Re: Opening

Marilee J. Layman <marilee@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 9 Oct 2007 13:01:18 +0100, spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jonathan
L Cunningham) wrote:

But, odds of 14 million to one against are, for most people, outside the
realm of direct intuition. How does 14 million compare with the number
of stars in the sky? Grains of sand on a beach? I'm sure several people
here know the answers to both questions - but a lot of people won't. And
if you don't, how can you properly assess the value of a lottery ticket,
costing one pound? Is it like picking one star in the sky? Or one grain
of sand on the whole beach? How many grains in a bucket of sand?

The governor of Maryland is pushing slots. Some money will go to
education, but I bet not to education on how likely it is you'll lose
your money in the machines.

That's what we call fruit machines over here, isn't it?

I never saw the appeal of them: the maximum amount that could be won was
never enough (and they are not something I'd go out of my way to locate
high vale prizes).

Back when they were electromechanical (and I was a postgrad), I knew a
guy who played them - he would also press on the plastic in front, to
try to stop the wheels spinning where he wanted. I think this improved
his odds of winning considerably - I saw him win "the jackpot" once,
probably around £70. But I don't think they improved his odds enough to
make a profit in the long run.

I've also heard of "quiz" machines where the time allowed to answer was
set too high (temporarily - the company rapidly realised the problem and
changed it) - thus allowing a team time to win semi-reliably. I don't
know if they are still popular; I tend not to notice machines designed
to eat money for no material benefit to me :-)

Jonathan

--
"There's many a best seller that could have been prevented
by a good teacher." Flannery O'Connor
.

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