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Is the lottery a scam? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bosoxs45
- Start date
Parrothead
Footballguy
idiot tax
Jayrod
Footballguy
The dream phase. What will I do if I win? Gives people a small adrenaline rush to imagine their life as a millionaire for just a few seconds.Whats the appeal of buying scratch tickets or a lottery ticket?
Short Corner
Footballguy
Is this a trick question?
jvdesigns2002
Footballguy
Many people call it effectively a tax on the poor. Some of the profits allegedly go to fund education--but if you look at the numbers--the vast majority of people that purchase lotto tickets are from a very low/poor economic demographic. The lottery basically sells hopes of wealth to people that will probably never reach it. It's state sponsored legal gambling.
Moonlight
Footballguy
Arizona Ron
Footballguy
I had a marketing professor while explaining "willingness to pay" in my early years at college many years ago.
He used the lottery in one of his scenarios.
You can play either games:
$1 to play a game with 1:1M odds to win $1,000,000
or
$1,000 to play a game with 1:10 odds to win $10,000
Just because your odds are better at one game doesn't mean you're willing to play it or it's a "better" game for you.
Now, some people will say well I wouldn't play either game. Then don't play
As for lotteries playing on poor people, it's the least of a poor communities worries. Kids still get shot over sneakers.
He used the lottery in one of his scenarios.
You can play either games:
$1 to play a game with 1:1M odds to win $1,000,000
or
$1,000 to play a game with 1:10 odds to win $10,000
Just because your odds are better at one game doesn't mean you're willing to play it or it's a "better" game for you.
Now, some people will say well I wouldn't play either game. Then don't play
As for lotteries playing on poor people, it's the least of a poor communities worries. Kids still get shot over sneakers.
Last edited by a moderator:
Lotteries are bad because, for any given risk preference, there are almost always better options for taking your shot than the lottery will offer. If you have $1 and want to turn it into $10 million, you can try to keep doubling up at roulette until you can afford to buy your way into the World Series of Poker. It's a huge long shot. You probably won't double up at roulette more than 6 or 7 times in a row, which won't be close to sufficient. But it's still much better odds than winning the lottery. Of all the mainstream ways you can gamble, state lotteries are generally the worst.
The idea of lotteries is fine. States giving themselves a monopoly on them so that they can offer terrible odds without any competition ... that's not really fine, IMO. That's exploiting people.
Hot Diggity Dog
Footballguy
And not to be negative but money gets wasted in a lot of ways in poor communities. I don't think the lottery is the plague that's holding people back in poor communities.I had a marketing professor while explaining "willingness to pay" in my early years at college many years ago.
He used the lottery in one of his scenarios.
You can play either games:
$1 to play a game with 1:1M odds to win $1,000,000
or
$1,000 to play a game with 1:10 odds to win $10,000
Just because your odds are better at one game doesn't mean you're willing to play it or it's a "better" game for you.
Now, some people will say well I wouldn't play either game. Then don't play
As for lotteries playing on poor people, it's the least of a poor communities worries. Kids still get shot over sneakers.
Brunell4MVP
Footballguy
I don't blame poor people for playing. Not one bit. They can work 2 jobs a day the rest of their life and they really aren't going to change their situation much. The lottery could change their life. If you don't believe me, just watch the movie 'Next Friday'.
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
If I didn't spend so much money on shots and fat chicks, I'd probably criticize the lottery. 
modogg
Footballguy
this is my wife's rational. Drives me nuts, but she only spends a couple of bucks when one of the lotteries gets a real good number and she gets the tickets and can dream for a few days. Makes her happy to spend $5 or so, so it works for her. she maybe plays 5-6 times a year, so it isn't too bad. I tell her to just take her money she is going to spend on the lottery and put it on the Warriors to win the championship, but it doesn't give her the same rushJayrod said:
Thorpe
Footballguy
When it was first passed in California to have the lottery, and a lot of other states, they said the profits would fund education. The scam part is that they reduced the amount given to education from the general fund by the amount given by the lottery, so education did not benefit.
The odds are bad, returning 50% of the money, but these odds are the same as most raffles.
The odds are bad, returning 50% of the money, but these odds are the same as most raffles.
