You good folks know that I like to play the lottery. Lately I've been playing Sweet Million, but I'm comimg back to Take5 in January. In addition to The LP (the #1 lottery website on the planet) there's another website regarding the lottery that I like to read too. While I cant put it's URL here, I will say it's . You can Google it and find it easily enough.
I just read an article on that, while it made my blood boil, wont stop me from playing state run lotteries. It was about "The House's Edge". Some PhD in Physic's wrote the article and mathematically showed in it how the house's edge is calculated. Gambling Casino's have an edge of just under 5%. Now if you've ever been to Foxwoods in Connecticut you now that the house there has HUGE operating expenses. Foxwoods is actually a resort, and they have many other ways to make money besides gambling casinos. (I was there just once, way back in 2001. One weekend, the wife and I took a road trip to no place in particular, and ended up there. During our journey to no where, we found the greatest inn to stay at called Randal's Ordinary, but sadly it has since closed. It was the most fantastic early American place you could ever imagine. It was an old farm, and our room was an absolutely beautifully restored barn. Randal's wasnt cheap either, it was located in Stonington Ct, about 10 miles from Foxwoods, but I'm getting way off topic.)
Casino's need to pay their operating expenses, not to mention all the people who actually do win money in order to stay in business. So I understand why the house must have an advantage. (BTW I'm not just finding out about the house's edge now. I've understood for years the fact that the house never loses, I just never knew how much of an edge they have.)
Then the author talked about state run lotteries and showed what the house edge is for them. Now I'm sure you know, that as a gambler, you should play where the house edge is the lowest. I was a lot better off at Foxwoods as opposed to playing Take5. It's 50%. You read that right. 50% is the edge that any state has when it comes to their state run lotteries. "So, whenever you are playing any state lottery, remember that you are wagering only half of your money on the actual lottery; the other half, you are just giving it away." That's a direct quote from the article. The article goes on to mention that "the typical lottery player's main objective is to win some money in order to pay the ever present bills, or to get out of a miserable life, or to change his/her 20-year-old car." That's exactly why I play. I don't care about getting very rich. If I did, I wouldnt play Take5. Or Sweet Million for that matter. Dont worry, I'm still going to play the lottery. I have too many college tuition loans to pay off. Those loans arent mine, they're both of my daughter's. We couldnt afford the tuition, so we borrowed it. It was either that, or the girls didnt get to go to college. They're paying some of the loans, but my wife and I pay the lions share of them. That's the real reason why I'm still working. I'm old enough to retire and collect Social Security, but that cant and isnt gonna happen until those loans are under control. So I guess I'll be working and playing for a while longer yet. G5