Re: Lotto odds

[Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>]

C'punks,

On Tue, 28 Jun 1994, Roy M. Silvernail wrote:

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> 
> In list.cypherpunks, tcmay@netcom.com writes:
> 
> > Maybe, but the state has a wonderful scam of paying off a "5 million
> > dollar jackpot" over 20 years; the true value (what the same deal
> > would cost you to buy as an annuity) is less than $5 M, possibly much
> > less. If private outfits did this, they'd be jailed.
> 
> Jailed?  Publisher's Clearing House, American Family Puublishers and
> Reader's Digest have done this for years.

I don't think so.  While they now engage in this questionable practice,
I don't think they've been doing for more than 2-3 years.  If I had to
guess, I would think they only feel safe in doing so because the states
have already established a legal precedent with their lotterys.  They (the
states) would be hard pressed to make a distinction between their annuity
funded 20 year payoffs and those of Publisher's Clearing House.  Thus the 
State's corruption taints the free market.


 S a n d y