WEBVTT - How Lotteries Work 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.520 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.360 from House Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:20.160 the podcast Josh Clark Chuck Bryant. Stuff you should Know? 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:26.360 You think? It does not sound like a current affair 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.560 one of those tabloid shows hard copy? Remember that? Yeah? 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.240 Are they still around? I think some of them are, Thankfully, 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.080 I don't watch television at four thirty pm. No, you 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.360 have a job. I wouldn't know. Yeah. Here in Georgia, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:41.120 we had this thing called the Hope Grant. I think 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:43.559 we still do. I think so. We're like, if you 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.880 keep a B plus average or more uh in high school, 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:49.400 if you graduate with the B plus average and you 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.640 can maintain it through college, you get a free ride 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.360 to a state school and it's funded by the lountry. Yeah. 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:56.760 That came along after I was there. It was it 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.160 was it started actually when I went to college. I 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.960 think it was the first year. UM, and they there 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.000 have been tons and tons of studies done on who's 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.320 going to college, and it's generally white, upper middle class 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.360 kids who are benefiting from the Hope scholarship. And then 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.680 it's poor minorities who are playing the lotto in effect 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.959 putting um white kids through college who who whose parents 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.240 could otherwise pay for it. Yeah. A lot of people 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:25.720 have called the attacks on the poor and definitely the 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.720 ant the anti robin hood take from the poor and 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:30.920 give to the rich. Should we talk about some stats? 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.039 Should get that out of the way. Yeah, I've got 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.319 a few for you, josh Um. There is one study 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:40.640 in California where they have shown that the racial and 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:47.600 household income lines match up with how how California is divided. 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.200 So sure has that been disputed at all? Yeah? People 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.240 are saying they're cooking the books. They'll last questions like 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:56.800 have you played the lottery in the last month, But 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:00.000 they don't say have you bought fifteen scratch off tickets 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.720 per day? Yeah, that's a good point, so they don't 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.120 really dive in there. I was reading a story I 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.800 think from CBS News Texas in two thousand and seven. 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:12.079 They found that um blacks and Hispanics play the lottery 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.919 twice as much as whites do, regardless of class. Yes, 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.440 and scratch off tickets are apparently the crack cocaine of 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.040 lottery in Texas is the first state to offer a 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.480 fifty dollar scratch off ticket. Holy cow, you pay fifty 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.680 bucks to buy this thing. Have you ever gone on 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.200 like a little scratch off bender? I have before, And 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.240 when you get into the grips of it, you might 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.200 as well be huffing ether. There's no way out. Well, 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.280 it's Massachusetts. One third of the calls to the gambling 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.760 Addiction hotline or from lottery players. Really, yeah, I don't 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.200 play it. I'm surprised it's just a third. Actually. Yeah. 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.800 It's like um, alcoholism and beer. You can buy beer, 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.120 you can buy liquor, and in a lot of states 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.120 you have to buy it from a state store. This 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:02.760 is the same thing. These are state run vice operations, basically, yeah, 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.359 pretty much, and their people have a real problem with them. 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.320 But you know, the states just making so much cash 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:11.760 off of these things that they aren't really doing a 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.079 whole lot about it. Yeah, and here's the other thing. 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.160 Before we get on with just what the lottery is, 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:20.480 we should talk about a little more mouthfeasance. Apparently not 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:22.840 very much money at all is going to K through 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.639 twelve education. Oh yeah, most lotteries go towards education. That's 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.400 how the college. Yeah, it's all going to college. They 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.600 said that less than one percent in um, half of 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.600 the states that played the lottery go to K to twelve. 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:41.880 And the other hinky thing is they they sell it 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:43.960 to you as a as a benefit for education, like 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.200 all over the marketing, but the legislation now many states 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:48.760 are starting to kind of use it for whatever they 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.120 want according to their budget, Like in Missouri. When it started, 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:55.600 I think it was like was supposed to go towards education, 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.600 and now it's like thirty and they use it for 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.760 budget shortfalls and whatever they need, they'll just rewrite the 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.640 Law's grim. That's really grim, especially when you consider all 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.280 the people who are just blowing cash on scratch off 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:13.000 tickets or lotto tickets and have like real gambling problems. Huh. 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:17.039 So that's the controversy. Uh. And actually this problem goes 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.400 back pretty far, right to the sixteenth century, I believe 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:25.520 Florence Ferenz. Yeah, that's where the lotto comes from. And 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.039 I think the term lotto is based on lots, like 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.840 drawing lots, game of chance, luck. Yes, right, um. And 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.640 so the first lotto that anybody is aware of where 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.640 there was a cash prize given out was the lotto 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:45.559 deferenze you want to say, uh, And that was again 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.960 in the sixteenth century in Italy. Um and in the 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.599 US we've always had something of a little bit of 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.880 a fever for the lotto, haven't we. Yeah. Apparently the 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:00.960 Colony of Virginia was founded by raise money from lotteries, 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.240 and there were two hundred lotteries permitted between seventeen forty 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:11.560 four and the Revolutionary War that funded Rhodes libraries, colleges, bridges, churches. Yeah, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.400 a lot of them were for civic projects, right, yeah, yeah. 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:18.159 And Princeton and Columbia Universities were built on a lot 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.360 of money. Did you know that I did in Latin 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.440 I can't remember what it's what it is in latin Um, 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:30.320 but the crest for Princeton it translates to Daddy needs 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:34.080 in New Parachutes. And there's some dice on this shield. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:36.800 I know. If you have fifteen grand you can go 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.839 to eBay and buy a lottery ticket with George Washington 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.920 signature on it. Sweet, pretty cool, huh. Yeah. So I 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.279 had no idea that lotteries were this entrenched in the 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.600 founding of our country, all right, Well, they they kind 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.920 of fell out of favor I imagine probably in part 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:57.680 because of the temperance movement in the nineteenth century. Temperance uh, 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:00.400 and then in the twentieth century. But the mid twentieth 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.560 century lotto fever could not be suppressed. The inoculations ran 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.320 out and everybody was like, give me some tickets, and 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.040 New Hampshire live the way in nineteen sixty four with 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:14.400 its first state run lottery of the century. I mean, 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.599 I don't play the lottery myself at all, but I 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:21.560 definitely see the irresistible lure of a dollar winning you 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.039 millions of dollars. I don't know, man, let's just get 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:26.599 this out of the way. Would you want to win 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:31.920 the lottery honestly? Mm hmm. And if so, what's what's 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.200 the minimum amount you would have to win to not 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:37.440 just below it? You know, I'm gonna say now, I 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.719 wouldn't want to either, because, uh, stress and anxiety and complications. 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.359 I'm just I want to make my life, keep it 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.920 as simple as possible, and that would do that would 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.400 just complicate everything. Oh, it definitely wouldn't. And all kinds 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.960 of jerks come out of the woodwork, and yeah, I 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.760 think you're kind of like, I don't have an uncle 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:59.400 from Venezuela, right exactly. Well, I guess it's possible this 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.800 guy wouldn't. He's saying it was my uncle. So I 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.320 get here's some money I should invest in his coffee 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.080 bean field, right exactly, or you know, get some Nigerian 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.720 general out of trouble via email. Um So, Chuck, I 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.600 would not necessarily want to win the lotto either, unless 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.560 it was such a vast amount that I couldn't possibly 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.520 run through it, and I'd probably go off and travel 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:23.920 or do whatever. Yeah. I'm also one of those jerk 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.640 offs who thinks that like, working for your money is 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:29.680 kind of the thing to do. Chuck works sid for 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.440 his money. You know, I would feel like I think 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:34.920 I'd be very unfulfilled if someone just gave me a polocash, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.160 right yeah. And that's an excellent point too, because if 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:38.640 you think about it, Let's say you did win a 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.240 million dollars. Let's say you one time million dollars, and 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.400 we'll get into how that trickles down to almost nothing 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.200 by the time it gets into your pocket. But um, 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.240 let's say you won ten million dollars and after a 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.560 couple of years you've blown through it, right, Yeah, You've 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.720 done nothing to earn that money, so therefore you could 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.920 never get it back. It was just blind luck. If 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.440 you make ten million dollars writing a book or writing 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.160 a movie, or in business or in real estate, you 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.760 can make that back again. Actually if you if you 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.400 blow it all right, because you've done something for it, 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.640 You've used your own um wits and in skill, but 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.840 with a lot of know it's just a trip to 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.960 easy Street that turns out to be hell well, that's 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:20.640 why it appeals to so many people, except for the 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.520 hell part. Yeah, you know, and that's why it's people 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.280 see it as attacks on the poor because it's like here, 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.559 even the scratch off tickets, you know, just a chance 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.640 to win like a couple of hundred bucks. It's kind 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.800 of sad. At the same time, though, you have to 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:36.960 you have to add a little perspective to it. You 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:38.800 and I don't really play the louder. Like I said, 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:40.880 I've done some like scratch off benders here there, but 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.120 nothing more than like five or ten bucks. Right, I've 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:47.240 got an occasional powerball, occasional power I'll admit that, um, 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:51.559 but rarely. But consider this. You and I are um, 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.760 upper middle class white guys age eighteen to forty nine. 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.559 Pretty much the entire country is based on whatever we want. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.959 All of the focus groups, all the studies, all of 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:07.480 the the pharmaceutical tests, they're based on us, right, Like, 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:10.600 we have it so ridiculously easy that I think it's 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.600 entirely possible that we're blinded to why people play the lottery. 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.840 If you simply don't have a leg up, if there's 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.800 nothing you can do, if you're being kept down economically, socially, 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.400 or whatever. Um, there is this promise of I could 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.200 really use a couple extra million bucks, and I don't 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.120 care if some jackass does come out of the wood 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.400 work and says he's my uncle. Like, I think it's 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.240 easy to criticize people who play the lottery as stupid, right, 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.679 But at the same time, I think that reveals a 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.400 misunderstanding of where somebody's coming from. And then, of course 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.800 there are just some jackasses who play the lottery because 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.720 they're bored or just have or people who do have 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.760 a gambling problem. But I think that there is some 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.240 promise of a lottery, and I think that the state 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.000 praise upon that through their lotteries. Yeah, I mean, it's 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:02.679 easy for us to sit here and say, well, if 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.440 you spend a year on scratch off tickets, if you 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.280 had invested that in the rath I ra a, then 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.000 you could potentially have a retirement account. And it's just 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.040 just shut up. Yeah, I've been poor man, and I 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:16.320 can tell you the poor mentality is tough to break 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.240 out of. Yes, I was. I was poor at one 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.720 point myself. Yeah, it sucks. And I was a lottery 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.640 scratch off fiend. Not true. Yeah, So all right, dude, 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.840 we really usually our tirades come towards the end. For 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.360 some reason, we front loaded this one with let's talk 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.000 about how lotteries work. Yes, Josh, if you are playing 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.400 a game with fifty balls, let's say fifty ping pong balls, 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.320 and each one that says the number your odds of 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:47.920 winning is about sixteen million to one, and if they 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:52.360 just add one ball to that soft balls, it shoots 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.120 up to about seventy six million to one. And the 0:10:55.200 --> 0:11:00.000 real reason I don't play that is a fantastic calculation. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.280 And you just did there. But and I don't mean 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:06.200 to criticize you, a surprisingly simple one, actually, right, So, 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.120 if you have six numbers that you have to pick 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.560 out of fifty balls, your initial chance is uh fifty 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.600 to six or it's like I think at eight point 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.000 three to one, right, and you can go on down 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:18.720 the line. After one ball is picked, do you have 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:20.400 a forty nine to five chance? And so on and 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.160 so on. So if you take you to these and 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.959 multiply them, that's where you get that sixteen million to 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.680 one chance. Because they don't play lotteries with one ball 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.120 if they If they did, then what would that be 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.920 a one to one chance? Especially if it was just 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.760 one number and they told you at a time the 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:40.800 winning numbers is going to be six lottery? Um? So 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.920 the yeah, you've also got power balls, right, which is 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.840 are multi state lotteries where everybody joins together. Um. And 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.080 the most common one is you have to pick five 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.440 numbers from a set of fifty balls. So use that 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.400 calculation I just said, Um, But then you also have 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.880 to pick one powerball number out of thirty six. Then 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.920 you multiply that original calculation by thirty six, and you're 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:08.800 up to seventies six point to seven, five million to one. Chance. Yeah, 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:10.600 And like I said, that's why I don't play the 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.120 lottery for real. I just I would never ever, ever 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.520 win it, so I'd rather spend that dollar on whatever, cigarettes, beef, 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:24.160 jerky anything. Yeah, chuck, Josh, have you ever noticed that, UM, 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:29.560 when you say win ten million dollars, what you actually 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:33.400 end up with is like two point five million? Just 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.520 tick y'all. Yeah, well, it depends you're talking about. UM. 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.800 You can eat. You can choose either lumps on payment 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:43.880 or pay me out over the next whatever twenty five years. 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.120 I think it usually is. Yeah, it looks like from 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.800 from this article the best one to go with if 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.640 your patient is the UM series of annual payments or annuity. 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.599 I disagree. Okay, Well, I mean I would think you 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.679 could make you get about a five pc interest return 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:01.960 that way, and I think if you have half a brain, 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.360 you can get a better return than that by investing 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.600 that money. And also I think if you die, doesn't 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.079 that it's not like they start paying your next of 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.920 ken or anything, right, No, they do everywhere. Oh yeah, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:18.600 it's been a lot of windfall. Becomes part of your estate. Okay. 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.600 And actually, since you bring that up, there's a little 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:23.880 bit of advice. If you ever do win a major 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.320 lottery or any a lotto. Uh, the first thing you 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:29.240 want to do is sign the ticket because it's a 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.959 bearer instrument and whoever has it he turns it in 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:34.640 is the winner. So you want to sign it. Uh. 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:36.800 The next thing you want to do is go talk 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:39.960 to a lawyer before you go into turn in your ticket. 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:41.960 Go get a lawyer. Yeah, you don't want to be 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.600 standing on the stage with the big check without having 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.679 like an accountant and a lawyer by your side, right, 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.640 And the lawyer is gonna set set up a trust 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:52.920 in a state all sorts of other stuff, and then 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.360 you go in and you claim your winnings and the 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.960 lawyer is gonna take a chunk. The lawyer is gonna 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.680 take a chunk, but not as much as Uncle Sam. Huh. Yeah, 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.120 well that's just the case with everything. Uh. Of course, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:07.040 Uncle Sam's gonna take a time about twenty percent in 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.520 federal taxes unless you win millions of dollars, and it's 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.400 gonna shoot up to thirty nine percent, which is the 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.600 highest tax bracket, and then add state and locals and 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.120 you'll get about half of your money. And then if 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.200 you choose a lumps some you get less anyway, So, 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.920 like you said, a ten million dollar lumps on payment 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.000 after taxes would be about two and a half a MILLI. 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.080 But you're done. That's the way I would want to 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.440 do it. You are done with the annuitized payments, right 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.120 you you're basically getting uh you start I think at 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.240 what one percent? Yeah, and it goes up a little 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.120 bit each each goes up a tenth of a percent 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.960 each year. So you start off if you win ten 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.800 million bucks, you start off with two fifty k, and 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.440 then the last payment turns out to be five K, 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:56.720 and you get this check every year. UM. And the 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.320 way that this is paid for there's the lottery is 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.440 not just like we're sitting on this pile of cash. 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.080 They couldn't do that. And what they do actually is 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.880 they deal with UM bond agents, bond brokers, and they 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.360 buy zero coupon bonds. Right, so like you have a 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.120 set price that you're paying for him that day, and 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.800 in one year or ten years or whatever, this thing 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.640 is going to be worth a specified amount of money. Right, 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:23.520 So like in ten years, if you bought a two 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.080 d and sixty dollar bond I'm sorry, twenty five years, 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.640 that would be about a thousand dollars. That's how that works, 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.480 and what what the lotto does is they contact about 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.560 usually seven bond dealers to find out who has the 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:39.480 best rates, and they um, they purchase a package of 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.960 twenty five bonds to cover your payout right, and then 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.680 once the bond matures, they get the money, they transfer 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.520 it to you and you get a check done done. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.320 Pretty interesting and that usually ends up costing them this 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.440 package of bonds about half of the jackpot, which is 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:57.480 about what you get when you get a lump sum. 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.840 So it doesn't really matter to them either way. Yeah, 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.120 thin they said about the people choose the lumps some 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.720 I can. I'm not surprised by that at all. Yeah. 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.400 And Georgia, actually, I know there's other states too, has 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.480 one of those win for life deals where there is 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.160 no lumps on. You get like fifty dollars a year 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:16.280 for thirty years or something like that, and that's the prize. 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.800 There's no like wiggle room and how you accept it. Yeah, 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.440 other states give you a choice. No, no, No No, win 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.280 for life is a specific game. Oh it is, okay, Yeah, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:25.960 so like if you play win for life, that that's 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:28.360 your prize. Well, some states don't give you a choice. 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.240 They're like we give out lump sum or we give 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.320 out a new attize or you can choose, but when 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.000 you choose, you have to choose when you buy the 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:35.920 lotto ticket. Yeah. I think New York you got to 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.320 choose when you buy it, but most other states is 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.840 like once you've won it, they let you choose. Pretty cool. Yeah, um, chuck, 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.320 did you know that there's two types of lotto machines? 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.840 I do now, Yeah, I didn't before. Yeah. I think 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.440 all I've ever seen as the air mixed machines. Same here. 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.880 I think that's what they use on Channel two Action News. 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:58.640 I know that dude, by the way, do you what's 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:00.960 his name, John Crow? He's an old old friend of 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.680 mine from TV production and he was picked as the 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.920 lottery lottery guy and it looks really good and dress 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:12.000 uh you mean dressed up. Yeah. Yeah, he's a nice guy. Yeah. 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:16.440 And he's a nice guy using air mix machine. Right, 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.000 And that is the one where you see the ping 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.679 pong balls floating around and the air it's yeah. And 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.480 then they opened the little door and one at a time, 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:29.040 the little ping pong ball slides up the shoot always visible. 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.000 That's key. You can never have a ping pong ball 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.560 go through a tube that you can't see through. That's 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.600 bad news is it doesn't inspire confidence. And you'll also 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.800 notice that all lot of drawings are live, which is 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.240 kind of a big thing too, very important. I mean, 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.600 you suspect they're live. I guess if you don't believe 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:50.320 that the moon landing was real, you probably aren't buying 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:53.200 that the lot of drawings are live. Yeah, we should 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.640 mention a couple of other security measures. Um and or again. 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:59.960 It's actually overseen by the state police and the detect 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.840 the attends each drawing. I thought that was pretty cool. 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.960 Balls are usually weighed ahead of time. Why before and after? 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.560 Why are we gonna talk about Pennsylvania? Let's do it 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:15.400 all right? The trimple six fix is what it's called. 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.240 John Travolta in nineteen eighty John Travolta was it a movie? 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.280 I can't remember. I think it was What You Got 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:23.920 to Do with It? Then he was in a movie 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:25.920 about it, Okay, but I think it was loosely based 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:27.600 on the I don't think it was like a depiction 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.960 of that. Yeah. Famously, in nineteen eighty, the Pennsylvania lottery 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:35.680 was rigged by a masterminded not well because he got 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.280 caught by a guy named Nick Perry, he was the 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.240 John Crow of Pennsylvania at the time. He was the announcer, 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.520 and he got together with an art director and said, hey, dude, 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.040 can you figure out a way to wait these balls 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.440 except for three of them, I'm sorry, two of them 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.800 four and six, And that way we know that only 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:56.679 combinations of four six will come up. And I think 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:01.000 there's eight combinations and a triple digit drawing. And they 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.119 did it, but they, you know, they got greedy and 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.600 got caught. Was the art director named Phoebe Buffet, No 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.400 she in the Trivalta movie. His name was Joseph Buck 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.400 and he was pinched along with Perry and then some 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.960 other people they had in on the scan that lingo. 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:22.080 They basically they ended up that the cops were alerted 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.040 to the fact that there was a very skewed amount 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.560 of numbers bought for six and four and when it 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:30.359 came up six six six, and they had all these 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.320 people clamoring for winnings, they went, we should look into this. 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:35.560 I think that just the fact that it came up 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.440 six six six alone should raised a few eyebrows, right, 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.119 that's the number of the beast josh Uh and so 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.199 he you know, they were. They were tried and convicted, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.880 and Perry I think some of the other guys sold 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.000 him out and he went to jail just for a 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.840 couple of years, then the Halfway house, and then he 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:56.120 was on probation. So not a very big deal for him. 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:58.600 I guess did he get to keep the money? No, No, 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:02.040 they got all that back. Okay, So yeah, they're using 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:06.200 an air mixed machine, and since then, air mixed machines 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.240 are still used. Obviously they use them. Your buddy uses 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:14.760 it on the news. Um, but machine, Oh it isn't okay. Uh, 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:16.640 he doesn't take it home and polish it at night 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:18.720 before bed. No, but we could get a scam together 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:25.320 with him. We should try it. Oh. Anyway, The other 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.159 type of lotto machine that's generally used that's viewed as 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.680 more secure, largely because of that scam, uh, is the 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.000 gravity pick lotto machine. Right. How does that thing work? Well? 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:39.440 It uses like kind of rubbery balls that are heavy 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:44.960 with two paddles that spinning opposite directions that mix the balls. Right, 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.600 there's no air involved, there's no ping pong balls, there's 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.720 no waiting the balls, and other than that, it's virtually 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:52.879 the same thing as an an air pick ball. This 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.800 is an optical sensor, so it's high tech. And then bam, 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.960 six numbers, one after the other, and if you want, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.360 if you pick them you want. I imagine, like I said, 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:05.760 I don't play, I don't even want to win, but 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:09.240 I imagine that's a very surreal moment when you look 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:11.359 down at your ticket, because there's all those numbers. It 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.840 would just I bet it's really difficult for your brain 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:19.280 to really see that and except that that's what it's seeing. Yeah, 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:21.200