# A time traveller couldn't win the lottery, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 28, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-traveller-couldnt-win-the-lottery-right/761079 "2016-07-28T01:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-traveller-couldnt-win-the-lottery-right/761079/81 "2016-08-02T03:37:16Z")
Go to 1939 with 1 buck. Buy 10 Action #1’s. They go for a couple a million each. Even if you are worried about paper ageing, just buy a bunch of Walking Dead #1’s. Less than a decade old. In mint condition, $3.00 investment becomes thousands. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-traveller-couldnt-win-the-lottery-right/761079/82 "2016-08-02T03:37:36Z")
We know it’s possible for the time traveler to successfully win the lottery, as clearly it’s been done. There are people who won the lottery multiple times, defying odds of billions to one. At that point, time travel is a more likely explanation than happenstance (though rigging the lottery is an even likelier explanation, but the various lotteries say it ain’t so.) The fact that this happened not just once, but that winning multiple times itself happened multiple times, makes these odds stupefying and time travel a solid hypothesis. So, clearly, we have about two dozen time-traveling lottery players in our midst, and given the publicity photos, they either stay in our timeline between wins, or else, time their trips to make the intervals between winning match their biological aging. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-traveller-couldnt-win-the-lottery-right/761079/83 "2016-08-02T03:41:19Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Well, the idea is to hide your activities. > > As it happens, I know who’s won the World Series every year it has ever been played. Assuming my own activities do not cause a butterfly effect that alters that timeline - which they might, but for fun let’s pretend they don’t - obviously I could get insanely rich in time by betting on World Series winners prior to the commencement of the season (when you get great odds, even on good teams.) > > Okay, let’s say I jump back 30 years to the start of the 1986 season and I can scrounge up $2500 in authentic 1986 money somehow. I dunno how, work with me. I place $2500 on the Mets to win it all at 10 to 1. In October I collect $25000. No one will notice that. > > The following year I put down $5000 on the Twins at 50 to 1. I win… $250,000. Someone will sure as hell notice THAT, but people get lucky, what the hell. > > In 1988, the Dodgers are going to win the World Series. I could probably get 20 to 1. But man, when I collect a pile of money someone will notice I was the guy who picked the Twins. I don’t want that kind of scrutiny. How to hide it? > > 1. Place your bets all over town. If I won $250,000 on the Twins in '87 at the Mirage I would be stupid to put all my action at the Mirage the next year. I should spread it around. > > 2. Lose on purpose. This is key. Don’t just bet $20,000 on Los Angeles to win it all. Bet $20,000 on four teams people liked going into 1988 - say, the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Mets. Make sure two losing bets are at the Mirage. You’ll lose three big bets but your profit on the fourth makes up for it and then some. > > 3. Maybe just blow a whole year to look fallible. When the time comes, don’t bet on the Twins in 1991 or the Marlins in 1997. Gosh, who knew, huh? That’s okay, you made enough from everything else. Right, but it would be interesting to see how society, the leagues, Vegas and the media would lose their minds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-time-traveller-couldnt-win-the-lottery-right/761079.md?page=4)