That’s right, but as you say isn’s the end of story. There is no value in purely mathematical terms, however, when you have no money 5 million or 50 million dollars sound about the same. Either way you can make sure you no longer have to work a single day of your life and will have every material thing you ever wanted up til now.
So there is no value in playing the lottery in the sense that a 1 dollar ticket only buys you a 1 in a 50 million shot of winning 10 million dollars.
There may be value, however, in paying the lottery in the sense that a 1 dollar ticket buys you a 1 in a 50 million shot of no longer having to work a single day of your life and having every material thing you ever wanted up til now.
I think people know that already. Reminding them in their face like that could only serve to ruin a part of their day and only spoilsports would want to do it. The only real function it could serve would be to make the people who put it there feel superior about themselves in the sense that those dumb people who play the lottery need their warnnings and their lectures.
i was thinking of the idea of a book promotion where buyers of the book could submit to a contest and gain rewards. that way everyone who submits a servay or something could get a prize and some winners could get a bigger prize.
warning lables are ok if consumers demand warning lables. i’m sure there would be collectables or morbid pictures sold as novalty, another reason consumers can demand lables is in food safty such as expiration dates. i’d much rather purchase food with a expiration date on it then without, that would scare the hell out of me to see a meat market selling meat without being able to give me information about the meat.
If by pro betors, you mean people who have special knowledge that tips the odds in their favor, such as in horse racing, then you might count these people as speculators. Problem is, they have no way of knowing the true weight of their knowledge and its effect on future outcomes, not any more than what the house knows and sets its odds at. Horses known to be very good also get very bad odds.
Perhaps you mean expert poker players who can make a living on poker. These people are engaged in arbitraging their skill at poker. They’re taking a risk that may or may not be in their favor and is constantly fluctuating according to the skill of their opponent. If they can consistently win, good for them.
There are actually professionals who compete at multiple forms of high-risk financial activity, they can deduct lottery tickets from their taxes as a business expense. Money can be made consistently at both poker and blackjack, and probably others as well.
Sure, but these are games where you’re not living or dying on straight odds, as you can bluff your opponent and read them. That’s a form of social arbitrage. If everyone’s cards were always visible it’d be straight betting and straight odds you couldn’t get around. Many games are straight odds like that with no room for any applied skill or special knowledge. Whenver you have applied skill there’s an element of arbitrage which can tip the odds in your favor.
Either way it’s still the form of betting. You’re betting you’re skilled enough to win consistently enough to earn a return.