“You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win the lottery” is a saying that has been printed on many images.
   
“You stand a 1,000 times greater chance of being murdered on the way to a convenience store to buy your ticket than you do of winning $1 million” was printed in the El Paso (TX) Times on September 8, 1991, from the testimony of economist Stuart Greenfield. “My personal favorites statistic in that vein is that you are considerably more likely to be run over & die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than actually win over £1000” was posted on the newsgroup alt.bio.technology on February 1, 2000. “You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win the lottery” was posted on Twitter by OMGFacts on July 17, 2011.
       
     
Newspapers.com
8 September 1991, El Paso (TX) Times, “When Pigs Fly: That’s when most of us will be winners if Texas OKs a state lottery” by Del Jones, pg. 1E, cols. 2-3:
You stand a 1,000 times greater chance of being murdered on the way to a convenience store to buy your ticket than you do of winning $1 million.
 
That’s stretching the truth, but it was the testimony of economist Stuart Greenfield before a chortling state legislature in Austin, which since has turned the final decision over to the state’s voters.
(...)
In an interview after his testimony to the state Legislature, Greenfield said that he was exaggerating about the odds of getting killed buying a lottery ticket.
 
About 2,600 people are murdered annually in Texas, which makes it 1,000 times more likely you will get killed each year than beat the 1-in-7 million odds of winning $1 million or more in the lottery.
 
However, Greenfield said, it’s impossible to know the odds of getting killed specifically on the way to buy a lottery ticket.
 
But, he added, “There are a lot of murders at convenience stores.”
   
Google Groups: alt.bio.technology         
A Startling Statistic
Chris McCormack
Feb 1, 2000, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
My personal favorites statistic in that vein is that you are considerably more likely to be run over & die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than actually win over £1000.
     
7 February 2002, The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), “Super Lotto brings out fear factor” by Jeff Girod, pg. F8:
... in a car accident on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you do of actually winning.
 
2 June 2003, Evening Chronicle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK), “Your questions answered?,” pg. 22:
IS it true that you’re more likely to be hit by a bus on the way to buy a Lottery ticket than you are to hit the jackpot?
 
Twitter
wilsonng
@wilsonng
another stat actor said that you are more likely to be killed on the way to buy a lottery ticket than to win the lottery.
10:43 PM · Mar 21, 2008·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
Jacob Morse
@jacobmorse
You are more likely to die in an accident on the way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to win.
12:07 PM · Aug 28, 2008·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
Tyler Lee
@Tysfavs
its 10x more likely you die in a car on the way to buy a lottery ticket than it is for you to win the lottery
1:53 AM · Apr 25, 2009·Twitter Web Client
 
Google Books
Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader
The World’s Gone Crazy
By Bathroom Readers’ Institute
San Diego, CA: Portable Press
2010
Pg. ?:
You are more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery.
 
Google Groups: sci.math
You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win the lottery.
Disc Magnet
Jun 1, 2011, 12:04:20 PM
I learnt this today.
“You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than
you are to actually win the lottery.”
   
Twitter
OMGFacts
@OMGFacts
You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win the lottery.
7:28 PM · Jul 17, 2011·Timely by Demandforce
 
16 April 2014, Alaska Highway News (Fort St. John, BC), pg. A2:
You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win the lottery. The good news is you’re also more likely to become a movie star or have identical quadruplets.
 
Twitter
its mariah x.o.x.o.
@iammariahxo
You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win the lottery.
10:08 AM · Jan 17, 2017·SocialOomph
 
Twitter
conspiracybot
@conspiracyb0t
You’re more likely to die on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win the lottery.
12:44 AM · Jan 29, 2021·conspiracyb0t