- You've played the lottery 1,421 times over about 14 years and spent $2,842, but won $242. You're in the hole $2,600. So why not throw some more money at that problem?
Ok.
If you want to take the full on hit of acid pay serious attention to the ads. Ads on Fox are an acid-tripping throwback to late-nite 90's TV. You can tell everything about the targeted demographic by watching the ads. Fox news was all walking aides, medicare assistance, BUY GOLD, and other old people concerns. I can't imagine they get a high rate on these ads.
The other TV I saw while home with my parents was almost all exclusively targeted at women. Watching NFL, I saw truck ads, and some Old Spice, but that was it. I even went looking for ads that are typically focused on men (trucks, cars, outdoorsy-stuff, Men's Health products etc) and the only place I ever saw them was during NFL.
And when did free to play mobile games get advertising budgets? Ads for free mobile games were everywhere.
I found this wildly interesting. Thanks for posting. It's amazing how powerful that little "what if?" voice is in our heads. Having never played the lottery, I can't speak from experience, but watching my co-workers contribute to a pool week after week sort of boggles my mind. because... you know... what if?
- You've played the lottery 19,187 times over about 184 years and spent $38,374, but won $3,474. You're in the hole $34,900. So why not throw some more money at that problem?
I'm sending this to my coworker who runs the office pool (that I don't participate in). I kind of hope they win because they're mostly pretty great people and I think it'd be kind of amazing.
- Powerball Simulator
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
You thought you almost won, but were mistaken due to your misconception of probability!
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
Small consolation prize!
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
You didn't win!
...ok, you get it.
Edit: and I wrote this before I clicked through to the website's link
They recently tweaked the Powerball system to not only have bigger jackpots, but more smaller payouts. There is evidence that winning small payouts occasionally tends to make people play more.
I wonder if there is a correlation in civic engagement. Consider that in the US congressional elections, unless you pick a Republican or a Democrat, you have very little hope of picking the winning candidate. That might further suppress voting of people that do not align with the two major parties. In a parliamentary system, it's more likely that a candidate that aligns with your politics can get a seat, which in turn, might improve voter turnout, and by invested interest, civic engagement.