Just something to read... my take on the Lottery

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Clearwater AL

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Get Real
Maybe get the Off topic sub-forum going again.

Just something to read… my take on the Lottery, scratch tickets. Maybe just for those who may gamble

It’s a long one… took me over a week to put it together working nearly one handed now in my “fiddle time”.

First, because of the economy currently in the dumps the Lottery incoming revenue is down. Supposedly, the printed scratch tickets is supposed to be completely random off the RNG (Random Numerical Generator) that prints them. It’s a series of computer numbers that run continuously.

Nope. The RNG numbers that determine winning tickets the larger winners can be adjusted by just pulling a few series of combinations that determine the big winners and the top prize. As revenue builds up those combinations can be re-entered.

(There is nothing random about this scam… but politicians, States and the Feds love this cash cow the Lottery is bringing tax money in. No way would there ever be an investigation.)

It’s the only self-imposed TAX some people are eager to pay.

I believe the North Carolina Lottery has a leak. A guy in Western Carolina went to 40 stores and bought every ticket of a certain scratch ticket… he won the million dollar prize. A few months later another guy in another part of NC went and did the same thing… he won the million dollar prize.

I hope the NC Lottery is looking into this.

I have friend who has too much money. :) The $30 dollar tickets come in packs of 30 tickets to retailers… $900 dollars a pack. He did that three times… $2700.00 hundred bucks! He thought he might get a $10,000.00 dollar winner or a $5000.00 dollar winner of some kind or recoup. Nope. He won about, in different amounts, that added up to about to 30% of his investment… $990 hundred bucks.

I go online to review the posted winners which is $5000 dollars or more. Take the population of Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Asheville, Raleigh-Durham and Wilmington, in those population numbers math would tell you there be a considerable amount of winners. Nope. The majority of the winners of $5000 dollars or more are… small towns, Rocky Mount, Sanford, Greenville, Boone, Wadesboro and others. Gee. ain’t that by design. Supposedly random?

Do I play the Lottery? Yes, it kind of fills the void now that I haven’t been to the Casino going onto a year now. Over the years it was a learning curve but last year and before I signed several W2s… a couple of big ones. Am I ahead? Maybe not but doing math and gambling takes the fun out of it. It was my entertainment, While there I was oblivious to world back home. I used to go on fishing trips, I fed a lot of fish expensive bait, spent a lot of money. Never had a chance to win a dime during the whole trip.
A few of my trips to the Casino ended up covering the expense and brought money home for the next trip instead of some fish filets. Whatever… that’s me.

Am I saying, “Don’t play the Lottery”… if you don’t play you have zero chances of winning $50 dollars, $100 dollars, $5000 dollars or a million on a $2 dollar ticket, a $5 dollar ticket or even a $30 dollar ticket.

Then, there are several stories of those who seldom buy Lottery tickets but one day they bought one ticket… hit it big.

Ok, years ago I ran a DAV Chapter Club house in a two story building. On Friday night we ran a four table poker game upstairs. The house dragged $5 dollar every winning pot to cover the food, beer and booze.

Now, North Carolina is in the gambling business big time with their lottery and current casino at Cherokee. Think about this… the number of people from years ago who now have felony convictions on their permanent record for gambling.
(I was lucky.)

It’s luck, even playing poker no matter how skilled you are… you have to get the cards to win. Sometimes you don’t. It’s luck. But… you never know if it’s your day.

I wrote all this because I have somewhat of an understanding of odds. As I have expressed a few times to some of our “Could this be ALS’ers
 

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My grandfather owned an "establishment" during prohibition. Small town. All the cops were volunteer. They looked the other way, except to duck in and have a drink or gamble with the rest of the boys. My Dad figured out that one of the slot machines paid out in a not-so-random way. He would take a roll of quarters and hit. Nobody caught on and said he was a lucky boy. The other machines were random. He could never figure out how my grandfather got that machine to work that way or if it came that way.
 
I've never been a big gambler, never really enjoyed casinos - I have nothing against it, it just wasn't for me. Many years ago, I lived in Chicago after college, in the Old Town area of the city - it was a pretty cool neighborhood in those days. Some friends of mine, who played poker a lot, invited me to their annual Texas Hold'em tournament. I put in my $100 entry, along with about 40 other people, many of them very experienced poker players. After MANY hours of play and MUCH alcohol and food consumed, I ended up winning the entire tournament. It was winner take all, but I had to pay for all the food and alcohol for the evening out of that. I walked away with about $3000 which was a lot of money back in those days.

I always assumed it was just beginners luck. But, Al is also saying I happened to get the cards I needed to win. It was my day.
 
Again, just something to read for those who may be interested in this Off Topic sub-forum. Somewhat going with the above.

Years ago gambling was considered a nationwide scourge by the righteous who wanted the authorities the to clamp down on. Almost like Prohibition earlier.

Think about this…

Years ago a guy down in Florida sold a Narc a pound of Gunja (Pot). (I recently bought a pound of noodles at Wal Mart… it didn’t go far in meals.) He ended up serving time. After, he had on his record as being a convicted felon and an ex-con. He was educated and had a good job. His life after was a struggle.

Back then, the 70s and early 80s, in Florida, people from all walks of life were smoking, buying and selling Pot to friends if they made a “Good Score”. Jimmy Buffet’s Band was called the “Coral Reefer Band… everybody knew he wasn’t referring to the coral reefs off shore.

Now, today Pot has become this GREAT medicinal drug, State after State are making recreational Pot legal. Many states have greatly decriminalized Pot to nearly traffic tickets.

Ok, today PALS (some) are smoking Pot or using Pot in some form with satisfying results.

So, today we have millions of people from years ago and even now living with the drag of having a criminal record over Pot, lost opportunities of good jobs, denied security clearances and so much more. Maybe over just few “joints” (Doobies), a “lid”, a “pound”… of what is now almost legal if not now legal.

Maybe in a short time to come… their criminal records will be automatically expunged. For free. And some released from prison.
 
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