The guy I've been playing racquetball with for 20 years, once had an interesting idea when we were in the sauna after the game. He said that if either of us wins the lottery, we should buy a mansion that has racquetball courts in it. This way we could play there, without wondering if the courts were going to do would be taken by other players. I agreed.

A few months later we're in the sauna, and he asked me how many lottery tickets I buy. I said, "I don't buy lottery tickets. Why?" He got mad and said, "Dude, I've been buying five each week. How are you supposed to buy a mansion and put racquetball courts in it, if you don't even buy lotto tickets?"

I said, "Well, if I do start buying lottery tickets, the racquetball courts will also have basketball rims come down, too. If I'm wasting the space in the mansion for a court, it's going to be all-purpose."

He then wondered if the backboards would get in the way, and I just laughed. I think I bought a few lottery tickets the next week, but couldn't remember where I put them. When I finally found them again, I believe it was past the point of even worrying about (who knew they expired after a certain time?)

I worked a part time job with a guy years ago, that would drive to Phoenix ever few weeks, just to buy lottery tickets for something that was done with a number of states. His reason was that the amount you'd win would be $100 million dollars or more. Although he never looked at the amount he was spending on gas, and how using that money to buy lotto tickets here, were a lot better odds (people don't realize, when the lotto gets up to high amounts, that actually means you have less of a chance of winning).

There was a story on CNN yesterday about a guy that threw away a lotto ticket his mom gave him for Christmas. It ended up winning $650,000, and he had to search a lot of dumpsters before finally finding it.

My first thought was...what a stupid gift for your mom to give you. My stepbrother got a bunch of lotto tickets from his best friend. To me, this just strikes of lazy gift buying. And, if someone did take this lazy approach and I won a million bucks, I probably wouldn't buy the person that gave me the tickets, anything fancy. Why should they be rewarded for a crap gift? And if they expected something, it makes you wonder. Do they give lotto tickets just for that reason? It's a way of them spending $25 on your gift, and if you win millions, they can expect a chunk. No way! Not from me.

There was a story in the Union-Tribune the other day, about a Charger fan that threw away one of his betting slips from a casino. He put $100 on the Chargers to go to the Super Bowl. When the team was 4 - 8, he ripped it up.

Well, now that the bolts shocked everyone by making it into the playoffs, he's regreting it.

It seems so strange that someone would take the time to make a bet like that, and not ride it out.

Those pre-season bets a lot of people make. They'll be from Atlanta, and they know the Falcons have no chance of making the playoffs (especially with Michael Vick being jailed), yet they figure it's worth putting $100 down, to win $10,000 if the Falcons do win it all.

But that's how casinos make their money, idiotic bets that are long-shots.