# silliness of the day 3/31/2012



## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I thought I would post some stuff I saw that was pretty silly (but with the point of education) every so often, sort of like Stan's thought of the day.

No, I won't be sure to do it every day, I'm not retired!

So one thing that seems really silly lately: the news and other fluff surrounding the lottery.

If you look at the odds, the worst time to play the lottery is when the pot gets huge... because there are more people in the pool... your chances have gone down dramatically when there are so many people buying tickets.

But even sillier is some of the news shows, this morning there was a spot on how to manage the money you win. All this time for only one person in the entire US? And you think that person is listening?

Many of the people who win a lot squander it, or have "advisors" that rip them off.

Yeah, I let my wife buy a few, but there were reports of people spending hundreds of dollars several times.

Go buy insurance against being hit by lightning, you have a better chance of collecting, and if you don't get hit today, there's always tomorrow!

Greg


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## saintyohann (Jan 2, 2008)

What do you mean by:


your chances have gone down dramatically when there are so many people buying tickets.



It seems to me, you have the winning numbers or you don't, the odds never change.

@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css);


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Your chances of wining the whole pot go down when more people play. More chances that someone will pick the same numbers and you will have to share with them.

Actually, your chances of being killed in an auto accident on the way to buy your Lottery ticket is greater than the odds you will win.

Personally, I decided that I should not buy a lottery ticket at this time. I feel like it is important to be fair to my fellow human beans and since I have never lost the lottery it would be patently unfair to everybody for me to play.

I wonder how many people recognize that the lottery has turned this nation into just a bunch of "losers"?


"If you didn't WIN, then you are a LOSER!"


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, when you look into it, it's almost like reverse logic, the more people think they should get "in" the worse the odds for them. 

The newspeople just feed the hype... 

You know the lottery board is NOT a non-profit organization! 

Greg


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg.... I would certainly agree that there is some really silly stuff going on out in the big world....









I would agree that the Mega Bucks lottery is top of the list right now... It's reported that a winning tikcet was sold somewhere in Kansas. 

Maybe they'll open up a large scale train store...









Thanks for the smile...


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yep, sometimes we need to look and laugh at things... hopefully I can find some "universally silly" stuff that avoids religion, politics, and will put a smile on people's faces... 

Regards, Greg


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## Santafe 2343 (Jan 2, 2008)

* In all Gambling you always have a 50/50 chance. You either will or won't win!*


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By saintyohann on 31 Mar 2012 11:11 AM 
What do you mean by:


your chances have gone down dramatically when there are so many people buying tickets.



It seems to me, you have the winning numbers or you don't, the odds never change.

@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css); 

Saintyohann (? interesting name)

You need to get out your math text book and look up "odds".

For this megamillions-type of deal, there are two sets of odds - i.e. the chance you will win. One is the combinations, the other is the number of people who might guess the same number, which isn't really relevant. I may be wrong, but your odds don't go down just because more people buy tickets - there's just a greater chance they might buy the same as you.

If it were only 2 numbers to guess (for simplicity of example) then your choice is 1 of 10 numbers for the first, and whichever you choose, there are another 10 for the second. So your chance of picking the right one is 1 in 10*10, or 1 in 100. Put the other way, if you pick a 2 digit number, there are another 99 combinations you didn't pick that could also win.

Now, in a 6 digit number combo where the numbers can be 2 digitis themselves, you get into 100*100*100* (and so on for how many digits they let you pick. If it is 6, then the combinations are 100*100 6 times, or 10^2*6 or 10 to the 12th = 1,000,000,000,000. So there are 1,000 Billion combinations, and you can only afford to choose 1 or maybe 20. Your chances (the odds against you) are not good.

Which lottery would you rather particpate in?


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Santafe 2343 on 31 Mar 2012 03:01 PM 
*In all Gambling you always have a 50/50 chance. You either will or won't win!* 

Gee - I can tell you guys didn't study math or statistics. I can't think of any gambling activity where you have a 50/50 chance - maybe tossing a coin?

A 50/50 chance means the LIKELIHOOD of the event is the same - in other words, it is just as likely that you will win as that you will lose. Now if you can find me a gambling activity with those odds, I'll be there in a heartbeat. 
_Of course, if it were true, there would be no gambling, as the venue would never make any money!!_


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

It seems to me that just one ticket won what is about the biggest lottery ever.

I've seen many smaller lotteries where several people had won. So while your chances of sharing the pot may go up with the number of tickets sold, it ain't necessarily going to happen and I usually won't bother buying a ticket (if I buy one at all) until it gets to a certain value.


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

So, three winners, pot split three ways. 

"I can't think of any gambling activity where you have a 50/50 chance..." 

Faro?


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I wonder what the states would do (or the Fed IRS) if the winner decided to donate the whole winnings to a charity? What would they do if they didn't get the expected taxes from it?


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

David Letterman had a great joke about the mega-millions last night.. 
he asked: how many people have a ticket? (some applause) 
who didnt buy a ticket? (less scattered applause) 
well, your odds of winning are about the same whether you bought a ticket or not.. 

Scot


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By rdamurphy on 31 Mar 2012 04:14 PM 
So, three winners, pot split three ways. 

"I can't think of any gambling activity where you have a 50/50 chance..." 

Faro? 

"Faro" is about as close to 50/50 odds as any gambling game other than tossing a coin. That is, assuming it is a fair game and the dealer and other 2 "house employees" are not cheating with any of the many methods that have been devised to do so, not the least of which is the speed with which the game is usually played by which the player is bamboozled into believing he has lost when he really did win.

The house has a 2.041% edge over the player. The odds are 48.9795/51.0205 against you and in favour of the house.


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## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

A lottery is a tax on the poor. One thing that should be remembered; if any of you did win, for a small fee, say a million I will help you save close to 50% of your winning. In Canada there are no taxes on winnings. So if you let a Canadian claim it there are no taxes to pay, you do have to pay taxes on any profit you make during and after the first year.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

You can be sure they get their taxes up front... you never get a chance to touch all of it... 

Greg


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## Rail Planet (Jan 22, 2012)

It always made more sense to me to play the Cash 3 game because there were only three numbers and there are fewer people in it because the money wasn't as big. Yeah, you wouldn't win as much, but you have a better chance of actually winning.


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

"A lottery is a tax on the poor." Or a penalty for not paying attention in math class! LOL! 

A local radio announcer did make a good point: SOMEONE will win. It just probably won't be you. 

I don't know how every lottery works, but in Colorado, they skim 50% of ticket sales right off the top. The other half is for payouts. Then, when you win, they take the 5% tax right off the top, plus you pay the IRS. 

Figuring top tax rates, 5% State + 25% Income + 15.3% FICA, you get to leave with the remaining 54.7% after they take out their "cut." 

So, out of every dollar paid in, they pay out 27.35%. That would get any casino anywhere in the country shut down post haste. And it should. 

Having said all that, though, I did spend $5 at a casino in Blackhawk and won $1000. Which I promptly gave to Caboose Hobbies in Denver for a K-27 and a QSI decoder. And a Pittsburgh Steelers jacket for the wife... 

Robert


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Dan got it right. It is a tax on the poor and unfortunates who are sucked in all the time. 
You cannot win in the long term. A pox on all their (gambling) houses. 

I'm a (legit) tax avoider. 
I don't gamble so I don't contribute to the roughly 9% of state income that is derived from gambling.


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## Doug C (Jan 14, 2008)

"...if the winner decided to donate the whole winnings to a charity? What would they do if they didn't get the expected taxes from it?" 

I would think your irs would come after ya for the taxes on the principal even if ya donated it to charity so before donating all to charity ya better holdback or ya will be selling the house, car to pay off the taxman. 

Thankfully up here any (cdn.) lottery wins are tax-free (although possibly diff. in PQ where some things tend to be diff.). We're only taxed on the interest incurred off the principal but, . . . . . first ya got to avoid(or live beyond) the multiple lightning strikes to win a lottery !!

GoodLuck down there ! nite, doug c


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

"A lottery is a tax on the poor." Really, kindly show me any true "TAX" that the individual(s) being taxed (poor or otherwise), have a choice of opting out of it!


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Doug C on 02 Apr 2012 11:21 PM 
"...if the winner decided to donate the whole winnings to a charity? What would they do if they didn't get the expected taxes from it?" 

I would think your irs would come after ya for the taxes on the principal even if ya donated it to charity so before donating all to charity ya better holdback or ya will be selling the house, car to pay off the taxman. 

Thankfully up here any (cdn.) lottery wins are tax-free (although possibly diff. in PQ where some things tend to be diff.). We're only taxed on the interest incurred off the principal but, . . . . . first ya got to avoid(or live beyond) the multiple lightning strikes to win a lottery !!

GoodLuck down there ! nite, doug c 










Donations to charities is deducted from the taxable income here. So if you earn $50,000 and donate $5,000 to a charity, then you are taxed on $45,000. But I am not sure about "un-earned" income. I have never had any except interest income, so I don't know if "winnings" are added to the Taxed income before or after the deductions are done. I made the comment based on it being treated all the same.... so if you earned $50,000, and won $1,000,000 but donated $1,005,000 to a charity then you'd be paying taxes on only $45,000. 

You would have to donate the whole amount in the same year that you received it so it would all appear on one tax filing, and, although it may be a "Charitable Act"







to give all the money to your ex-wife







, unless she fits the IRS definitions of a "Charity"







then you would still owe taxes on it







.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Money can't buy love, but it can rent it from time to time. 

Money can't buy happiness, but it can sure make for a very pleasant misery.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

The love of money is the root of all evil, BUT the lack of money ain't so good either. 

Poor David's Almanac 

Have fun, 
David Meashey


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## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

Just to let everyone know, I have one of the winning tickets.

But remember there were literally tens of thousands of winners during the last MegaMillions drawing.

My winning ticket is worth $6.

Yes I had a winning ticket, just not one of THE winning tickets.


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By SteveC on 03 Apr 2012 12:40 AM 
"A lottery is a tax on the poor." "Really, kindly show me any true "TAX" that the individual(s) being taxed (poor or otherwise), have a choice of opting out of it!







"

There are two types of taxes, direct and indirect. Direct taxes (apportionment) are prohibited by the US Constitution except during time of War.

Indirect taxes are taxes on a an activity or taxes that are collected at the point of sale of any product or service. In other words, income and sales taxes.

Both are voluntary, and easily opted out of. Income tax can be avoided simply by not having any income. Don't laugh, there are millions of people in America without an income. You can also avoid State income taxes by living and working in a State that doesn't have State income tax. Or by working overseas. . Sales taxes can be avoided by not purchasing an item that is taxed, or by purchasing it in a jurisdiction where it is not taxed.

I've done that several times. Some cities in Colorado charge sales tax on vehicles - some don't. Guess where I buy my cars from?

You can avoid tobacco or alcohol taxes simply by not purchase tobacco or alcohol.

And it's all perfectly legal. So, Constitutionally speaking, since we have no direct taxation at this time in the US, you can opt out of any tax you'd like to. Note that I said NOT participating in the taxable activity, NOT avoiding legal taxation.

Robert


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