January 2, 2026
Ding! Another dream denied
Show HN: Website that plays the lottery every second
Watch your hopes lose in real time — and everyone’s loving the pain
TLDR: A site auto-plays lottery tickets every second to show how jackpots almost never hit—years of waiting even at full speed. Commenters split between praising it as a dopamine exposé about the “waiting,” calling it a sobering anti-gambling reminder, and memeing the existential comedy of a live feed of losing.
Why wait a week to lose? A new Show HN toy streams disappointment at 1-per-second, auto-playing Powerball and EuroJackpot while a giant “Total Jackpot Wins: 0” blinks like a neon sign. It even translates impossible odds into time: about 4.6 years for a Powerball jackpot and 2.2 years for EuroJackpot if you run it nonstop. The vibe? Morbidly soothing, statistically brutal.
The comments are where it pops. The strongest take: this is a dopamine exposé. Waterluvian says the quiet part loud — the week-long wait is the real product: “Just sell them the sensation of hope.” Others call it an accidental anti-gambling PSA. DavidPiper admits watching it was “a nice reminder” to never buy tickets again. Then it gets philosophical: lunaru notes people see the lotto as the only place with an equal—if tiny—chance when life itself feels rigged. Techies chime in with “math is easy, building the site is hard,” while stogot pitches a meme-worthy domain: shouldIplaythelottery.com. Jokes fly about “speedrunning disappointment,” ASMR of 0.0%, and refreshing for the thrill of nothing. The only real fight? Whether this is brilliant education or just slot-machine theater. Either way, the crowd agrees: the waiting is the product — and this page turns hope into a live feed.
Key Points
- •A website simulates playing Powerball and EuroJackpot every second, 24/7.
- •It displays ongoing match rates and a running total of jackpot wins (currently 0).
- •Powerball jackpot odds are 1 in 292,201,338; EuroJackpot odds are 1 in 139,838,160.
- •At one play per second, expected time to a jackpot is ~4.6 years (Powerball) and ~2.2 years (EuroJackpot).
- •A weekly Powerball ticket yields ~5.6 million years for a 50% chance; comparisons show many everyday events are far more likely than a jackpot.