[ComputerGuru]

You don't even count. You're not playing the lottery any more than I am by picking up a ticket I found off the street.

Just go to your local grocery store or gas station and stand next to the machine or cash register for just 30 minutes and watch the guys that buy a ticket. They're all regulars. They're all putting their hope (even if they tell themselves they're not) in this ticket being the winning ticket. They're buying 2 or 3 tickets a day which is money that most of them really can't afford to just be throwing away (and these are people that honestly would say they can't afford a Starbucks a day, by and large). It's very sad.

[Tichy]

Reminds me that long ago I wanted to start a list of better investments for 1€/$. Can't remember much, but one idea was to write a love letter to a millionaire. Any other ideas?

[ComputerGuru]

Honestly the best investment is to set it aside in a penny jar until you have a more reasonable amount that you can make more money with.

Make that $10 instead of $1 and open a "mini mutual fund" that angel invests in high risk things like new companies. $10 per "share", 100 people is a $1000 which isn't too bad of an investment to put into a local computer repair business or something.

I don't know about the legalities of something like this, though.

But if your goal is to get the people buying lottery tickets to buy yours instead, that's not going to happen. If you tell them there's a 1 in 10 chance that their money will be doubled in six months or a 1 in a million chance that they'll win the jackpot overnight, these are people that'll go for the latter every time.

[Tichy]

Didn't want people to buy anything from me, just "enlighten" them about lotto.

On the other hand I am not even sure if lotto is really such a bad investment. I know the expected value is negative, but there is a chance to become a millionaire after all. If spending 1$ doesn't hurt you much, might be worth a try?