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The Lottery Vs. The Slots.

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by Alexander, May 2, 2016.

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  1. Alexander

    Alexander MIA

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    I don't know about other Vegas Message Boards members on here, but I tend to be much more strict and restrictive with my Lottery Money than my slot money. With my Lottery ticket, I tell myself "No more than $50 in Lottery tickets, and actually usually stick to my self-imposed rule, most likely because with the Lottery draw games, you have to wait until the next drawing to see the results if you lost or won, and there are very rare draw tickets where you get the results instantly. Only two of my draw games are instant, and I tend to not spend much on scratch offs(lately scratch offs have been a waste, I actually remember saying today to the Lottery Cashier "Thank God I stopped playing so many scratch off tickets!" When 8 $1 tickets only gave me $2 back. And before that on a recent day, ALL of my scratch off tickets were losers.


    With the Slots, I tend to be much more loose and lenient with my slot money. It's easy for me to go into degenerate mode when I get a $50 off of a .20 cent bet. I tend to have a much higher budget for slots than for Lottery, because let's face it, pushing spin on a slot machine feels more fun than scratching off tickets and filling in numbers(Lottery), plus, you can place bets with just .20 where the lowest you can play in the Lottery is .50. Though I do know better than to put rent money and utilities/food money in a slot machine. The money I play is money that is set aside for fun and can be lost with no consequences
     
  2. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Well,many lottery games have only about a 50% return....scratchoffs are a bit higher, usually in the 60s, So whatever you do spend on the lottery should mostly be considered as lost money. I only play the lottery if Powerball/Mega Millions is jackpot is $300M+, and then only $10 per drawing.
     
  3. Suekel

    Suekel VIP Whale

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    As much as I enjoy gambling in Vegas, I'm not a big gambler otherwise. Like Tring, I usually only buy Lottery tickets if there is a big jackpot. Occasionally (like maybe < 10 times per year) my husband or I will grab some scratch offs to play.
     
  4. WichitaMuskie

    WichitaMuskie VIP Whale

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    I've probably spent about $20 in my life on the lottery. Not appealing to me.

    Lotteries are essentially a tax on the poor. With casino gambling, at least the patrons are more representative of the entire societal spectrum of income/wealth. Much less regressive.
     
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  5. deansrobinson

    deansrobinson VIP Whale

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    I generally only play the Florida Lottery & Powerball when the win is alarmingly excessive.
    Generally, if there's an office pool, I'm in because I don't want to be 'that guy'.

    Stupid-stition: Awritey, if I'm gonna play, I usually always buy my ticket at some desolate, out of the way, dusty crossroads joint when I'm on the road.
    I know, I know...it's a roll of the proverbial dice, but it seems to me (or I choose to remember it that way) that winning tickets are plucked from
    some place far away from what I call civilization (e.g. some po-dunk little town, not a major metropolitan area).
     
  6. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Hayseeds and Hail Marys!!!!
     
  7. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    I'm just going to ask the obvious question: You posted elsewhere that you make $1,000/month. And you spend how much each week on lottery? And you seem to gamble a lot, too, from your posts. How do you make this work?
     
  8. Alexander

    Alexander MIA

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    I would say $100 a month in Lottery and $300 a month in Casino Gambling. I have Entertainment money that I have saved up over the years that enables me to gamble $400 a month. :)
     
  9. Alexander

    Alexander MIA

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    I just won $80 of of a Quick Pick Cash 3 Advance play! :D I should have asked for it to be Straight/Box for $6, rather than Box for $3, as I would have won $330 as the Quick Pick came up in exact order! Drats! And, I had a feeling that my Play 4 numbers I picked on Saturday would come up soon, and lo and behold, the numbers I picked came up on today! Drats, I forgot to play them! I kicked myself for forgetting to play them today! I would have won $100! Drats! Advance plays are my friends in Lottery, I have to remember that.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2016
  10. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    Sorry, gonna need more than a blanket statement to support this notion.

    Nick:beer:
     
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  11. deansrobinson

    deansrobinson VIP Whale

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    Anecdotally, I have a stop out on a two-lane that is a convenience store & gas pumps. Every Friday, the poor, tired, huddled masses yearning to win big are there playing every rendition of lottery available. Which makes me wanna ask:

    When you go to Vegas...do you expect to win? By 'expect' I mean, using the frontal lobe part of your noggin.
    And if you do, do you expect to win 'big'. Do you have the same expectation with the lottery?

    For me, winning is nice, but not expected. I don't leave disappointed if I've exhausted all of my gaming budget.
     
  12. joespoolhall

    joespoolhall VIP Whale

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    The lottery here in Wa pays at a 60% rate. By law, the minimum a slot in Nevada can pay is 75%, but even most penny and nickles are 80%+ over the life of the machine. It would seem lottery is better except most buys are $20 or less and slot play is usually far more than that per hour wagered time hours played. Of course slots are a lot more fun to play than the lottery. Something else to remember about lottery is that buying multiple tickets doesn't change the odds much. The difference between buying $1 in tickets and $100 makes very little to bump your odds.

    Here in Wa tribal casinos offer "Las Vegas Style Machines." The technical term is Video Lottery Terminals, which pay 60%, same as the lottery. This is all they're allowed per their compact with feds allowing electronic games. What a bonus! The machines use the same graphics as Nv machines, but are programmed to pay far less.I would bet that 95% of the slot players in this state have no idea they're not playing a real slot.

    Good Luck!
    Ric at Joes
     
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  13. WichitaMuskie

    WichitaMuskie VIP Whale

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    A couple of months ago I was getting ready to play some video poker at the Resorts World casino at Aqueduct in New York City, and I was psyched to see that they had 9-6 JoB...until I looked closer and saw the sticker on the machine saying that the games were lottery terminals and that there was no skill element to the game. I had my cash back and was on the subway train back to the city five minutes later!
     
  14. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    Based on the few conversations I've had with people at WA casinos, you are correct on this statement. I save my gaming dollars for Vegas!
     
  15. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Yeah it's a shame that NY State-run racinos and WA state tribal casinos do this crap. I'm surprised there was a sticker warning you though!


    Using VLT is a confusing term nowadays...there are quite a few states where VLTs behave just like a Nevada slot machine now.

    And you really think they pay that low? 60% return will likely drive players away making it suboptimal for the casino. I thought most VLTs pay similarly to Vegas penny slots. It depends on the jurisdiction though. NY VLTs have to pay back at least 90%, but they unfortunately draw "virtual tickets" like WA does, so video poker skill is worthless, but for slots, it's similar game play. Maryland/Kansas VLTs (the casinos are technically connected with the lottery there so slots are technically called VLTs, but they behave exactly like Nevada slots) pay back 87% minimum. Ohio racinos, also managed by the state lottery, have an 85% minimum payback and again VLTs behave exactly like NV.

    But market forces make most machines to pay quite a bit higher than 75%. Usually at least 85%. I would be surprised if Washington's machines paid less than 80% on average. And there is apparently a minimum payback of 75% in WA machines according to the American Casino Guide.

    http://www.americancasinoguide.com/slot-machine-payback-statistics.html (near the bottom of the page)
     
  16. Alexander

    Alexander MIA

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    I had an extra $200 on me a few years back, and decided to play some scratch off tickets for about $60, I was shocked that I didn't even get half the money back! It was very telling that I only got about $28 in the scratch off tickets!
     
  17. Alexander

    Alexander MIA

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    I'm more and more inclined to like the Lottery over the slots, as I got my butt handed to me at a local Casino today. I walked in with roughly $20, left with $4! Luckily, I had picked the right Cash 3 numbers, 849, Box, had a strong feeling to play that number, and 984 showed up. :D Box means anyway the three numbers show up, you win. So, I won $40! I am thinking "Hooray! I won back twice what I lost in Casino today!" I played $9 in Lottery and saved the other $31.

    This is not the first time that The Lottery helped offset my losses from the same Casino. Last month, I lost some money at the same Casino and luckily I had three winning Lottery tickets that basically put me to even.
     
  18. LV_Bound

    LV_Bound VIP Whale

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    I play both but enjoy the slots more. The lottery doesn't provide bonus rounds.
    Plus the lottery seems more like a boom/bust and the slots have much more rewards in between.
     
  19. Alexander

    Alexander MIA

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    For Entertainment value, the slots are more fun, as Lottery is more like Math homework trying to see probabilities of which numbers will come up and pressing spins is more fun
     
  20. Alexander

    Alexander MIA

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    I won $75 on a .09 slot bet and lost my Lottery bets today(around $10 in Lottery bets). I am liking the slots more today. ;)
     
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