A state Lottery pays back an average of 5%, a nickel for every dollar input. Half the cash inflow goes to "education" at the start. The Lottery is a voluntary tax upon the stupid.
Work it out yourself. Get a table of pi to 10,000 or a million decimal places. Pick a starting spot. Read off 100 sequential "random" Lottery picks (modulo whatever). Assemble 100 "lucky" picks of your own. Visit a Lottery Web pag and download a month or a year of Lottery results. Let the computer play a few tens of thousands of times. How much did you put in, how much did you get out? Did pi do better than you did?
The worst slots in Las Vegas pay back 90%. Reputable slots near entrances pay back about 95%. If you pace your betting to show sudden disinterest, an electronic slot will toss some money your way.
A statistical fluctuation can make you money. One does better in the long run by playing Vegas and not its games of chance.
