Lottery ticket is something I do not believe in. Although I remember getting an absolute zero in the probability exam in my IIT coaching classes, the probability that I would win a lottery ticket, is a thing I am absolutely sure about.
p=0
I would rather spend a dollar for a cup of hot cappucino available in the pantries rather than buy a lottery ticket and wait on it for a month or so to ensure I did not win. But, today as I went to work in the morning and stopped for coffee, I found a person buying a lottery ticket at the pantry. In my 7.5 years in USA, I have never seen a lottery ticket. This made me curious. Of course it would be silly to ask the pantry staff to give me one so that I can look at it and give back. So, I decided to become more stupid.
I bought a lottery ticket - $1.
This was a ticket the result for which I did not have to wait for. It was a "scratch and see" - instant ticket. I was happy that I did not have to wait for a considerable amount of time to make myself sure of being a loser. I need not even contemplate on what I would be able to do if I got a free $1000 (well..I am modest in expectations). So there was the ticket in my hand staring at me..Waiting to be scratched...
There were 9 dots arranged in tic-tac-toe fashion concealing the underlying numbers/figures and 1 more which would tell me the prize. Thus I knew neither the prize nor if would win. Now that makes it doubly complicated. With most of the Indian tickets, you would know the price. Here even the price was unknown. So the actual probability of winning a good or decent prize has gone down further..I told myself.
The condition was that I must get the 3 figures of shrimp on the diagonal or a line of the tic-tac-toe. I scratched them... And to my unbridled excitement, I found my theory "I can never win a lottery" substantiated ! Yes! I did NOT win ! Aaah..Predictable ain't it ? Life is simple in that case !
Now for the prize money had I won the lottery. The big dot was waiting to be scratched. I was wondering if it was really necessary to scratch it since I had not won anyway. But the curious cat in me urged me to scratch that too. And I scratched off..
I could not believe myself ! It was simply incredible ! Guess what the price money was ?!
$1.00
I could not suppress my laughter to know how probability works out in my case ! I spent a dollar and some of my time to sratch 9 buttons to find I am a loser. And one more scratch tells me that the "prize money" would have just made me break-even !
So technically speaking I lost a dollar, and some time in search of a free dollar. There can be only one term to call myself - superloser. Well with the curiosity being suppressed brutally, I have become utterly confident about my chances with such things. I would be better off saving the dollars I earn than go behind some free prize money. A lesson very well learnt !!
p=0
I would rather spend a dollar for a cup of hot cappucino available in the pantries rather than buy a lottery ticket and wait on it for a month or so to ensure I did not win. But, today as I went to work in the morning and stopped for coffee, I found a person buying a lottery ticket at the pantry. In my 7.5 years in USA, I have never seen a lottery ticket. This made me curious. Of course it would be silly to ask the pantry staff to give me one so that I can look at it and give back. So, I decided to become more stupid.
I bought a lottery ticket - $1.
This was a ticket the result for which I did not have to wait for. It was a "scratch and see" - instant ticket. I was happy that I did not have to wait for a considerable amount of time to make myself sure of being a loser. I need not even contemplate on what I would be able to do if I got a free $1000 (well..I am modest in expectations). So there was the ticket in my hand staring at me..Waiting to be scratched...
There were 9 dots arranged in tic-tac-toe fashion concealing the underlying numbers/figures and 1 more which would tell me the prize. Thus I knew neither the prize nor if would win. Now that makes it doubly complicated. With most of the Indian tickets, you would know the price. Here even the price was unknown. So the actual probability of winning a good or decent prize has gone down further..I told myself.
The condition was that I must get the 3 figures of shrimp on the diagonal or a line of the tic-tac-toe. I scratched them... And to my unbridled excitement, I found my theory "I can never win a lottery" substantiated ! Yes! I did NOT win ! Aaah..Predictable ain't it ? Life is simple in that case !
Now for the prize money had I won the lottery. The big dot was waiting to be scratched. I was wondering if it was really necessary to scratch it since I had not won anyway. But the curious cat in me urged me to scratch that too. And I scratched off..
I could not believe myself ! It was simply incredible ! Guess what the price money was ?!
$1.00
I could not suppress my laughter to know how probability works out in my case ! I spent a dollar and some of my time to sratch 9 buttons to find I am a loser. And one more scratch tells me that the "prize money" would have just made me break-even !
So technically speaking I lost a dollar, and some time in search of a free dollar. There can be only one term to call myself - superloser. Well with the curiosity being suppressed brutally, I have become utterly confident about my chances with such things. I would be better off saving the dollars I earn than go behind some free prize money. A lesson very well learnt !!
HAHAH!
ReplyDeleteThese things are very popular in India now, even so than before. There's something called the Superloto or something, with most potti kadais survive on these sales ( & not for tea and porai as they were intended to be )
(-:
LOL!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThats life !!
ReplyDeleteChances missed or taken ;)
I read in today's post about someone winning the super lottery and has not come forward to claim the prize.
And here you are ;)
vara vara postings idaiveLi jaasthi aagiRa maadhiri irukku!
ReplyDeleteadikkadi pOdu, naNbaa!
hehe..persaasai perunashtam....LOL :)
ReplyDeleteJust read; Powerball jackpot for $385 million was won by a group of eight and I think each of them spent only a $1 and the probability was 1:148 million. So, you never know.;-)
ReplyDeleteAlso, as far as I know this is the only legally accepted way of converting a dollar into a million in the shortest possible time, so why not give it a try ?
thank you guys.
ReplyDeletevj - things are just ok. Hope to seem them getting fine and better. Your MATH 511 may be right. But I am a special case :)
Prem:
Nice and different viewpoint. But when I know probability is so much against me, how would I just throw away a dollar ? :)
You are not alone.
ReplyDeleteThe chances of hit by a lightning is more than the chances of winning a lottery.
Atleast you won a $.
Yogi
Nice to know about your lottery winning experience. I thought you would have won more than that. Again, even I do not believe in Lottery ticket.
ReplyDeleteFolks:
ReplyDeleteI did NOT win. That is what I had lamented :)
ha ha
ReplyDeletedunno if u'd seen this earlier.
Here's a good read about lotto vs. PhD
[OT] - I made 4. TRS?
Murali, welcome back! Why no posts for a long time? I used to visit your blog everyday in the hope of seeing a new post or an audio post. Good that you resumed your post.
ReplyDeleteBharat - that was a cool one. thanks!
ReplyDeleteRavi - thanks for dropping by. It is 7:00 AM now and I have completed a sleepless 22.5 hrs of work. That is the crazy stuff going with my life. will try to write some stuff off and on..
hey enna sir??? romba busya?? kural kettu romba naal aachu...
ReplyDeletenyways.. hope things r goin on smooth at ur end...
lotto?? apdina enna?tumbleraaa???.. adhu lotta illa??...lol...
tata
sukku
MS, LOL! Free-ya varadhu Free-ya pogum(dont start thinking of loose motion :-)
ReplyDeleteSo, dont worry be happy
How queer is life. Assuming you HAD won that 1 dollar, I'm sure you would've been excited and happy! Though your net gain wouldve been zero, the fact that you have WON something itself is enough to get our adrenaline pumping:)..
ReplyDeleteDear Murali,
ReplyDeleteI am Kartik Kannan at Sulekha.com (www.Sulekha.com).
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kartik.kannan@gmail.com http://kartik.sulekha.com
Thanks for sharing your experience about lottery, It certainly helps me in participating in a raffle. My opinion about lottery is that we have to participate in a raffle first and keep your fingers cross of the out come, instead of calculating the probabilities of the result.
ReplyDelete