I was at the Mobil On-The-Run store on my way home from work this afternoon and as i was buying some refreshements, I glanced at the glass top counter and saw a selection of scratch-off lottery tickets. I am not much of a "gambler", but I thought: "Gee, it's been a while since I bought a lottery ticket, why don't I get one." I was preparing to pull out another dollar bill to buy one ticket when I looked down at the price of the ticket under the glass. It was the kind you see in the image below, "Gold Rush". Then I checked out the price. TWENTY DOLLARS FOR ONE SCRATCH-OFF TICKET!!! How much of a total f'ing loser do you have to be to be stupid enough to put down that for these shitty odds:
*Odds of Winning
$500,000 1-in-2,500,000
$10,000 1-in-75,000
$1,000 1-in-6,000
$500 1-in-175.95
$100 1-in-30
$50 1-in-30
$40 1-in-15
$20 1-in-5
*Direct copy n' paste from the Florida Lottery web site.
I immediately rethought my impulse and was reminded of the famous quote (though stated for a very different game indeed) that the computer program named Joshua, controlling NORAD's W.O.P.R. super-computer, stated in a moment of silicon-chip epiphany in the film "War Games": "The only way to win the game is not to play at all."
*Odds of Winning
$500,000 1-in-2,500,000
$10,000 1-in-75,000
$1,000 1-in-6,000
$500 1-in-175.95
$100 1-in-30
$50 1-in-30
$40 1-in-15
$20 1-in-5
*Direct copy n' paste from the Florida Lottery web site.
I immediately rethought my impulse and was reminded of the famous quote (though stated for a very different game indeed) that the computer program named Joshua, controlling NORAD's W.O.P.R. super-computer, stated in a moment of silicon-chip epiphany in the film "War Games": "The only way to win the game is not to play at all."