Anyone still do the lottery?

axisus

I used to do it about twice a year, but the double whammy of doubling the cost (outrageous!) and switching win odds from 15 million to one to 45 million to one killed it stone dead in the water for me. Not done it since.

My gambling preference is Premium bonds. Not really a gamble as you can get your money back any time. I upped my stake up to quite a few grand about 17 months ago. Seven £25 wins thus far, still hoping for a big one ....

proggy

I do. I play the Thunder Ball, it's still only a pound and I've won £100 on two occasions.

slacker

I used to be in the syndicate at work. Their down to 3 now.

BigBearKris

I do. After every payday I buy ticket online for 4 weeks. I win 25, 60 quid every now and then.

Flink_Poyd

Lottery very infrequently nowadays, once every couple of months. I tend to buy more scratchcards than tickets as I seem to "win" more often. Can't remember the last time I "won" anything on the lottery. 

Grunfeld

I do a Thunder Ball every week. 
Bizarrely part of the appeal is that you don't have to share the top prize if there happen to be loads of other winners with you. 
I have this idea that the chances of me winning one of the others like the Lotto are so unlikely that I'd probably have to share £10m with 100 other bastards so I'd only walk away with £100k and we'd all hate each other.

TheMarlin

I don’t bother anymore, the cost has risen to much, and the chances of winning are now stupidly low.  

Its more of a stealth tax now, a game of ‘no chance’

richardhomer

When I had more money I did it every week.

Now I'm skint I never bother - it can look very like a tax on the poor on occasion....

merlin

My friend Henry says that you have as much chance winning the lottery whether you buy a ticket or not. I say that's ridiculous and I've stopped entering because I only won a measly 1.4 million last time. Hardly seems worth it...

WezV

I did it last week for the first time in years.  Didn't win.

the MIL gave us all a scratch card at xmas.  She was really put out when I won £100.

thumpingrug

Yep,  Have a direct debit set up for it so don't have to remember.  Took over running the family syndicate when FIL popped his clogs.  We seen to win every couple of months.  Usually about £10

Dominic

I was very enthusiastic the first couple of months that it came out ..................until a friend with Aspergers who worked as an insurance actuary pointed out that he had calculated that the probability of winning was lower than.................
A healthy 21 year old man who bought a ticket on a Thursday night being dead of natural causes before the Saturday night draw !
He has probably saved me many thousands1
Having said that ...........a boy who sat next to me in school in the 1960s parents won the football pools big time .

CHRISB50

I'm part of a syndicate at work. There's about 20 of us. We each put in 2 quid a week. 

The winnings are are put in a kitty and spent when there is a large jackpot. We've had over 100 lines loads of times. We still win zilch. 

I'd love to stop, but know if I do they'll fucking win. So I just carry on (losing). It really is a waste of money. 

Bygone_Tones

axisus said:

I used to do it about twice a year, but the double whammy of doubling the cost (outrageous!) and switching win odds from 15 million to one to 45 million to one killed it stone dead in the water for me. Not done it since.

Because you really stood a good chance when it was just 15 million to one.

paulnb57

Used to do the same numbers by direct debit, got sick of winning nothing, sacked it, don't miss it...

jonnyburgo

Premium bonds direct debit £100 a month win about 5 times a year never any less than that. That pisses all over any banks interest unfortunately. Always £25 wins exept for last year when we won £1000 the same week the car had a massive MOT fail so no enjoyment in spending that windfall.

notanon

merlin said:

My friend Henry says that you have as much chance winning the lottery whether you buy a ticket or not. I say that's ridiculous and I've stopped entering because I only won a measly 1.4 million last time. Hardly seems worth it...

Smart person :-) I would say insignificant difference so yeah, he is right!

fields5069

I still do a few lines per week. To my mind it's pretty futile, but I am seeing the results of lottery funding in my area so I'm happy enough. It may only be a few million here and there, but the canal's getting some much needed attention and I daresay some of the poorer areas of South Wales are seeing some action too.

CabbageCat

jonnyburgo said:

Premium bonds direct debit £100 a month win about 5 times a year never any less than that. That pisses all over any banks interest unfortunately.

They pay out 1.15% at the moment. There are plenty of places that will offer your more than that.

Emp_Fab

I love it when the rollover jackpot gets to silly money and suddenly people are queueing to buy tickets !  They want a chance of winning £104M but can't be arsed to get out of bed when it's "only" £4.7M.  I mean - what the fuck are you going to do with just £4.7M ?  It's the same as winning 20p.

Jalapeno

I dabble occasionally, mainly kidding myself any good sized win would improve my piss-poor pension situation.

My cousin won £100k a while back