# What kind of a lottery strategy is this? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-a-lottery-strategy-is-this/966914 "2022-06-26T22:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-a-lottery-strategy-is-this/966914/41 "2022-06-29T15:18:57Z")
I guess? But for some people, at $25 a week, that’s part of an entertainment budget than missed investment opportunity. Some people spend more than that on Starbucks. There are definitely issues with math or budget challenged people spending well out of their means on the lottery. But if that’s not an issue and the person is disciplined in their spending, it’s the same as moralizing about how millenials can drastically improve their financial situations by skipping the lattes and avocado toast (which, these days, would be more than $25 a week). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-a-lottery-strategy-is-this/966914/42 "2022-06-29T16:19:33Z")
I agree that if you can afford $25 / week, then you can certainly spend it on a gamble. However it is pleasant to think that saving it up would give you a jolly nice $1,300 to spend in a year’s time. 😃 I certainly disagree with ludicrous statements like ‘if you want to buy a house, all you have to do is stop drinking coffee.’ For me, regularly saving something is such a good idea because: - you have a buffer against misfortune - you learn an important habit - you can earn interest 🕶 - you can eventually afford luxuries ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-a-lottery-strategy-is-this/966914/43 "2022-06-29T16:24:17Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Well, my strategy has always been to spend $0 /week on the lottery, and I’m doing better than 99% of people who don’t use my strategy. Maybe CNN will do a story on me. That’s mine, too. But I made it an experiment. I’ve mentally played the lottery for thirty years now, pretending that I’ve picked numbers and then checking the winning set. So if I’d really played for those three decades (spending $44,000+) … I’d have won $110. It’s been quite an education on the odds, sitting there watching the numbers pop up during the evening news; thinking “There’s one of my numbers… and there’s, nope, it’s just one number matching. AGAIN.” But I guess that’s a better feeling than having all my numbers come up. “Wow! I beat the odds and I _didn’t win_ a million bucks!” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-a-lottery-strategy-is-this/966914/44 "2022-06-30T23:00:10Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > My lottery strategy is pick sequential numbers because nobody else picks sequential numbers so if you do win you’ll be the only one who bet on it. > > Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you guys this. Analysis of lottery numbers people pick show this incredibly flawed strategy to be common. It increases the chances of a split pot. _Always_ make random choices. That’s what Quick Pick options are good for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-a-lottery-strategy-is-this/966914.md?page=2)