I have on occasion wondered if maybe I spend too much on the lottery. I have however decided that I don't, in my opinion.

This month I will purchase roughly $214.00 worth of tickets in two states (TN and VA).

That comes out to roughly $7.14 a day.

This keeps me in the action for every play for all of the jackpot games in both states with a line of my own numbers and a line of quick picks in every game and with multiplier options on all that are available.

I'm not wealthy but I can well afford $7.14 a day when I consider that it's roughly equivalent to only a couple beers in a saloon or a couple cups of Starbucks coffee.

I look at it as an enjoyable hobby with the potential for a huge payoff. The enjoyment I get from it is worth much more to me than a couple beers or coffee anyway.

When I do play, $1 to $4.

rdgrnr..Play what you can today tomorrow is not a given day so enjoy today..I hope you hit in all states in one day..That would knock down some odds..Bust a big one!

I keep tabs on my won/lost amount for the year and I'm about $70 short of my normal lost for the year which has been the same for the last 10 years even before MegaMillions was available locally.

If I kept track I'd probably have a heart attack..Good luck..

Keeping track for a month now, break even. Some months short, some profit. I wouldn't call this an investment, because it is a really bad one in term of its odds payout. Just play for fun, with the budget one can afford. :)

I think I average about $10 to $20 dollars a week. It varies between that amount, depending how much I spend on each drawing.

When I call it an investment I mean it as an investment in a hobby. It's worth the price of a couple cups of coffee a day for me to enjoy this hobby. I look at winning as a bonus feature to the hobby. I still enjoy following the lottery whether I win or lose. I don't get down or discouraged when my numbers don't come in but I enjoy checking every day to see if they did.

What I spend on it doesn't affect my means or lifestyle a bit so maybe that's why I have a nonchalant attitude about it. I'm thankful I can afford what I spend on it without impacting negatively on my life. I just don't take it too seriously and that's probably why I enjoy it so much. I may die before I win a jackpot but I would still maintain that I enjoyed it anyway.

Retired old geezers like me need something to keep them busy anyway, LOL.

It all depends on the amount in the gambling fund. I have had the gambling fund to reach almost a thousand dollars and everytime I've used it to pay a bill. Right now it stands at about $300 and I'm trying not to give in to the urge to pay a bill. I have spent about $20 on one drawing a time or two. But most of the time I play on paper.  I always tell myself that my gambling budget for the week is $50 and set the $50 aside for the week but some of it is usually spent on one of the kids or on gas. The good part is what ever is left over is shipped to the gambling fund. At least once a month the whole $50 will get shipped to the gambling fund.

Once I become an accurate prognosticator for my numbers then I will start paying to play. In the mean time I will build the gambling fund and pay a bill....... My goal is to get a 50% to 100% accuracy in my number selection. Right now I am about 2% accurate on playing TX Cash 5.

One of my goals is to eventually walk into a store and purchase two thousand dollars worth of tickets just for the heck of it and not end up in the cardiac unit of Methodist Hospital   or the psychiatric unit of Parkland Hospital.

rdgrnr...I'm probably older then you so please ease up on the geezer stuff..:):)..Good luck you old geezer..:)

Through Oct 31 I've spent $770 on lotto and have won $444.

I started tracking like that after RJOh once posted about keeping a running total along with the tickets, because if you did hit something and tried to write off losses, just the tickets aren't enough proof.

Most of that $444 is from a Pick 3 straight box with a double for $80, and a straight box that hit straight for $290. The other $74 is from an occassional $1 or $10 Little Lotto payoff and $2 or $3 on Lotto or Mega Millions, which are few and far between.

Most of my play is Little Lotto, which is Pick 5, and Pick 3.

rdgrner,

A guy on our crew in Vegas used to say "Everybody bets the same amount", not meaning the same amount of money, but whatever amount it takes to give them a thrill.

I know you meant "investing" as in a hobby, but in casino circles anyone who uses the term "invest" referring to betting on anything is thought to be someone with a gambling problem.

People who play "with their head and not over it" are less prone to get into trouble.

There's a phrase in the casino business, "relative to the buy in", meaning that someone who starts with $25 and wins $$3,000 lets say, and walks with it, won a lot more than someone who started with a $2500 buy in and walked with $5,000. The second player won more money, but had bought in for $2500. The first player only started with $25. Granted, the second payer may not have put it all in action, but the house looks at it like they might only get $25 from the first player.

I think we can say, "relative to the buy in" is a big part of the attraction of the lottery. Nothing else offers the potential "banfg for a buck" that jackpot games do.

Very well put, Coin Toss.

I'll have to bone up on the semantics of gambling.

I understand the "relative to the buy in" thing and I think that is why I don't take losses too seriously. The potential is there for a big payoff and I enjoy that prospect but if it doesn't happen it's no big deal because I never really miss what I put into it anyway. Before I retired I used to spend more on coffee than I do now on the lottery. I won't even get into what I spent stopping for a few beers after work with the guys. lol

I'd have to go even further and say that it's probably the cheapest hobby I've ever had compared to fancy trucks and motorcycles and boats and fishing that I used to be a lot more involved with in my younger days. I just look at it as a fun pastime and hobby and a very inexpensive one on top of it.

Half the fun of it is talking to and learning from people like you on Lottery Post.

I've heard the naysayers say how stupid it is to play the lottery and how it's a tax on stupid people and all that. Maybe that provided the impetus for me to question myself on what I was putting into it, I don't know. After actually adding up the totals though, I found I was spending even less than I thought I was broken down on a daily basis. And compared to other expenses; it was just coffee money.

As Ralph Kramden used to say: "A mere bag of shells."

Not so fast tiggs95, I might have shoes that are older than you. I checked your profile to see but you must have forgotten to enter your birthday there. Get that updated and I'll let you know who the real old geezer is. That 95 on the end of your name isn't your age is it? LOL Good luck to you too.

My standard is exactly 30 dollars per month for Fantasy Five and 24 dollars for Super Lotto.  with a serious reduction in income  thats all I can afford.  If I win something however, I buy more tickets with the winnings.

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