Tough economy? Some cut back on lottery tickets, wagering

Comment #15

Lotto*Love — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:37:17 GMT

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... [ More ]

Comment #14

kokocat — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:19:54 GMT

wrong

Comment #13

murdoog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:32:42 GMT

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.

Comment #12

maine23 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:51:55 GMT

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

Comment #11

LckyLary — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:45:05 GMT

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... [ More ]

Comment #10

BaristaExpress — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:45:20 GMT

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 matte... [ More ]

Comment #9

Prob988 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:32:13 GMT

The recent run on powerball is running about $2,000,000 below the average (over 5 draws) for powerball.

On the other hand, some of the more recent runs of Megamillions were running above average.

It's hard to say what the exact cause is though.

Personally I play according to a formula I've developed based on expectation value (for the cash) prize, which is the ratio of the potential payout to the odds.

Since Megamillions has longer odds, I tend to play it only after the prize as adve... [ More ]

Comment #8

justxploring — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:34:00 GMT

I'm pretty sure Washington has one.

Here it is:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004478639_webgaslottery15.html

Comment #7

ThatScaryChick — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:10:57 GMT

I know I am one of those who has had to cut back on the amount I play. Food, gas, bills, etc. come ahead of playing the lottery. I have money set aside for playing and I still play, but it is less then the amount I used to play with.

Comment #6

MaddMike51 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:13:32 GMT

What I spend on PB MM will only buy me a gallon and a half of gasoline.A gallon and a half of gasoline won't take me very far while a lucky lottery ticket has the potential to take me anywhere in the world that I may want to go.

Comment #5

Stack47 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:57:23 GMT

Some people will not plan on taking those 1000 mile round trip vacations because of the price of gas and might play an extra buck or two on the lottery for a chance of winning enough so they can still take that vacation. Attendance at county fairs are usually up when the economy is down and with the price of gas being high, more people will probably do their summer things closer to home.

Comment #4

maine23 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:43:47 GMT

They should have a gas/lotto promo...good luck on this 1 right.....lol

Comment #3

mylollipop — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:30:49 GMT

I would certainly NOT strain my cramped budget to play the lottery. Poor investment indeed. What about the gas to get to work, money to pay for the increase in food, and everything else???? Obviously lotto sales will go down. I beleive most, who are not addicted gamblers, play lottery with discretionary income.

Comment #2

justxploring — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:17:12 GMT

Like anything else, it depends on one's personal situation. If you use your children's lunch money to buy lottery tickets, then you have a serious problem. If you can afford to blow $10 or $20 without hurting anyone, then it's nobody's business what you do with your money. I do agree that, during tough times, a lot of people figure What the heck and will spend more than they should. However, if you don't have the money for gas to get to work, it would be crazy to spend more on the lottery.... [ More ]

Comment #1

RJOh — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:16:10 GMT

The economy works just the opposite on my lottery tickets buying.

I was never a fan of the scratch-off because odds of 1/1000K doesn't mean much if you aren't shopping at the retailers that have the roll of tickets with the big winners where with lotto games the odds are the same for every player regardless of where they shop.

I've alway budgeted my lottery spending by what I was giving up to buy a ticket. Use to be I gave up a gallon of gas to buy one lottery ticket and now I can buy fo... [ More ]

Tough economy? Some cut back on lottery tickets, wagering

Lottery Post — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:39:00 GMT

As gas pump prices and grocery store bills rise, customer service representative Rita Herron has been paying attention to where her money goes, and that means decreasing from 10 to two lottery tickets a week.

I pay more for gas, and so I have less money left for tickets, Herron said. Everything is going up.

Throughout the country, 20 lotteries, including California, have reported flat or declining sales, according to data from La Fleur's Magazine, a lottery trade publication, and state l... [ More ]