Once in a while I do like to play games that involve no skill whatsoever even though I know the odds of hitting a huge jackpot can be pretty poor and you’re better off playing something like blackjack or craps with a low house edge. But its precisely because these games take skill that they have a low house edge. And the lottery is just so tempting sometimes because you barely have to put in any thought...

Some (lucky?) player in Italy has just won a staggering $211.8 USD million in lotto which has been billed as Europe’s biggest ever jackpot. There was near hysteria leading up to the draw since it had gone unclaimed since January. If you thought the slot machines had bad odds, this lotto draw had odds of one in 622 million!  Tourists from all over Europe were visiting Italy and scrabbling to buy tickets and...