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> Have you ever seen a wealthy person play the lottery?

I am one. Although, I only enter once per drawing, and only when the pot is large enough that I can pretend it's +EV.

There's a lot of games where I can't even pretend it's even close to reasonable odds, and I don't get much entertainment, so I'll leave those alone.

I do think casinos tend to be regulated to pay back a way higher % than lotteries though.

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I don't think this EV means what you think it means :)

Look, when the lump sum jackpot is greater than cost to play * number of possible selections, and I assume that only I will win, then it's a good move to play. The trick is not looking at the financially nonsense sum of payments advertised total. Anyone who was taken business finance knows you can't add a dollar today with a dollar in a year; they're not the same unit; but it makes a better advertised number, so there you go.

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