Win The Lottery

Information
“The Lottery Is Like A Tax On The Mathamatically Challenged.”
~ Oscar Wilde on The Lottery

How To Make Money With Losing Lottery Tickets

Learn how you can make money with those losing instant lottery tickets you have been throwing away.

Buying and scratching instant lottery tickets is something that almost everyone has done at one time or another. For some folks it's probably something they do too often. I guess for me, the bad buying habit is junk food. If I had spent my extra money on instant lottery tickets over the years, I may have been rich by now instead of overweight. Like anything, whether it's food or gambling one must do it in moderation, and that is often not easy to do. Here in the state of Pennsylvania where I live, the first scratch off ticket came out in 1975, and they have been a big hit every since.

I have bought instant lottery tickets of every available price range in my state. I usually buy the $1 - $2 tickets, but once in awhile I buy a $5 - $10 ticket, and one time, I purchased a $20 instant ticket. I won nothing on the $20 ticket, not even $1 or a FREE ticket, so that was like throwing away my $20. You would think that with having to spend that much money, they would give everyone at least a FREE $1 ticket or something. I thought afterwards that I was kind of foolish for spending and losing the $20 on one ticket, but heck as they say, "If you don't play, you can't win !", it was a gamble, and I didn't win that time. I have known two individuals who each won near $20,000 on instant lottery tickets. So I can say for sure, "yes, some folks do win it big." Unlike the live lottery that is usually drawn by picking numbers, the instant lottery is pre-determined months ahead of it's release. The tickets are designed and printed, then they are distributed to the lottery retailers throughout the state. Most small convenience stores offer instant lottery tickets, as well as the large chain stores. You can usually find them in a vending machine with multiple styles and price ranges to choose from, or they are at the cashiers area on the counter or behind a shielded section. Instant lottery tickets sell for as low as $1 and as high as $20 each in most states of the U.S. but some states may have tickets that sell for even more than $20 each.

States do instant lotteries to help fund many different programs. For instance in Pennsylvania, the lottery is used to generate funds to benefit programs for the Commonwealth's older residents. In Ohio, since 1974, the Lottery has provided more than $13 billion to public education. Annually, the lottery provides about 4.5 percent of the funding needed for Ohio's public education. In Missouri, approximately 27.3 cents of every dollar spent on the Lottery benefits education programs; 61.6 cents goes back to players as prizes, 5 cents is used for administrative costs and 6.1 cents goes to retailers in the form of commissions, incentives and bonuses. In all, more than 93 cents of every dollar stays in Missouri. It's different for every state, but the lottery is very beneficial despite the few problems it can cause to some, in the form of gambling addictions. Most folks buy instant (scratch off) tickets, and if they don't win anything, they throw the tickets in the trash. Did you know that every time you throw a losing instant lottery ticket in the trash, you are throwing money away ? Yes, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of folks around the world that would love to buy your tickets from you. I have seen losing lottery tickets sell for as high as $15 each, these were tickets that had no redeemable value. I once went to a local convenience store and asked them if I could have a bag of losing instant lottery tickets I saw they had on the floor behind the counter. The clerk gladly gave them to me, I took the tickets home and after checking through them all, I found two that were $1 winners that were not redeemed, and I sold the remaining losing tickets for $30, and the store was just going to throw them away.

Where did I sell them ? On eBay. I happened to look one day and I noticed there was losing instant lottery tickets for sale on the eBay auction website. There are folks selling non-winning, so called 'worthless' lottery tickets on eBay all the time. I just did a search now while writing this article, and I found over 100 different auction listings for them. Who buys these non-winning lottery tickets ? Collectors. Instant Lottery Ticket collecting is fast becoming a big thing. There are groups and individuals all around the world, that love collecting lottery tickets. There are many websites, discussion groups and forums now just for lottery ticket collecting. In fact there is even a new term or name for an instant lottery ticket collector: LOTOLOGIST, and the instant lottery ticket collecting hobby is called: LOTOLOGY. To see how big this hobby is becoming just visit your favorite search engine, such as GOOGLE, and do a search for: lotologist OR lotology. And you can find many sites collecting, selling and buying used non-winning instant lottery tickets. One unique website is the 'Pennsylvania Lottery Merchandise Museum' - They will buy or accept donations of Pennsylvania Lottery Merchandise. The Museum has all of their lottery merchandise online for visitors to easily view, you can visit the museum at this website address: http://www.rb59.com/palot.htm There is Computer Software that is made just for collecting instant lottery tickets. The software is called: ' Lottery Ticket Collector Professional ', you can download and try the software for free at this website address: http://www.rb59.com/ltcpro

By Robert W. BenjaminCopyright © 2006 You may publish this article in your ezineHealth Fitness Articles, newsletter or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Robert W. Benjamin has been in the software business on the internet for over 5 years, and has been producing low-cost software for the past 25+ years. He first released software on the AMIGA and C64 computer systems in the late 1970's-80's.RB59 Softwarehttp://www.rb59.com/software

Lottery Winners

[Image] Strangely enough, winning millions in the lottery can be the worst thing that ever happened to you. The money can strain relationships with your spouse and relatives. It can turn your friends and neighbors into leeches. It can ruin your privacy. It can cause security problems, threaten your physical safety. Paradoxically, it can lead you down the road to bankruptcy.

And, of course, it can also turn you into a raging asshole.

Tips for the Latest Instant Millionaire

[Bear in mind that none of us is a lawyer or a lottery millionaire, so these recommendations are anything but authoritative. Caveat emptor, you rich bastard.]

It's great to be rich, but fame is a bitch. So your primary mission is to claim the money without divulging your identity or having a mental breakdown. Here's how to do it:

  1. Don't tell anyone. The single most important rule for maintaining sanity after winning the lottery is: Do everything you can to keep your precious anonymity intact. Of course that means keeping your goddamned mouth shut. Don't share the news with your friends, neighbors, coworkers, or family. Resist even the urge to tell your spouse or significant other, at least for the time being. Otherwise you will have forever blown your one chance at being anonymous. You can always spill the beans later, after all the excitement has died down.
  2. Don't sign the ticket. After you write your name on that ticket, you might as well call up and announce the news to your local TV stations and newspapers. Remember that the state lottery commission will publicize the identity of every claimant. Toss the ticket into a clean Ziploc bag (to avoid spills, etc.) and temporarily stash it someplace away from excessive heat, sunlight, pets, children, roommates, coworkers, etc. Make sure it's someplace safe that you won't forget.

  3. Act casual. Maintain your normal routine. Continue to attend work, school, church, social functions, etc. Whatever's typical for you. When people ask you what's up, refer to rule number one.
  4. Make a few photocopies. At your earliest opportunity, take a trip to a 24-hour Kinko's around 2am when nobody's around and make six copies of the ticket, both front and back. Use one of the self-serve machines and take any and all bad copies with you (i.e. leave none in the trash). And before you leave, doublecheck to make sure you didn't leave the original in the machine.
  5. Rent a safe-deposit box. Contact your bank and see if they have any vacant safe deposit boxes, tell them you're going on a trip and need to store some documents for a few months. Make a point of asking them how much it costs, even though you couldn't care less. You're trying to keep up appearances. When you go down to the bank in person to open your box, you will probably need some ID and your bank card. Bring the ticket, along with some other (fake) papers. Don't show them the ticket, obviously. Loose lips sink ships. Stash the ticket in the box and put the box key on your keyring. Don't lose the key.
  6. Open a blind trust. Hire a tax attorney. Once you're a client, the lawyer is legally bound to maintain your confidentiality. Tell them you want to open a blind trust in order to claim the lottery prize as an anonymous trustee. Provide three photocopies of your ticket. All contact with the lottery commission will be made through your lawyer.
  7. Contact a financial planner. Rich people don't tend to stay that way without a little planning. If you have the choice between annual payments and a single large payout, you should consider the big jackpot. It's less money total, but it's probably about the same as the annuity if you take the lump sum and invest it in interest-bearing savings bonds. However, the single large payout may incur a higher tax rate. Ask your tax experts.
  8. Tie up any financial loose ends. No reason to procrastinate now. Pay all those traffic fines and parking tickets. Catch up on alimony or child support payments. Settle any debts. Instruct your financial planner to scrub those black marks off your credit score, but don't cancel your credit cards -- that'll screw up your rating. And don't think it won't matter anymore. It matters.
  9. Draft or update your last will and testament. If there were ever a time for estate planning, it's now. Be sure to remember us by including The Rotten Codicil in your will.
  10. Move away. And not just out of town. We're talking out of state, possibly out of the country. You can't expect to keep a lid on your secret forever; information wants to be free. Maybe buy a modest house with a good alarm system in a gated community with a private security force. That ought to minimize the solicitors at your door. Also be sure to get an unlisted phone number.

Timeline

28 Apr 1997 Lottery millionaire Michael Allen is bludgeoned to death in a Lewiston, Maine motel room.
22 May 1999 Billie Bob Harrell, Jr. commits suicide. In June 1997, Harrell won $31 million in the Texas state lottery.
4 Sep 2001 Patrick Collier randomly wins $1 million at a McDonald's in Holly Hill, Florida. "I'm getting a Harley and a couple of houses." Two weeks later, Collier is arrested for allegedly choking and punching his fiancee in the face.
19 Dec 2001 British lottery millionaire Phil Kitchen is found dead on his couch. Kitchen had apparently drunk himself to death (whiskey).
11 Jul 2002 British lottery winner Dennis Elwell dies at work, shortly after telling a coworker that he had drunk cyanide.
21 Apr 2003 $25 million lottery winner Richard Krenzer is stabbed six times by Randall Hillyard and his son at the Swillburg Stop Bar & Grill outside Rochester, NY.
29 Jun 2003 Lottery millionaire Jody Lee Taylor is arrested in Collinsville, Virginia for attempting to run over a sheriff's deputy. On the night of his arrest, Taylor was driving naked down the wrong side of U.S. Route 58 with his headlights off.
5 Aug 2003 After lottery millionaire Jack Whittaker passes out in a West Virginia strip bar, a burglar steals his briefcase containing $545,000 in negotiable bonds. The money is located in a trash dumpster the next morning.
13 Sep 2003 The London Telegraph reports that 16-year-old British lottery millionaire Callie Rogers has lost her boyfriend, fought with her father, been mugged, and been accused of stealing someone's man. "Some days I don't even want to leave my house because people just scream abuse at me. Two months ago I thought I was the luckiest teenager in Britain. But today I can say I have never felt so miserable."
15 Sep 2003 In his Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey home, lottery millionaire Oscar Cordoba repeatedly stabs his wife and her mother with a kitchen knife, killing the mother-in-law.
17 Oct 2003 In a program entitled Living with the Lottery Lout, ITV1 reports that British lottery millionaire Michael Carroll has completely alienated his neighbors in Swaffham, Norfolk by periodically staging loud, impromptu demolition derbies on his property.
18 Nov 2003 An English court issues a bench warrant for lottery millionaire Satish Patel, charged with defrauding the government for three years' worth of unemployment claims.
6 Jan 2004 After getting banned from Billy Sundays Bar and Grill in St Albans, West Virginia, lottery winner Jack Whittaker reportedly threatens to have the manager and his family killed.
20 Jan 2004 Lottery winner Jack Whittaker reports that shortly after dawn, somebody broke into his SUV in Scott Depot, West Virginia and stole a bag containing $100,000 cash.
25 Jan 2004 Lottery winner Jack Whittaker is arrested for drunk driving in Nitro, West Virginia. Police allege the millionaire blew a .190 blood alcohol on the breathalyzer.
Apr 2004 A judge rules that broke Virginia lottery millionaire Suzanne Mullins owes $154,146.50 to the People's Lottery Foundation, a Florida lending institution specializing in loans to lottery winners.
26 Jun 2004 At his Longmont, Colorado home, state lottery millionaire Kevin Lee Sutton allegedly shoots Cristobal Lopez in the head with a .22 caliber pistol. Lopez survives and Sutton is later charged with attempted murder.
20 Jul 2004 In Minneapolis, MN, lottery millionaire Victoria A. Zell reportedly crashes her SUV into a truck on the way home from a bar, killing passenger Joshua Schmidt and paralyzing Amity Dimock from the waist down.
7 Aug 2004 Incarcerated serial rapist Iorworth Hoare wins $12.9 million in the British lottery.
13 Aug 2004 The nonprofit group Equine Protection of North America files suit against New Hampshire lottery millionaire Mary Ellen Sanderson for failure to deliver on an alleged $70,000 annual donation pledge.
24 Aug 2004 An Arizona bird refuge, The Oasis Sanctuary, files suit against New Hampshire lottery millionaires Mary Ellen Sanderson and former husband Jason Sanderson for failure to deliver on an alleged $100,000 annual donation pledge.
Sep 2004 Minnesota lottery millionaire Victoria A. Zell is arrested for having allegedly violated the terms of her bail and possessing 0.7 grams of methamphetamine. Zell had also reportedly wired $500,000 to a Canadian bank.
10 Oct 2004 Seattle police officers shoot California lottery millionaire Rick Camat to death in a parking lot near Qwest Field. Officers claim that Camat refused to drop his pistol, but Camat's brother claims the cops give him no instructions to do so.
2 Oct 2005 Having spent his $10 million prize in just seven years, Winnipeg lottery winner Gerald Muswagon hangs himself. Notable events in his monied spree include a high-speed chase in 2000 and a sexual assault arrest in 2002.
28 Oct 2005 Million dollar jackpot winner Christina Goodenow is arrested after Oregon police discover that she had purchased the winning ticket with a credit card stolen from her dead mother-in-law. Police searching her home discover her stash of methamphetamine, but find no trace of her first $33,500 installment.
15 Jan 2006 Bankrupt ex-lottery millionaire William "Bud" Post III dies of respiratory failure in Seneca, Pennsylvania. Post had won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery on February 24, 1988. From a 1993 interview: "Everybody dreams of winning money, but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork, or the problems."

Hack the Lottery

Overview

Most states have a lottery these days. Even though gambling is illegal in most states, somehow the lottery is different. I won't go into explaining the hypocrisy in that scenario, as that is not the point of this article. It should suffice to say that the money is supposed to go to the state governments, which justifies the exclusion from the rules.

Regardless of that debate, I would like to shed some light on how the lottery works and settle the debate on why (or why not) to play the lottery. I will use some formulas and mathematical functions to explain the logic, but hopefully the text of this article will teach you how to analyze your specific lottery and not rely on the specific examples that I used. I think the point will still be understood.

Logistics

Let's talk about how the lottery works. First of all, it is important to know that each states rules may vary, but they usually have some physical procedures in common. Most states use different sets of ping-pong balls that they rotate in and out of use. This is to avoid the possibility that a set may have something wrong with it which could skew the odds. It could have a ball that is lighter than the others, has a hole in it, or that could be dirty. Along the same lines, the machines that pick the balls are usually rotated in and out of use and calibrated regularly as well. This prevents the machines from malfunctioning and ensures that they haven't been tampered with. Finally, to make sure that the controlled environment stays controlled, an independant auditing firm verifies all of the equipment, the environment, and the people involved are all checked to avoid foul play. The bottom line is that this is a controlled environment! You have to accept that to continue.

Each state varies, but let's pick some arbitrary examples. Let's say you have to match 6 numbers, in any order, out of balls numbered 1 through 50. you pick 6 numbers hoping to match all 6 of the balls pulled from the tumbler. When the first ball is pulled, you have a 6 in 50 chance of being correct with one of your numbers. That is pretty clear common sense thinking right? OK, so you actually get lucky and one of the numbers you had is pulled from the tumbler! lucky you! Now on to ball two.

So the first ball is drawn and now there are 49 balls left. You still have 5 numbers to match. Your chances of getting the next pick are even better now that there are only 49 balls left, right? Not exactly...as a matter of fact, not even close.

Statistics

Let's preface by saying that all numbers are rounded for the sake of readability. Now the specific area of statistics we are discussing here is probability. What are the chances that an event will happen? You have given information to begin with and a mathematical basis upon which to calculate. The most helpful concept is that of a factorial.

A factorial is notated using a "!" after the number. It usually is located on your scientific calculator as "n!". 3! is a factorial of 3 which simply means (3 * 2 * 1) which is 6. That one is easy to do in your head, but what is 50! without using a calculator?

Now don't go get all bent out of shape, it is a long process with lots of numbers, but it isn't as difficult as it sounds. You can calculate the probability of each individual pick and then multiply them all together to get the final probability. Note that the order of the numbers is unimportant. It doesn't matter if your picks are in the same order as the drawing. If they were, it changes everything and the odds skyrocket astronomically.

Luckily, there are formulas that we can use to apply the factorial notation to the problem at hand. But before we go into that, let's solve this the old fashioned way.

Procedure

Let n = the number of balls in the lottery and therefore the highest possible number that you can choose.

Let x = the number of picks that must be made correctly to win.

Since you have chosen 6 numbers, the chances of getting one of your 6 numbers number correct out of 50 is:

(n/x) = (50/6) = 6 in 50 (or 1 in 8.333)

Now let's take a step up to see the chances of getting 2 of the 6 picks correct. The odds of getting the first pick do not change. You still have that same chance, but the odds of getting 2 numbers right increases quite a bit. To figure out the chances of getting the second number, you have to consider that you now have one less ball, and one less pick left to match. You now have a 5 in 49 chance of getting that second pick alone (1 in 9.8). Unfortunately, that is very much related to your previous pick. It is not a simple matter of getting each pick independantly of one another. Statistically, the chances are multiplied for each pick that must be made because you have to get BOTH of the numbers.

(50/6) * (49/5) = (8.333 * 9.8) = 1 in 81.666

Now those odds are a little bit tougher now, aren't they? Logically, you may see the progression as the odds for each pick becomes higher and higher individually. Your odds of picking the final ball are 1 in 45 (remember that you started at 1 in 8.333 for the first ball). Take each individual chance of a correct pick and multiply it by each one of the others. This combined with the odds of getting ALL of the picks correct generates the following calculation.

(50/6) * (49/5) * (48/4) * (47/3) * (46/2) * (45/1) = 1 in 15,890,700

So if your state increases in population and/or you have people winning too often, then you may notice that they add 1 extra ball to the lottery. Redo the calculations above and notice the difference that adding 1 ball to the lottery can have on the overall odds of winning. Keep in mind that every entry is another dollar taken in by the state.

This is why some states also have a powerball lottery that is shared with other states. Since the population is higher when combining the potential audience of multiple states, the powerball allow some control over the probability. the calculation is based on the same principal, but instead of your final pick being a 1 in 45 chance (still using the example earlier) it is now a 1 in 50 chance (Assuming the powerball goes up to 50). Since you are only picking 5 balls from the original pool, you also only get a 5 in 50 probability to start with (which is 1 in 10 for your first pick compared to the 1 in 8.33 in the previous example). When you multiply that new equation out, you see the following...

(50/5) * (49/4) * (48/3) * (47/2) * (46/1) * (50/1) = 1 in 105,938,000

By adjusting how high the powerball can be, the probablity can be predicted much better. Recalculate the odds with a powerball of only 30 and notice the difference.

Application

Earlier I mentioned the term "factorial". I also mentioned that the order of the picks was unimportant. Because of this, there is a special rule that can be used to calculate the probability using factorials. This lets you use a calculator and save a lot of time. This is a special case called a binomial coefficient. A binomial coefficient has a special formula and notation that can be used to calculate the same probability. It is as follows.

          n!
nCx = ----------
(n-x)!x!

Again, the same assumptions earlier are in force. "n" is still the number of balls and "x" is the number of picks. Our friend the factorial helps us out here. In our case:

          50!                          50!
50C6 = --------- can be reduced to: -------
(50-6)!6! 44!6!


Now, you may have to look at this closely, but remember the definition of a factorial and you can reduce this formula even further based on the logic and understanding of what a factorial is. 50! means 50 * 49 * 48 etc.. and 44! means 44 * 43 * 42 etc... correct? Well, 50 is obviously larger than 44. Once you get to ... 44 * 43 * 42... you are going to be overlapping numbers in the denominator, or bottom of the equation! Since basic algebra tells you that a 44 in the numerator will cancel out a 44 in the denominator, the same holds true for factorials. In the following equation, the 44! in the numerator and the 44! in the denominator can be cancelled out:

50 * 49 * 48 * 47 * 46 * 45 * 44!          50 * 49 * 48 * 47 * 46 * 45
--------------------------------- leaving ---------------------------
44! * 6! 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1

44! is the same as writing out all of the numbers on the bottom and crossing them out with all of the numbers on the top. We recognized ahead of time that this would happen and saved ourselves some time and space. You can write them out if you feel more comfortable visualizing the whole thing, but you will be using a lot of paper.

Now you find yourself looking at a simple multiplication and division problem. Calculate the equation the rest of the way out, and what number do you get? I'll bet that it is 15,890,700. And you can easily calculate the factorial portion of these equations on your trusty scientific calculator. The really good ones include the binomial coefficient formula built in and you simply enter the "n" followed by the key and then the "x" and magically your answer appears! It is not magic, it is mathematics.

Myths

OK, so you want to try and "trick" the system and increase your odds. Unfortunately, you can't trick statistics and you can't trick mathematics. One of the more common tactics that I see people trying is to combine their money together as a group, usually at their job, to increase their chances of winning. On the surface it looks like you are increasing your odds of winning by having 20 chances to win instead of just 1. Technically, it is a true statement. Unfortunately, it is a negligable amount of an increase compared to the loss you would get by splitting the money with your co-workers.

Method of number choice is another point of question. Does it help to pick your birthday and the birthdays of your family? What about autopicks from the register. Are those more likely to win? Or less likely to win because the machine is "fixed"? Should you stay away from patterns like 1,2,3,4,5,6 and scatter your numbers across the board? The answer is simple. Since history has no effect on picks, and since logistically the machines, balls, and people are verified by an independant accounting firm, the picks cannot be "rigged". All numbers have an equal chance of coming up at any given time.

Some people think that there are patterns that emerge in the lottery picks. They think that some balls simply have a tendancy to occur more than others. This is simply not true. Individual numbers picked during the lottery change, but the chances of numbers over the career of the lottery will remain constant. Many lottery sites post historical picks for people to look for patterns or analyze the hell out of the numbers. This is all smoke and mirrors. They are perfectly happy to provide these numbers because they know that there is no pattern. If it convinces people to play more using their "pattern conspiracy theories", they will happily allow you to mislead yourself.

Did you really think you were the first to think of the old "play every combination" trick? Let me remind you that you would need almost 16 million dollars to play every combination! Even if you could somehow convince a bank or someone to back you on that bet, I pose two questions: Why would they need you when they could do it themselves? And what if someone else actually gets lucky and you have to split it with someone else? Oops! Don't forget about the government and the tax people!

Summary

The lottery, like most casino games, are fixed. I do not mean to say fixed as in, "they are cheating", but fixed statistically. Statistics are analyzed long before it is ever introduced. They know the odds, and they know how often they will win and how much they will make compared to how much they will have to pay out. The lottery will always, in the long run, benefit the states. They cannot lose. I know that is not what you expected to hear.

So how do you hack the lottery? I can sum up the answer to this question in two words. "Don't Play". The only time the lottery was "hacked" was in 1980 in Pennsylvania and it involved tampering with the mechanics of the game, something that is now very controlled. If you are still interested in this story, you can look it up on the internet quite easily. Keep your hard earned money in your pocket and don't let them take it from you under some false dreams of winning. If you play the lottery, they actually hacked you.