Playing the lottery
Americans spent over $80 billion dollars on lottery tickets in 2016. The average person spends about $700 a year in lottery tickets. The few dollars that spend every day, week or month adds up in the long term.
The odds winning a major jackpot lottery is about 1 in 292 million — unless the prizes grows, then many more casual players join in and the odds get far worse. Your odds at winning a few bucks aren’t much better. You odds now of winning $5 or less is about 1 in 92.
You should also keep in mind that your statistical futility in winning a jackpot lottery is being purposely kept from you. State lotteries are legally exempt from FTC mandated truth in advertising laws. Such laws mandate that TV advertising claims must be truthful, not misleading to consumers and bolstered by scientific proof. In fact, state lottery advertisements on TV were illegal until 1975.
