

Ask YC: Have you, or anyone you know, won the lotto? - moog

How unlikely is it, really?
======
Shooter
Very unlikely, but I know three people that have won.

One of our neighbors won over $200 million in a tri-state lottery. They were
very nice, sociable people before their win. Everyone liked them.

After?

Well, they built a HUGE 'modern' house (30K+ feet or so, and it looked like
someone mixed a neon sign and a Lego set in a blender. It actually glowed in
pastels at night.) They basically lost all taste. That didn't go over well
with the neighborhood, but people still liked them and assumed it was just a
weird splurge. Then the father of the winning family accidentally ran over the
dog of one of our mutual friends with his new SUV. He had known the family
with the dog for years and had attended barbecues with them almost every
weekend in the summer. Their kids were on a soccer team together. The 'winner'
refused to even talk to them about the accident - no apologies and no
comforting words to the children of the family - because he was terrified they
would try to sue him to get his money. He became a HUGE dick. He was
eventually "shamed" out of our neighborhood, and he and his wife divorced. I
think they're still fighting over their dwindling assets now, about a dozen
years after their win. Their house was torn down and only their driveway gate
remains.

The second winner I know is one of my uncles. I bought him a six-pack and a
couple lotto tickets for Christmas as a joke once. He won around $2,500 with
one of the tickets. I've never bought a lottery ticket for myself. I don't
like the odds and I don't think I would do well with lots of money if I hadn't
earned it myself. The third person I know that won doesn't really count (he
became a client of my firm only because he had won and had assets to invest in
our venture fund. I never would have known him had he not won.)

In other probability news, I know two people that were struck by lightning ;-)
One of them was an alcoholic who worked for a beer distributor. He was
wheeling a handcart of brew into a pub when he got zapped. It blew out his
heels. He took it as a sign: no more drinking, new job. Now he's "born again"
and annoying. I liked him more as an alcoholic ;-) The other guy was just a
moron that must have missed the Ben Franklin story in school.

------
ratsbane
You're much more likely to be struck by lightning or bitten by a rattlesnake
than you are to win a lottery (even assuming you buy a ticket.) Not being
struck by lightning or bitten by a rattlesnake is one of my major goals and so
I never buy lottery tickets.

Investing in the stock market or starting a business is risky enough - but
with those activities you have much more control - and less potential for
needing CPR.

To answer the original question, though, no - no one I know has ever won the
lotto (or been bitten by a rattlesnake or struck by lightning.)

------
Flemlord
A founder's elderly mother in the first startup I ever joined won the lotto,
in the $100 million range. He he got swept up in the general excitement
surrounding the win and lost focus. The other founders booted him, but I'm
fuzzy on the details because I wasn't in "the loop" at the time.

------
ken
My dad won $1 off a lotto ticket somebody gave him as a birthday present. I
don't know anybody who's ever bought one.

So based on my experience, your chances are better if you _don't_ buy a
ticket. That's pretty darn unlikely.

------
curi
umm the odds are public knowledge?

~~~
moog
Yes, the odds of winning are known for a sample set that is all lotto players
in the population. This <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=137729> got me
wondering if readers of HN would know more or less winners than one would
expect.

