odds « verdure
odds
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Estimated odds of being struck by lightning in a given year: somewhere around 1:280,000 to 1:500,000 (Only about 10% of people who are struck by lightning are killed, though I still wouldn’t recommend going boating in a storm)
Odds of winning the Florida Powerball jackpot: 1:195,249,054
Odds of winning a share in the pool of Powerball tickets at my work: about 1:7,810,000

“About one out of every three people in the United States think that winning the lottery is the only way to become financially secure in their life.” That could be either because people just don’t get large numbers, or, as a commenter later states, that people feel that their career has no future. I would be mildly interested to see how this aligns with the group that thinks that the government shouldn’t be providing any social services.

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2 responses to “odds”

  1. The lottery is a tax that disproportionally affects the poor. The rich don’t need to spend a large portion of their income on false hope. They have actual hope. The poor, on the other hand, will buy these tickets religiously, praying to have their dreams come true.

    I think it is profoundly cruel.

  2. zanna says:

    It’s a way of joining in the office dynamic… of dreaming that we don’t have to come into work tomorrow. That sounds rather dysfunctional, actually. It looks like someone in Ohio won this time.

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