# Fuck scratch-off lottery tickets **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 6, 2015, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693 "2015-10-06T07:35:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/41 "2015-10-06T12:26:16Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Actually, you got exactly what the odds predicted. Assuming you live in Florida, [here is the $1 scratcher page](http://www.fllottery.com/scratch-offs?amount=1) on the Florida lottery page. Just pick out the game you played, and check the odds for a $2 winner. I’ll save you the time; they range from 1:14.29 to 1:15. > > That’s how you won $2 on $15 worth of scratchers. Thanks Fear Itself. Fuck, I’m ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/42 "2015-10-06T12:33:24Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > If you can hold your losses to a reasonable amount, it’s not a bad way to give yourself a chance at being rich. If you buy just one or two $1-$5 each grocery/gas trip, that’s a lot less money spent than a few hours at a slot machine. I’m sorry, what does this mean exactly? What does “hold your losses to a reasonable amount” mean? How does one do this? Wish real hard? Or just not buy many tickets? What is a good and what is a bad way to give yourself a chance at being rich. None of the various forms of gambling give you a good chance - in the sense of a high probability. And your second sentence simply means if you gamble less, you’ll lose less doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/43 "2015-10-06T12:35:44Z")
> [@brovolone](#): > > Why do scratch-offs exist So that lazy procrastinating fucks like me have something to put into an envelope along with the meaningless greeting card. That’s why. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/44 "2015-10-06T12:38:48Z")
Read [this story](http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/9253117/The-secret-to-why-Hugh-Jackman-is-so-nice) about why Hugh Jackman is so nice. It’s a pretty good story that explains how he ended up giving scratch lottery tickets every Friday to every crew member on his film sets. It ends: > [@](#): > > Over the past decade Jackman has outlaid a lot of money on tickets, but he has come to the conclusion he may have to alter Lucky Friday to some other gift. > > “The moral of the story is do not buy scratchie tickets if you want to win money,” Jackman, explaining there has only been one decent win from thousands of tickets over the 10 years. > > "On the last movie someone won US$1500 (NZ$1806). > > "Prior to that the highest was US$187. > > “If you extrapolate 10 years of 300 tickets a week it’s a bad deal.” Rumor has it that he as spent over $350,000 to get those results. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/45 "2015-10-06T13:05:28Z")
Buying lottery tickets is a fool’s game. Just go on one of them sports betting sites, and you’ll win over two million dollars! I saw it on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/46 "2015-10-06T13:09:52Z")
Ask for your money back, those tickets were defective. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/47 "2015-10-06T13:33:10Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I’m sorry, what does this mean exactly? What does “hold your losses to a reasonable amount” mean? How does one do this? Wish real hard? Or just not buy many tickets? What is a good and what is a bad way to give yourself a chance at being rich. None of the various forms of gambling give you a good chance - in the sense of a high probability. And your second sentence simply means if you gamble less, you’ll lose less doesn’t it? I think he means that if you just buy 1-5 a week _and you can afford those losses_ then the pie in the sky chance of a windfall is worth it. I don’t really agree with that reasoning, but it’s a common thought process among some casual gamblers who do understand the odds. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/48 "2015-10-06T13:35:45Z")
> [@brovolone](#): > > Fuck them and their fancy cars. > I seriously expected to get closer to breaking even. > Winning $2 from 15 tickets is bullshit. You’re in Florida, right? I just checked the website for the odds on the one-dollar scratch-off games. The odds varied, but they were around 1-in-4.96. In other words, for every five bucks you spend, you might expect to get a dollar back. You’re never going to get close to breaking even. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/49 "2015-10-06T13:40:08Z")
> [@brovolone](#): > > Fuck them and their fancy cars. > I seriously expected to get closer to breaking even. > Winning $2 from 15 tickets is bullshit. You just didn’t buy the right 15 tickets. ---
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/50 "2015-10-06T13:41:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You’re in Florida, right? I just checked the website for the odds on the one-dollar scratch-off games. The odds varied, but they were around 1-in-4.96. In other words, for every five bucks you spend, you might expect to get a dollar back. You’re never going to get close to breaking even. Thanks Dewey. Fear Itself linked me to it also. I looked at the back of one of the tickets and sure as shit it said 1:4.xxx… can’t remember the exact numbers ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/51 "2015-10-06T13:42:37Z")
Best bet to get even is to enjoy the process. If you can get $20 worth of enjoyment from $15 worth of tickets, you’re ahead $5 worth of enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/52 "2015-10-06T13:54:47Z")
In the store where I work we have a little old lady who comes in just about every Sunday and spends a hundred dollars or so on scratchers. What little she wins goes back into more tickets until it is gone. I remember one time after she had lost it all again, she turned to me at the counter and said, “I wish I could stop doing this.” I have another customer who comes in every day and spends twenty dollars, half on pick three and four, the other half on scatchers. Every once in a while he wins on pick three and he is all smiles. But most time he loses, of course. Twenty dollars a day adds up. Maybe he can afford it. I also remember a woman who came in once and spent much of the afternoon buying scratchers from our machine, cashing and replaying any winners. I know from the lottery report I run at the end of the day that we sold more than a thousand dollars in scratchers over our normal sales that afternoon. When she left after finally running out of money, she disgustedly told me that she had been told our lottery scratcher machine paid off better than the one in the convenience store down the road —but it did not! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/53 "2015-10-06T13:57:23Z")
> [@PatriotX](#): > > Best bet to get even is to enjoy the process. > If you can get $20 worth of enjoyment from $15 worth of tickets, you’re ahead $5 worth of enjoyment. That’s the way I look at it. I only buy Powerball tickets when the jackpot is over $200 million, so that keeps my spending down, and I get a little enjoyment out of watching the jackpot grow in anticipation of playing; and that’s free. Then I buy my tickets, usually $15 dollars worth, a couple of days in advance, and I get the enjoyment of thinking about what I will do if I won. I spend maybe $100 a year on Powerball; it’s the only game I play. I don’t see how it is different from going to movies or playing video games. It’s a diversion, not an investment. ---
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/54 "2015-10-06T13:58:18Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > In the store where I work we have a little old lady who comes in just about every Sunday and spends a hundred dollars or so on scratchers. What little she wins goes back into more tickets until it is gone. I remember one time after she had lost it all again, she turned to me at the counter and said, “I wish I could stop doing this.” Why can’t she stop doing this? False hope? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/55 "2015-10-06T14:04:24Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > If you’re serious? I knew/of two people with serious gambling problems. My uncle died, leaving my aunt with nothing, thanks to his late-in-life fascination with scratch-offs. My aunt is now 83, with nothing except a small Social Security pension and a crappy house with land and rising taxes that threaten her ability to support herself in even a modest way. And my husband’s ex-wife forced him/them to file for bankruptcy, because the next ticket was gonna hit big. It never did. After six years of marriage, my husband and I have helped him establish enough credit to keep a small charge card and hold a small mortgage. The ex-wife moved to a different state, where a casino has now garnished her wages due to gambling debts. But she apparently still believes that the next ticket, or nickel in the slot, or whatever she plays now, will be her deliverance. (And, before the bankruptcy? She gambled away a half-million, took out a second a third mortgage on the house, and finally embezzled money from a social group - felony amounts, but she got lucky and avoided prosecution.) If your question is serious? Do the math. Lottos don’t stay in business because the house loses. When she does win big, you’re going to feel like an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/56 "2015-10-06T14:05:08Z")
Holeeee sheet. ---
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/57 "2015-10-06T14:16:36Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Holeeee sheet. > [@Smeghead](#): > > Holeeee sheet. > [@Smeghead](#): > > Holeeee sheet. > [@Smeghead](#): > > Holeeee sheet. > [@Smeghead](#): > > Holeeee sheet. is god damned right. Wake up, **brovolone** , you fucking worshiper of shit. Smell the coffee. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/58 "2015-10-06T15:05:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You’re in Florida, right? I just checked the website for the odds on the one-dollar scratch-off games. The odds varied, but they were around 1-in-4.96. In other words, for every five bucks you spend, you might expect to get a dollar back. You’re never going to get close to breaking even. Well, that’s not quite it. It’s 1 in 5 that you’ll get at least a buck (the lowest prize) back. For the actual expected return/house edge, you’d need to calculate out the odds and prizes. ---
**Author:** ![brovolone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brovolone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brovolone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/59 "2015-10-06T15:09:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, that’s not quite it. It’s 1 in 5 that you’ll get at least a buck (the lowest prize) back. For the actual expected return/house edge, you’d need to calculate out the odds and prizes. Are you saying I should’ve gotten more than $2? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693/60 "2015-10-06T15:14:22Z")
> [@brovolone](#): > > Are you saying I should’ve gotten more than $2? There is no “should’ve” with probabilities. You’re just calculating how fast you are likely to lose money in the long run. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-scratch-off-lottery-tickets/733693.md?page=4)