You Should Be Playing The Stinking Lottery

Look, I will be the first to tell you. Yes, indeed, playing the lottery is most of the time a complete and utter waste of money. And anyone who has followed me knows all too well that I don't like to waste money.

But, there is still that chance, however slight, that you could walk away with millions upon millions of dollars if you play the lottery.

I always look at it in the simplest of terms. The dollar or two I spend here and there playing the lottery is a drop in the bucket mostly, and there are many things I spend money on that are a total waste of money even if it does not seem like it.

Like being out running around taking care of errands, for example, and buying a 20 ounce bottle of Coke because I happen to get thirsty. How much is that 20 ounce bottle of Coke, folks? It's about $1.59.

But I am getting a bottle of Coke, you say. I am getting a VALUE for that bottle of Coke. That Coke, unlike that lottery ticket that will most likely lose, provides no value unless I win. But so long as I get to drink the Coke, I win.

Nope. Hear me out, here.

You overpaid for that 20 ounce bottle of Coke because you could have bought a 12 pack of cans, for example, for about $4. You would have gotten 144 ounces of Coke doing it that way. Your ultimate cost for 20 ounces of Coke, buying the 12 pack, would have only been 56 cents. You paid $1.03 more for that bottle of Coke than you needed to.

You WASTED over $1. And what's more, you probably would never have felt that way about it. To you, you got your Coke, and you paid a fair price, all is good.

At the end of the day the simplest fact is that someone has to win the lottery. Most likely, yes. It is true. It will NOT likely be you. But it most certainly will not be you if you don't have a ticket in your hand.

The odds may be totally against you to win anything significant by playing the lottery. But technically the odds are very much in your favor that you will pay more for a bottle of Coke than a 12 pack of cans.

I'd spend that extra $1 on a chance at winning millions any day over having a quick, refreshing, overpriced bottle of Coke.

I think you should too.