A few days ago many of us learned that a friend and former schoolmate (oh, did I add REALLY DEAR FRIEND!!! wink wink) had the good fortune to win big in the lottery. I am happy for my dear (REALLY DEAR, DEAR, wink wink) friend and her husband for their good fortune. All kidding aside, it was wonderful news and no doubt welcome news for D and K. (No other ID will be used in this blog for the purposes of safety.) But I have to ask, how many of you ran out and bought a bunch of lottery tickets, either scratch-off games or the lotto-type games? Come on, get those hands UP!
Well, I bought a couple of lottery tickets myself this week, so far though, not breaking even. But I wanted to check on the lottery, or rather the ODDS of winning big. As for the scratch off games, the chances of winning big are slim and vary game by game, but in all these games scratching of a dollar winner is fairly easy to do. It turns out that the odds of winning the original Texas Lotto game are about 1:25,000,000. Even the odds of matching only FIVE of six numbers are about 1:18,000. I confess to playing Texas Lotto almost every week, never mind that I have donated MUCH MORE to the State of Texas than I have won. Since 1992, I have won less that $150. It is safe to say that I have spent at least $1,000 in my efforts to capture the big one. Well, I can always hope! And, as they (the Lottery Commission) are fond of saying, "you can't win if you don't play!" What can I say? Though I have never won, "hope springs ETERNAL!!"
It is a given that winning the lottery, no matter which game you may choose, is almost against all odds. The odds of getting struck by lightning in the United States in any one year is 1:700,000. That is pretty comforting for me, because I like to watch the wild thunderstorms of West Texas. But wait, here is one more number, one that puts a damper on the weather-watching. While the chance of getting struck by lightning in any one year is astronomical, the chance of getting struck by lightning ONCE in your lifetime is only 1:3,000. So, be careful going to buy a lottery ticket during a thunderstorm! One in three thousand...if you think about that, in a town of, say, twenty-four thousand people there could be at least eight people who have been struck by lightning (assuming of course that none of these strikes were fatal).
Having not been struck by lightning yet, I continue to play the lottery. One of the games I like to play now is the Powerball game. The jackpot for this game WITHOUT hitting on the powerball is $100,000 and the odds of winning are about 1:5,100,000. But, if the one playing the game also picks the winning "power ball," the jackpot can be in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS. You want to hear the odds of hitting on all five numbers AND the powerball? Those odds are listed at 1:175,223,510. In other words, you are more likely to get struck by lightning while a shark bites you as you are water skiing around the Great Barrier Reef than you are to win Powerball. Yet, the odds are that each time Powerball is played, somewhere in the United States (or Canada) at least one person WILL win the big one! And as they say, "you can't win if you don't play." I will continue to play, and more than likely, I will simply support the State of Texas. But it will be fun trying to beat the odds, just like my (DEAR, DEAR, DEAR wink wink) friend did last week. Congratulations to my friend, and happy gambling to the rest of us!
Well, I bought a couple of lottery tickets myself this week, so far though, not breaking even. But I wanted to check on the lottery, or rather the ODDS of winning big. As for the scratch off games, the chances of winning big are slim and vary game by game, but in all these games scratching of a dollar winner is fairly easy to do. It turns out that the odds of winning the original Texas Lotto game are about 1:25,000,000. Even the odds of matching only FIVE of six numbers are about 1:18,000. I confess to playing Texas Lotto almost every week, never mind that I have donated MUCH MORE to the State of Texas than I have won. Since 1992, I have won less that $150. It is safe to say that I have spent at least $1,000 in my efforts to capture the big one. Well, I can always hope! And, as they (the Lottery Commission) are fond of saying, "you can't win if you don't play!" What can I say? Though I have never won, "hope springs ETERNAL!!"
It is a given that winning the lottery, no matter which game you may choose, is almost against all odds. The odds of getting struck by lightning in the United States in any one year is 1:700,000. That is pretty comforting for me, because I like to watch the wild thunderstorms of West Texas. But wait, here is one more number, one that puts a damper on the weather-watching. While the chance of getting struck by lightning in any one year is astronomical, the chance of getting struck by lightning ONCE in your lifetime is only 1:3,000. So, be careful going to buy a lottery ticket during a thunderstorm! One in three thousand...if you think about that, in a town of, say, twenty-four thousand people there could be at least eight people who have been struck by lightning (assuming of course that none of these strikes were fatal).
Having not been struck by lightning yet, I continue to play the lottery. One of the games I like to play now is the Powerball game. The jackpot for this game WITHOUT hitting on the powerball is $100,000 and the odds of winning are about 1:5,100,000. But, if the one playing the game also picks the winning "power ball," the jackpot can be in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS. You want to hear the odds of hitting on all five numbers AND the powerball? Those odds are listed at 1:175,223,510. In other words, you are more likely to get struck by lightning while a shark bites you as you are water skiing around the Great Barrier Reef than you are to win Powerball. Yet, the odds are that each time Powerball is played, somewhere in the United States (or Canada) at least one person WILL win the big one! And as they say, "you can't win if you don't play." I will continue to play, and more than likely, I will simply support the State of Texas. But it will be fun trying to beat the odds, just like my (DEAR, DEAR, DEAR wink wink) friend did last week. Congratulations to my friend, and happy gambling to the rest of us!
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