(or the equivalent of your local currency if your country doesn’t use US dollars.)
The lottery ticket comes with mystery and suspense. Even if you could buy more tickets with the $5, the ticket has more value to me based on its origin. What if the street man is a wizard or from the future? Gimme that ticket, future street wizard.
My thoughts exactly. If I win the lottery from a ticket I bought with a found $5, that’s a fun story.
If I won the lottery from a street wizard ticket? Legendary.
Until he tracks you down to demand the money
If you win, everyone that knows about it will track you down and try to get something. The trick is to not let anyone know.
I most likely would point to my headphones and pretend I didn’t hear him talking to me because I don’t want random strangers approaching me on the street for any reason!
A lottery ticket because it can provide momentarily some fun and excitement while the equivalent of a dollar can not.
Edit: *five dollars. I’d still pick the lottery ticket because why not.
But with the cash you’ve got options. You could still place a bet on something if you wanted if you wanted that moment of excitement. You’ve just now got the option to pick something that has better odds or something you think you have some knowledge about than a completely random lottery.
I’ll take the £5. That way if I wanted I could get two lottery tickets and a scrarchcard.
Though in truth I’d forget about it because I only ever use card then a year later think why the hell do I have a fiver in my wallet.
Sorry man $5 is only £3.94. I don’t think you can get that scratcher.
We’re talking about money, not squiggles.
I would take the lottery ticket because five dollars is equally meaningless to me.
I’d take the lotto ticket. I know my chances are a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, but I like the idea of it being a gamble. I wish we could have a lottery in Utah - apparently it’s against “god’s law” to have gambling, for some reason - they say because it causes addiction. Well you should see how addicted to food and sugary drinks people in Utah are. Give me a game to play so I won’t have to see that all around me.
I used to work for a company based in Draper, Utah. Once while visiting headquarters I had one of my Utah-native coworkers tell me that Utah is number one in the nation for Ice Cream, cosmetic surgery, and anti-depressants.
I can’t comment on the accuracy, but it just feels right.
That is actually true, we are the number one state for cosmetic surgery and for ice cream - and also for those fizzy drink places where you can mix your own super-sugary drink from several choices.
We’re also number one on the list of states for teen suicide and depression. But of course the new bills passed by the legislature to forbid diversity in schools and prevent LGBTQ and trans teens from receiving any medical or psychological aid, will CERTAINLY help.
Don’t lottery tickets cost like $1?
$3 for PowerBall with PowerPlay ($2+1)
The winning move is to take the $5
Not anymore they don’t. The cheapest you can get around here is like $3.
As low as $1 but they can go up to $50+
They’re $5 where I am, $7 if you include the add-ons
A mega sena (popular lottery ticket in Brazil) costs five reals if you fill it with six numbers. So I’d certainly pick the 5 reals bill, as the expected value per real is always smaller.
The picture changes if the ticket was filled with more numbers; if you hit any six then you get the jackpot, and it’s accordingly more expensive (seven numbers for R$35,00; eight for R$140,00). For those I’d need to do the maths, but there are complicating factors:
- if multiple people hit the jackpot, the prize gets split
- there’s a secondary prize if you hit five numbers, and a tertiary one if you hit four
- the jackpot varies quite a bit from one draw to another, as it accumulates if nobody hit it in the previous draw
To simplify it: let’s say that only the primary prize counts, it’s around 30 million reals (typical value), and that your odds are one in 50 million. Then the expected value becomes:
- with 6 numbers: R$30M/50M = R$0,60
- with 7 numbers: 7*(R$0,60) = R$4,20
- with 8 numbers: 8*(R$4,20) = R$33,60
The five reals bill is still more valuable than a mega sena ticket with seven numbers, even if it costs R$35. But if it was eight, I’d pick the ticket.
Internet says a New York Powerball ticket costs $2 to $3 so I’ll be taking the $5 thanks a lot street man
The ticket in the picture has 5 plays which means it’s at least $10, $15 with powerplay or double play, or $20 with both. If the ticket in the picture isn’t what we’re getting then it can range from the $2 single play ticket to an $800 ticket with 20 plays at $4/play ($2 + $1powerplay + $1double play) for 10 draws (at least that’s what I could get here in Iowa, the max amount of draws on a ticket is per-state).
Bwoah that’s interesting thanks for the details!
That sounds hella sus… I’m not sure I’d take either, fearing some scam? At worst I lose out on $5 or whatever, while at best I avoid whatever would have happened had I accepted.
Yeah, life makes you jaded doesn’t it? :-P
5 dollars, you can buy some great old video game on sale and have fun for hours.
I’d take the five bucks, because I can always use a little cash in my wallet for tips but the lottery ticket is likely to be worthless.
I played this game for Christmas with my parents! For fun, they offered me $10 or a scratch-off. For the heck of it, I took the scratch-off and won $40. With the way my luck went last month, I’d have to pick the lottery ticket.
I’ll take the $5 every time.
Give money please
