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by brianwawok 3106 days ago
How many people buy state lotto tickets?

What is the EV on those? Some it's something like .5 or less. HORRIBLE odds. If you want to gamble, go play $1000 hands of blackjack or something, you can get something like a .97 EV.
2 comments
wl 3106 days ago
The point of state lotto tickets is that a win is life changing and the price is negligible.
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bryanlarsen 3106 days ago
The EV on Canadian lottery odds sometimes exceeds 1. They're required to pay out 50% of intake, but if the jackpot isn't won a bunch of times in a row (with payout under 10%), the payout for a single draw sometimes exceeds the intake for that draw.

It's not profitable to buy all the tickets, though: that changes the odds enough that it becomes unprofitable.

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brianwawok 3106 days ago
I don't think the EV often goes over 1 though, because of the multiple winner situation. I.e. even if the jackpot is 150 million with 1:100 million odds to win... there is a chance there is 2 or more winners who SPLIT the jackpot.

There have been cases of people buying out all the numbers.. and there are times when it is worth the risk.. but not really relevant to my store. Millions of people buy lotto tickets every day, with an EV of .5.

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