The price of gas has nothing to do with my playing the lottery! I'm going to pay whatever the price for a gallon of gas if I'm going to drive a car.... it's that plain and simple! And so are the rest of you, so stop with the BS about what you have to do in-order to play the lottery because of the price of a gallon of gasoline!

I'll always drive my car 30 miles one-way to get MM tickets (jackpot has to be 100 million cash option) then I'm going to do it! And I've always made that trip no matter what the price of a gallon of gas has been over the last 8 yrs. that I have been making that trip! I will always make that drive when it's that high and I don't care if gas is $10.00 a gallon! I will NOT be a prisoner to my house just because of the price of a gallon of gas! You know why? because we humans always find a way, no matter what if we really want to do something we want to do!

Besides the old saying "Don't spend more than you can afford to lose", applies to the lottery and not just for going to the casinos! Gambling is just that "GAMBLING" no matter how you slice it! 

Since April I've been playing much less, only one play per draw just so I can still have a chance to win and look forward to the drawings. It turns out to be more fun to have only 1 number or set in each game because if I lose it's not as big a deal. The payouts on the daily games are still the same, but the big games' jackpots increase more slowly. Even so I still see frequent winners of PB and MM. People still play. I haven't won much lately but for the last few months it was still better than when I have an off month with normal play. The cutbacks are not because "I have to choose between gas and Lottery" but because in this economy teetering on Recession it's just not smart to spend too much on anything.

The extra $1+ per gallon this year vs. last, represents 2 daily number plays per gallon, or one extra MM. The money is coming from somewhere as there is still plenty of traffic and the first things to go are usually Lottery or other entertainment.

If the Lotteries want to improve sales they need to improve odds. Stop adding balls, stop going computerized, and make so that more tickets win small prizes. Usually people winning $2 will immediately replay it so they would have not much to lose by increasing those. And it's very difficult to beat the 2:1 ratio where every $1 you play returns 50c unless you can have an algorithm that matches twice as often as a QP.

Goes to show I have good ideas...I didnt know they were even having gas/lotto promo....Hopefully Texas will consider it....Ill be waitin at the pump with my sleepers on....lol

I've got a formula too. I budget one day's take home pay plus winnings for the year.

The formula is then

(money left in budget/drawings left)*(prize/100 million)

So as with  you, an increase in the jackpot can increase the amount I play, but it's also affected by how much I've spent so far and how much longer I have to make my lottery budget last.

I don't know if this is a perfect formula, but it keeps me from going broke buying lottery tickets. :)

wrong!

I've never spent much on any kind of lottery. Mainly because I know I can't afford it. God bless the one who can feed the scratch machine a $20, or slaps down $20 a week for lotto tickets.  I figure if I'm meant to win the JP, I'll do so with my $5 or less bets.  I have played $10 twice though..when MM went over 300m..So I can't say I've cut back since I hardly bet anything.  But I was thinking about a way to bet a few dollars more on my tickets.  I'm not usually a coupon cutter, but with cliping, I can save $ on groceries..or where some are located, gas....and use the $ I saved on a few more tickets. I mean, if you didn't use coupons, you'd be spending the full amount anyway.  My last shopping trip, I saved $11.00.  Thats 11 more chances on my MM.  Or $11.00 more gas in your tank....whatever floats your boat.