According to the website, a lucky retailer must have
- -Sold at least one $100,000 or higher winning ticket.
- -Paid out an average of 400 winning tickets per week.
- -Paid out an average of $4,000 in winning tickets
I'm going to go on the record to say the term or sales pitch called a lucky retailer is a bunch of bullshit!
It's just a marketing tactic to get people into a store to buy lottery tickets that you will probably never see a return on. A retailer becomes a lucky retailer by sheer numbers of sales. It's like carpet bombing. Instead of dropping just one bomb on a target hoping it hits the bulls-eye, drop hundreds. You're sure to hit something then!
But let me explain why there is really no such thing as a lucky retailer...
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I was first presented with the premise of a lucky lottery ticket seller when my local news station did a focus piece on the lines of people going around the corner at one particular store in Los Angeles. I took a look at it and I instantly recognized what was going on.
Let me explain what's happening by creating what I think is an easy to grasp concept to make my point.
For my 'easy to grasp concept,' I'm going to make a pretend city with five lottery ticket sellers. I'm going to suggest that in this fantasy example, 20% of all people that buy lottery tickets will win something.
Now let's look at how many people hit up these 10 different stores to buy lottery tickets.
Store one: 50 people buy tickets.
Store two: 20 "
Store three: 40 "
Store four: 500 "
Store five: 100 "
If you do the math where 20% of all lottery buyers win something, you can see how many people win at each store:
one: 10 winners
two: 4
three: 8
four: 100 <--- a="" it="" look="" lucky="" nbsp="" oh="" p="" retailer="" s="">five: 20
Because Store Four has the most players, they will mathematically have the most winners. Which means that now the lottery commission can call Store Four the lucky lottery retailer! Of course now they can market this store as the lucky retailer in the hopes of driving more people to the retailer, guaranteeing that the store not only keeps this moniker, but will probably build on it as more people will flock to it. It also, sadly, keeps lottery ticket sales momentum too.
And of course, unlike you, my smart readers, when non-mathematical people see that a store is lucky, they'll make a point to try and get there and buy a ticket, in the hopes of winning it big. But they haven't changed their own odds in winning a lottery draw, they've only made one store look like a really great place to go try and buy a ticket at.
Yes, this store is "lucky," but the players odds are still 18 million to 1 at winning, no matter how many people walk away form the store as some kind of winner.
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I once did a lottery simulation of buying $100 worth of tickets on a Wednesday and a Saturday, then applied those numbers to the past year's worth of drawings. At $200 per week, for 52 weeks, spending a simulated $10,400, I would have won $10. Woo hoo!
It's pretty shameful that the CA Lottery site pushes this concept of lucky stores. This potentially sends people who don't have that much money to the place in the hopes of winning some cash. I mean, sure, let's all pile on in to 'store four' and buy a lottery ticket. But if you head out to buy a ticket there, let's take a look at what kind of odds you're really working with:
- -The odds of winning Super Lotto are 1 in 18 million.
- -The odds of winning the lottery, period, are 1 in 15 million.
- -If one person purchases 50 Lotto tickets each week, they will win the jackpot about once every 5,000 years.
- -If your car gets 25 mpg, and you buy a gallon of gas for every ticket you buy, you'll have enough gas for 750 round trips to the moon and back before you win.
- -The odds are greater to get a royal flush on an opening hand in poker than winning the lottery. (1 in 649,739)
- -The odds are better for getting killed by terrorists while traveling abroad (1 in 650,000)
- -You have much better odds at croaking from heart disease from eating a broiled steak once a week (1 in 48,000) than winning the lottery.
- -Heck, you have better chances at getting hit by lightning (1 in 30,000) At least you might be able to parlay getting hit by lightning into some kind of book or TV movie for cash!
To be honest, it is so sad to watch people who can barely afford life standing in line and buying a concoction of lottery tickets in the hopes of making their life a better situation. It doesn't help that some retailers shamelessly put up all the winning tickets on the walls to bait people to keep buying
But I get the desperation. It would be nice to be able to win a chunk of money and be able to take life easy. Just beware... 70% of all big lottery winners go broke within seven years of winning. Many wish they never won. This is a scary and fascinating piece about winners really bad experience.
If you search for "Lottery winners gone broke," there are way too many results out there!
Set the stage early in the tiny chance you win the lottery. Make sure you make it clear to all around you that you don't loan money to people. (Friends hound the lottery winners for money) Other folks become fake friends. Others blow through their winnings without thinking much about it. Plan your spending or you will go broke!
I know when someone wins, "money managers" and "investors" will come calling. Let them... but then ignore all of them, do your own research, and find your own guy to help you invest wisely. Simple as that.
Now, all we have to do is win. OK, now I'm being a comedian!
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