(or the equivalent of your local currency if your country doesn’t use US dollars.)
I’d take the five bucks, because I can always use a little cash in my wallet for tips but the lottery ticket is likely to be worthless.
That sounds hella sus… I’m not sure I’d take either, fearing some scam? At worst I lose out on $5 or whatever, while at best I avoid whatever would have happened had I accepted.
Yeah, life makes you jaded doesn’t it? :-P
I most likely would point to my headphones and pretend I didn’t hear him talking to me because I don’t want random strangers approaching me on the street for any reason!
I guess it shouldn’t be surprising to me that almost everyone here is picking the lotto ticket with how popular gambling is. I’m just disappointed in y’all.
I’m sure everyone’s first actual thought was to take the $5 because it’s the practical and “adult” thing to do, but then they were reminded of how dull and boring their choices have become and decided to have a little fun on the internet
I would take the lottery ticket because five dollars is equally meaningless to me.
$5. All day.
I’ll take the $5 every time.
I’ll take the £5. That way if I wanted I could get two lottery tickets and a scrarchcard.
Though in truth I’d forget about it because I only ever use card then a year later think why the hell do I have a fiver in my wallet.
We’re talking about money, not squiggles.
Give money please
A mega sena (popular lottery ticket in Brazil) costs five reals if you fill it with six numbers. So I’d certainly pick the 5 reals bill, as the expected value per real is always smaller.
The picture changes if the ticket was filled with more numbers; if you hit any six then you get the jackpot, and it’s accordingly more expensive (seven numbers for R$35,00; eight for R$140,00). For those I’d need to do the maths, but there are complicating factors:
- if multiple people hit the jackpot, the prize gets split
- there’s a secondary prize if you hit five numbers, and a tertiary one if you hit four
- the jackpot varies quite a bit from one draw to another, as it accumulates if nobody hit it in the previous draw
To simplify it: let’s say that only the primary prize counts, it’s around 30 million reals (typical value), and that your odds are one in 50 million. Then the expected value becomes:
- with 6 numbers: R$30M/50M = R$0,60
- with 7 numbers: 7*(R$0,60) = R$4,20
- with 8 numbers: 8*(R$4,20) = R$33,60
The five reals bill is still more valuable than a mega sena ticket with seven numbers, even if it costs R$35. But if it was eight, I’d pick the ticket.
I played this game for Christmas with my parents! For fun, they offered me $10 or a scratch-off. For the heck of it, I took the scratch-off and won $40. With the way my luck went last month, I’d have to pick the lottery ticket.
Internet says a New York Powerball ticket costs $2 to $3 so I’ll be taking the $5 thanks a lot street man
I’d take the lotto ticket. I know my chances are a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, but I like the idea of it being a gamble. I wish we could have a lottery in Utah - apparently it’s against “god’s law” to have gambling, for some reason - they say because it causes addiction. Well you should see how addicted to food and sugary drinks people in Utah are. Give me a game to play so I won’t have to see that all around me.
5 dollars, you can buy some great old video game on sale and have fun for hours.
