by BRF

^^^^^^ Quite possibly your best story ever. 

I like my Griffey on Father’s Day story better

Will play Powerball & MM when they get up really high. Used to play scratch off's years ago. Most I won was $500 (twice). My sister has won 10k (twice) but not sure what game she was playing.

The Lottery is for poor people. /Sleeper'd

I currently participate in the $5 weekly drawing at our local Eagles.  It's up to $10k.  If/when someone wins it, I'll opt out until the pot grows again.

Anyone participate in the Queen of Hearts drawings?

I went to the one in Ansonia at The Whistle stop the last 2 drawings last fall.

They were up to $725,000 for the final drawing last fall.

It.

Was.

Insane.

Town has like 2,000 people and they estimated 25,000 showed up that last night.

They also raised tens and tens of thousands of dollars for local charities as well with the 50/50's and other things.   

Also, they did a draw down each week until it ended so many nights 75-120 people would win $2,000 with that draw down.

I know it stared with 144K a few weeks ago..not sure if it went out yet.

I tend to view the lottery as a tax on the ignorant.  Not a fan/player. 

posted by QuakerOats

I tend to view the lottery as a tax on the ignorant.  Not a fan/player. 

You sure?

I am also in the group that thinks of the lottery as tax on the poor or people who are bad at math. But I still play too much... lol

I'm also a fan of lucky for life. I win small amounts frequently and the cash payout for the grand prize is I think 5.9 million. I could retire on that pretty easy. 

I just won $150 on Lucky For Life. 

I play $20.00 a week if I remember to play ....I play it because I can and I dont care about losing $20.00  ... biggest win was $750.00 

I've played a couple times when I've heard it's in the "hundreds of millions" zone, but not often. I don't really pay attention to the lottery enough to know how big the jackpot is unless a lot of people are talking about it.

I actually just usually play the regular Ohio Classic Lotto. The odds are way better than MM or PB, and I figure I can get by just fine on $3.5 million instead of 500 million. 

posted by fish82

I actually just usually play the regular Ohio Classic Lotto. The odds are way better than MM or PB, and I figure I can get by just fine on $3.5 million instead of 500 million. 

You're not wrong about the odds, but the odds of winning the classic lottery are about 1 in 14 million. The odds of getting the $1 million second prize in mm or pb are about 1 in 13 million, so still not a bad amount. You can also play the power play or megaplier and second prize is at least $2 million. So if you're ok with the odds those aren't bad choices. (It's still a tax on the poor) 

I won $4 off Friday's drawing.  I'll more than likely win the jackpot tonight.  

posted by ernest_t_bass

I won $4 off Friday's drawing.  I'll more than likely win the jackpot tonight.  

If you do, would you consider underwriting this site so Justin can keep it going?

yes