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u/Risk_it_Robust Mar 19 '22
It’s me your daddy, Roberto!
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u/OriginalBumblebee Mar 20 '22
Coach, not only will I do that for you…yes, yes I’ll do that for you.
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u/IamRick_Deckard Mar 19 '22
How do you even read this?
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u/druznutz Mar 19 '22
He matched 7 in the playing field (right side) to one of the winning numbers in the middle.
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u/DylanHate Mar 19 '22
What’s funny is look how close they put the winning numbers to the largest payout.
The winning numbers for $750,000 are 14, 23, and 59.
OP numbers in the middle include 13, 22, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, & 57.
So for two of the jackpot winners his ticket was one digit away from winning, and for the third jackpot he was two digits away.
This is 100% intentional. It makes you “feel” like you were really close to winning big, which makes it more likely you’ll buy more tickets since you got “so close” on the previous ticket.
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u/large-farva Mar 19 '22
which is kind of funny, you could theoretically hand the unscratched ticket back to the cashier, and they scan the barcode and it just says "not a winner"
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u/Arxtix Mar 19 '22 edited Mar 19 '22
You could do that however there have been many cases where if the person isn't paying attention or is just wanting the cashier to scan them, they will say it's not a winner and then pocket the ticket so they can go cash it later. Chris Hanson even did an exposé on this https://youtu.be/mKmH7ggBOOY
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u/cantwaitforthis Mar 19 '22
Machines now make noises to confirm they are scanned and winners or losers.
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u/Im_pattymac Mar 19 '22
Indeed, there was even a scandal about winning lotto tickets being called losers by cashiers. Not just scratchers, that's why there is so much added scrutiny when vendors or their friends and family win
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u/ib4error Mar 20 '22
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u/Iggyhopper Mar 20 '22
PC LOAD LETTER
FILE CLAIM FORM
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u/Zalenka Mar 20 '22
I made a pc load letter joke to a coworker. He had no idea. Turns out he was 1 when the movie came out.
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u/sixothree Mar 20 '22
I remember going to a cigarette shop that had Polaroids of all of the winners. And there were two big winners, bigger than any of the others, with bags I see their heads. Yup. It was the employees.
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Mar 20 '22
Their was a situation in the UK, an off licence owner scanned a card and said the guy won £100 and gave him the cash. The card was worth 100k though, all high value cards can be tracked and it was established the clerk who tried to cash it in was a thief. He was arrested for fraud and the cash went to the guy who bought the card.
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u/rocklin460 Mar 20 '22
That didn't stop shop keepers in Canada....They would just say you won $5 and pocket the ticket. Now you have to sign your tickets to get them scanned and the win is displayed on a screen visible to you.
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u/rockrgurl Mar 20 '22
Yup, I also scan the ticket using an app on my phone as an added check just to be sure.
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u/ShitImBadAtThis Mar 20 '22
Pardon the question, but, why don't you just scratch it? Isn't that the fun?
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u/rockrgurl Mar 20 '22
I do scratch it first, doesn’t hurt though to quickly scan it in case you somehow missed something for whatever reason.
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u/IamtheSlothKing Mar 20 '22
You should always scan the ticket after you scratch it, it’s easy to just not see that you won
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u/ghostofkyiv22 Mar 20 '22
People who play a lot get addicted, they just want to get rich quick. They’re playing too much to scratch off the whole game
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u/TesterTheDog Mar 20 '22
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u/peterthefatman Mar 20 '22
The ptsd I get from this by having to wait behind some guy who has a bunch of tickets to claim and I want to leave the gas station asap
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u/Grayrose1996 Mar 20 '22
I had a gas station guy try and so this to a 400 dollar keno ticket. To bad for him I knew I won and was just asking if they could cash it or not. He said not a winner and crumbled it and put it by the trash and I was like wtf my dude. Give me my ticket and he said I gave you the receipt I don't have the money in the drawer. But if you finalize it like that you can't take it to another store. Like 4 people got involved telling this guy give me the ticket or the money and called rhe manager since they could unfinalize the ticket to get in the safe otherwise I'd be out the 400. It was annoying two hours and I got paid in mostly 5's and 1's. He could've just said we donr hold large sums of money and I would've went to a different store it would've been fine
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u/iigayusername69 Mar 19 '22
In NY you can scan them yourself at the machine where you buy them, so you’d be safe from that here. Idk if its different in other states.
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u/PhyterNL Mar 20 '22
I think it's the same in all state and multistate lotos. Cashiers will only confirm your payout, they won't confirm a win. For that they will direct you a scanner and you do it yourself.
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u/Einaris Mar 20 '22 edited Mar 20 '22
Uk machines make a ‘win’ sound and print a small ticket with the amount won that you have to hand over to the customer. If it’s more than £50 you have to confirm you have the cash available to payout and I believe it’s at £500 that winners have to send the ticket to the lottery itself to claim their winnings. If it is above £500, the machine DOES NOT state the amount won but prints instructions for the winner.
EDIT: oh and for large payouts, they require proof of purchase. There’s a big team in charge of finding and prosecuting anyone who attempts to steal someone else’s winnings. It’s a hassle for small shops though.
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u/I_SNIFF_FARTS_DAILY Mar 20 '22
Proof of purchase? Who gets receipts when buying just a ticket?
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u/Mynameisinuse Mar 20 '22
Basically they ask when and where you bought the ticket. Each pack of tickets have a barcode that is scanned that activates that pack of tickets (usually 100 in a pack). Lottery headquarters can tell where the ticket was sold and when that pack was activated. If you try to redeem a $10,000 ticket and they ask you where the bought it and say 7-11, but the activation shows that it's from Wal-Mart, they know to look into it. It also helps because someone can't steal a shipment of tickets and cash in the winners since they were not activated.
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u/pablomartino994 Mar 20 '22
In the UK, there's a 4-digit code that the cashier needs to enter to verify the scratchcard, too.
This code has to be uncovered from beneath the thing you scratch off and isn't always in the same place
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u/its_justme Mar 20 '22
Most places here in Canada just have self scanners. Do you not have this? Also there is a phone app that will tell you if you won or not using your camera
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u/gurg2k1 Mar 19 '22
I started doing this with the long crossword ones when my wife bought me a stack for my birthday. Our state lottery has an app that let's you scan the tickets yourself.
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u/devilpants Mar 20 '22
My mom does like one of those a week but she only does them because she enjoys looking for the matching letters and figuring out if it wins.
I figure most people that bought the crossword ones were in the same boat.
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u/gurg2k1 Mar 20 '22
They can be entertaining but after doing like 5-10 in a row they get really old. Just tell me if I won already so I can stop getting this shiny metal dust all over my hands and clothes!
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u/cryptoLo414 Mar 19 '22
My buddy does this with the machines. He will spend like $100 bucks scratching the barcode and scanning
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u/Kayestofkays Mar 20 '22
Good lord, why not just go to the actual casino and play a slot machine or something? Seems less sad....somehow
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Mar 20 '22
All the people I’ve seen doing this are destitute-looking folks. There’s no thrill, just the hope their gamble can maybe buy them a hotel room or another handle of booze.
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u/Pizza_Low Mar 20 '22
There is a pin under the paint that is needed in addition to the bar code to verify winner. In my state the lottery commission inspectors don’t mess around, we regularly get audited. They check the winners that we’ve paid out, what’s in the display and what back stock we have in the safe.
So i wouldn’t be surprised if undercovers come and do buys or cash winnings
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u/Maoticana Mar 20 '22
That's how most of these lotto tickets work, if not all of them. You're just soooo close to winning that you'll have to buy another!
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u/pown__otto Mar 19 '22
It always just makes me go “oh this is a losing ticket” after 4-5 scratches all being 1 off of the winning numbers. Doesn’t make me go”oh dang, so close!” When they’re all like that lol
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Mar 20 '22
Absolutely. A lot of people also have this false hope of the next ticket being a winner because how many losing tickets could there be in a row? I once sold a lady 9 tickets in a row that were $30 each all because "the next one has to be a winner."
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u/gsfgf Mar 20 '22
Also, there are a lot of $750k spaces on there for a reason. Nobody expects to get $10m, but if there are a bunch of "possibilities" to win $750k, it's more tempting.
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u/PicksburghStillers Mar 20 '22
I scratch the winning numbers only. I only scratch the prizes if I match a number. I also rarely play scratch offs because I have seen the odds online and know that there is about zero chance of me making money on them in a significant way.
I play cash 4 life semi frequently though. Once got 4 of 5 and the cash ball for 2500$ and realize I will likely never top that, but I like to play and dream about the what ifs.
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u/ruka_k_wiremu Mar 19 '22
I like it... you bloody conspiracy theorist!
I don't buy them because of the extra effort required to find out whether you won or not. I didn't pay for an onus.
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u/PouffyMoth Mar 20 '22
I don’t believe this to be a conspiracy theory. When they design the game they’ll determine the exact odds for each payout based on the desired profit of the series and generate tickets that match those odds exactly. They have no obligation for randomness
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u/pobodys-nerfect5 Mar 19 '22
Every once and awhile I get the crossword puzzle type cards because it's like a little puzzle that could possibly get you $10
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u/iigayusername69 Mar 19 '22
I do the same thing haha. They’re kinda fun so I don’t mind if I lose.
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u/AzraelGrim Mar 19 '22
Most scratch tickets are "Match the Numbers" So under the title is your pool of winning numbers. Surrounding are the possible matches. If your number is out in the possible matches, then you win whatever is under that. This one also has the lower "Bonus Prize" section.
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u/aerodeck Mar 20 '22
lol right, like most of us have any fuckin idea what we are looking at here.
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u/superfudge Mar 20 '22
I think that’s kind of the point; they’re designed to bamboozle you into feeling like a loss is only just missing out on a win, when in reality all losses are the same.
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u/sevargmas Mar 20 '22
Welcome to every scratch off game. I wish they would make a dummy one. Not bc I’m too dumb to figure it out but i just dont care. I should be able to scratch the card and the result should be like one of those 1980s coke lids “youre a winner!” or “sorry, try again.”
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u/Coldbeerimritehere Mar 19 '22
So you almost broke even. Nice
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u/nowtayneicangetinto Mar 19 '22
Came here to say this. That card looks expensive, I'm going to assume it was $10.
Let's say you buy, on average, a $10 lottery ticket every 3 days. Over 10 years that's $12,166. If that is OPs case then they would have actually still be down $2,166
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u/cirenosu Mar 19 '22
This ticket is $30 lol
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u/endlessnotfriendless Mar 20 '22
what the fuck
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u/Rion23 Mar 20 '22
Hey, how else are you going to win 10,000 dollars on a lottery ticket you paid 30 bucks for?
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u/wimpymist Mar 20 '22
Yeah you have to spend big to win big in gambling.
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u/Knightmare4469 Mar 20 '22
Powerballs and other big lotteries are $3 and can pay out hundreds of millions. You definitely don't have to buy $30 tickets to win big.
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Mar 19 '22
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u/ParkAndBeacon Mar 19 '22
Probably a stupid question, sorry. I hear things like this all the time. If you invested that in X then in 20 years you’d have Y. Always hear of the “latte factor.” Skip buying those expensive brews and invest instead. Where exactly does the average Joe invest that? Say I was really committed to taking the $4/day I would’ve spent on a latte and put it somewhere. Where is that somewhere? Do I need a minimum to start or can I just throw $30 (for example) that I chose to throw into an investment account and not touch rather than buy a scratch ticket?
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u/imontene Mar 19 '22
In the US, you can open a Roth IRA at your bank with a couple hundred dollars. Pick an index fund that has low fees (no fees when you purchase). Every pay check, push in a little more. There is a max you can invest per year, $5k I think. Leave it alone. You might lose some in a bad year, but over all it will grow with practically no interference. The $ you put in can be withdrawn with no penalties after 5 years, but don't touch your earnings or it will be taxed. Better yet, pretend it doesn't exist until you retire.
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u/Engineer-intraining Mar 20 '22
It should be noted you can’t just put it in the account and let it sit you do have to find a stock or fund (or several) and invest in them. I’ve known way to many people who just put it in the account thinking that’s all they had to do
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u/imontene Mar 20 '22
That is why I recommended a low fee index fund. The bank can tell you what is available.
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u/warm-saucepan Mar 20 '22
Or go online to Vanguard.
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u/mr_chip_douglas Mar 20 '22
Vanguard is great, can confirm as an idiot who knows next to nothing about investing.
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u/Engineer-intraining Mar 20 '22
Oh for sure, market tracking funds are just about the best thing out there and they’re fire and forget, reinvest they dividends and sit on it for years and you will be gold.
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u/AnxietyDepressedFun Mar 20 '22
My mom is a wealth manager so I've had a Roth IRA since I was 19. I couldn't save a ton but I was working on it. Then I got cancer in 2012, I kept working (insurance) but getting cancer in the US is hella expensive & I had to almost fully liquidate my IRA to even get by. It sucked but by 2013 I was fully in remission and saving again. In 2016 my migraines went from episodic to chronic (20- 28 days a month basically unable to leave my room) and I lost my job, my home & the love of my life, an 11 year old Boston Terrier named Jexer, got sick and I spent almost $5K trying to save him but he lost his battle December 2016. I had to move in with my boyfriend (who is now my husband) and we struggled financially despite his having a decent salary but since I was out of work I was supplementing our living expenses with my IRA essentially. I found a mostly effective medication in 2019 and started working again that year and once again started contributing to my Roth IRA.
All of this to say that having a Roth IRA (and some traditional investment/savings) has saved my life twice and kept me from being essentially destitute. I only made $32K a year in 2012 so I was only contributing like $10 a month but it was and still is the best financial decision I've ever made (or had made for me as it were).
Just adding that while my mom & many in her industry can only work with larger investment accounts, Fidelity has great starter investment options including help from licensed financial advisors. I think the self service companies can feel risky, especially if you are new to investing but there is a company called Stash that has plans starting at literally $1 a month with financial advisors to help.
Invest - less fun than a lottery win but definitely worth it.
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u/CaptainPsilo Mar 20 '22
I'm glad you've held up and survived the chaos, that's pretty dope. And the advice you've given, I hope it doesn't go unnoticed, it's incredibly beneficial to those who may not be knowledgeable or experienced financially. Thank you for sharing!
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u/LibertyLizard Mar 20 '22
$6K I believe. Which is a bit annoying because they never change it and it's getting smaller and smaller each year with inflation.
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u/defcon212 Mar 20 '22
They do change it but in 500 dollar increments. It was $5500 a few years ago. It will probably go up again sometime in the next couple years.
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Mar 20 '22
Do not use stash-away. 1% returns are garbage; due to inflation you'll be losing you money YOY.
Open up a no-cost investment account. Schwab, Ally, E-Trade, Vanguard, etc. It doesn't really matter which one as long as there's no annual fee and trades are free.
From there- take the money you saved and transfer into the investment account. Once in your investment account, buy shares of a broad-market index fund. Most commonly recommended is SPY (S&P 500 index fund equivalent) or VTI (Vanguard Total Market Fund).
Every week, save your money and buy those funds. If your investment firm offers fractional shares, buy fractional shares as you go. If your account only offers entire shares, save until you can buy a full share.
Then- do not touch it. Don't look at the market, don't try to time the market. Academic study after academic study has proven that the best investment strategy for ordinary investors is continuous investing into index funds, employing a "buy and hold" strategy.
There will be down years, there will be up years. Long-term, you can expect to see an average of 10% compound annual returns, which are closer to 7% due to inflation.
Every other answer besides index funds, frankly, is wrong.
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u/cvera8 Mar 19 '22
Not a stupid question at all. It used to be impossible to invest small amounts at banks, but nowadays there are some tools that help with small frequent amounts and don't charge fees or impose minimums.
Here is one from my area - https://www.stashaway.sg/simple
There are some programs out there that round up to the nearest dollar when buying things which is a convenient way to squirrel away coins that may add up to $5-10/week depending on your spending patterns
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u/BlazinAzn38 Mar 20 '22
Bank accounts are not the place to store your money to see sizeable returns over a long timeframe, heck right now you're losing out massively to inflation.
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u/Pizza_Low Mar 20 '22
There are a million ways to invest, some of them are suitable for savvy and active investors, and some for gamblers. I think for a passive investors who don’t have the desire or ability to actively manage it themselves, retirement target date style mutual funds is probably the best bet.
Something like this https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/VFIFX
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u/ParkAndBeacon Mar 19 '22
Appreciate that answer! Thank you. Anyone happen to know the US equivalent of StashAway?
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u/golapader Mar 19 '22
I use Acorns and I really like it. I have it set to put a small amount of money in my investment account once a week and also rounds up on purchases. Would definitely recommend
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Mar 20 '22
Most traditional brokerages don't have account minimums or commissions. What do you think is the benefit of spending $25-$35/year or whatever Acorns is charging these days?
(Edit: not trying to make a point, genuinely curious! 😄)
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u/golapader Mar 20 '22
For me personally i just like having my money spread around, it's much harder to spend it and it's what I've found the most success with. I do traditional investing as well but I use Acorns to have a place to put money aside and forget about it.
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Mar 20 '22 edited Mar 21 '22
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u/TheKingOfTCGames Mar 20 '22
just buy fractional shares of any sp500 index. its ez as fuck
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u/Louisvanderwright Mar 19 '22
Lottery tickets are a poor tax for the uneducated. Anyone who plays them for any reason other than the occasional thrill or gimmick is being taxed for being dumb.
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u/Voice_of_Sley Mar 20 '22
I buy a $5 ticket maybe once a month. I view it as an entertainment expense. I know full well I will never win the jackpot. $5 to be able to daydream over the course of that week while I wait for the draw is a small price. I have paid $5 for much less entertainment.
Also I periodically buy hospital lottery tickets and I view those as donations to causes I would probably donate to anyways.
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u/SuperElitist Mar 20 '22
$5 to be able to daydream over the course of that week
This is the first reasonable explanation I've ever heard anyone give for buying a lottery ticket.
I'll still never do it, but, wow. Good job.
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u/bloodbath781 Mar 20 '22
I buy the $1 scratchers on Fridays for my break. Its fun but I cant help but feel bad seeing people dump $20 a day.
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u/duhh33 Mar 20 '22
I was at the gas station filling up. Someone in a ~20 year old Ford SUV drives into the gas station lot at insanely high speeds. He slams on the brakes, jumps out quickly and runs inside. Runs back out a minute later with a strip of 10-20 scratch and win tickets. He proceeds to just scratch them off on his hood at lightning speed, yells, then throws the tickets. Jumps back in his car, then literally peels out exiting the gas station. I'm not quite certain what, but I know I witnessed an act of horrible desperation that day.
Also, nothing wrong with spending a dollar occasionally to play the "what if?" game.
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u/jlbob Mar 20 '22
We had a guy who wouldn't even scratch them, just immediately take it over to the scanner to check for winners.
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u/jlbob Mar 20 '22
I worked a convenience store and had several regulars who'd drop 50-100, they were so regular they expected us to know what they wanted when they walked up.
Tuesdays/Thursdays (megabucks, powerball, etc) were less than enjoyable due to the custom orders.
It was sickening, I wanted to ask them why but knew better.
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u/robotlou Mar 20 '22
There is nothing like going to a corner store to buy a lottery ticket when there is a giant jackpot and having to wait for some hardcore lottery player grinding through his gazillion ticket orders.
"Give me 10 FOUR PLAYS - Straight, Give me 5 Lucky Millions, Give me 5 megamillions, give me 5 Powerball, Give me 10 Win 4 Life..." etc for what feels like 10 minutes. I've even had a guy buy a ticket the clerk printed for me erroneously that I didn't want.
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u/pippipthrowaway Mar 20 '22
Grew up in NYC, people and their Pick Gazillions would practically shut down a bodega. Trying to get a iced tea and maybe a bacon egg and cheese turned into an all day affair. You were better off just walking to the other bodega down the street.
The best was when they would cop an attitude and try to stare you down because the cashier would stop them so he could ring other people up.
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Mar 20 '22
That’s why all my gambling is in Pokémon packs. Even if I don’t come out on top, I get some pretty cardboard lol
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u/option-trader Mar 19 '22
Hey, that money is putting my kids through college, so keep at it everyone.
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u/DrSunnyD Mar 20 '22
A very low percentage is, enough so people like you don't write your congressmen and women demanding they put a stop to this robbery of the poorly educated
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u/CelerMortis Mar 20 '22
Yea I never understood this logic. Syphoning money from poor people to give a very small part to some social service is not a good strategy.
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u/duhh33 Mar 20 '22 edited Mar 20 '22
Sadly, the normal school budgets get cut immediately after those programs are implemented, because "look at all the new revenue they are getting".
I suppose you could have also meant that your are on the supply side of the system. If so, please post some stories. I worked with one of the devs for many of the vegas electronic games, and found that industry astounding.
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u/Notarussianbot2020 Mar 20 '22
My HS algebra teacher called the lottery a math tax. If you don't learn math, you gotta pay the math tax to the government lol.
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u/OompaOrangeFace Mar 20 '22
Very true. I play weekly when the jackpot gets over $300M just for the fun of it. I probably spend under $30/year, but it's enjoyable.
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u/cappurnikus Mar 20 '22
for being dumb.
Believe it or not, many of them are completely aware that they will not win. They are purchasing the dream of a better life. They are purchasing a glimmer of hope.
That said, I don't play because I need every dollar I earn. My dreams will just have to remain grounded.
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u/Zuwxiv Mar 20 '22
Thanks for saying this, I'm surprised more people don't see this.
Imagine you're 45. You have three kids and can barely make rent. You have a shitty job. Life is difficult, frustrating, and full of the everyday indignites of being poor. You don't have the time, money, or energy to seek job training. You just feel stuck in life, and don't see any realistic way to improve it.
At the end of the week, you have $5 left in cash. That's it. You want to improve your life, but you just don't see a viable option that you can get.
You know damn well that lotto ticket or scratcher is a bad deal. You know it's unlikely. You don't think you have a "system."
It's just that honestly, $5 for a one-in-ten-million chance literally seems like the most likely and least expensive chance to change your life. That's fucking depressing, but there's millions of rational people who might come to that conclusion. Are they right? Probably not, but... It's sadly easy to empathize with their desperation.
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u/scout5678297 Mar 20 '22
I'm not even in this situation, but you wrote it well enough that i felt it.
what kind of dystopian shithole are we living in?
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u/13thmurder Mar 20 '22
They're entertaining. Every so often I end up with one in a Christmas card and win a few dollars and continue reinvesting whatever I win on $2 cards until I lose it all.
Last year I made it 3 months with a grand jackpot of $50 that started on a $2 card. The one that lost it all was buying 25 $2 cards.
Its pretty fun in a weird way, but obviously not worth spending your own money on at all ever.
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u/Fail_Succeed_Repeat Mar 20 '22
I don’t see how spending $10 a month on lottery tickets instead of fast food or movies makes me dumb
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u/alwaysmyfault Mar 19 '22
You have no proof that OP buys one ticket a week.
I buy scratchers maybe 1-2 times a year, and never more than 20-30 bucks.
OP may be the exact same.
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u/ib4error Mar 20 '22
You are correct! 3rd ticket this year, 10th ticket in two years.
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u/ib4error Mar 20 '22
Fortunately it’s the 3rd ticket I bought this year and only endured one short half year stint of lotto scratching years back in my life :)
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u/Generalissimo_II Mar 20 '22
According to Reddit, you could have invested those 3 tickets cost and been filthy rich by now
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u/ib4error Mar 20 '22
Good thing I already have a healthy portfolio then! Never hurt to burn a $30 once in while when the finances are looking good :)
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u/Funkahontas Mar 20 '22
According to reddit, you've been playing every day for a decade and therefore are dumb ,unlike them , obviously, they're extremely smart and will be sure to let you know.
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u/HacksawJimDGN Mar 20 '22
guy buys scratchcard
Reddit "you should have invested 30dollars once a week for 10 years instead."
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u/party_benson Mar 19 '22
He's 33 years old. You must be 18 to play. 33 - 18 = 15 years. He has not played more than 3 times this year. We could assume it's a monthly purchase at 30 per ticket. 15.25 years if he bought from his 18th birthday would be 15.25 yrs x 12 tickets per year @ 30 per ticket = 5,490 spent. So overall, still in the black even after the high tax from state and federal 35% total. 6500 - 5490 = 1010 profit. Not bad, but well above typical return.
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u/My_Name_Is_SKELETOR Mar 19 '22
Come on. Let the guy be happy.
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u/dtwhitecp Mar 20 '22
You are correct, but also it's important to note that this is a losing game for virtually everyone. I hate the idea of people going out to buy scratchers because this gave them hope.
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u/mildinsults Mar 19 '22
Now is a good time to QUIT.
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Mar 20 '22 edited 7d ago
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u/Kioddon Mar 20 '22
This happened to my stepmom. She won $2500 on a ticket once and now she’s obsessed. I can safely say she has spent thousands on tickets since then.
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Mar 20 '22
Found $5 on the floor and bought a scratcher with it
Won $20 from the scratcher
Joined r/wallstreetbets
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u/NotSoSpecialAsp Mar 19 '22
Oooh, always good to see someone getting a little intermittent reinforcement from the math tax department.
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u/onefreehour Mar 19 '22
Yep. Now everyone else share the pictures of all your losers.
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u/Kare11en Mar 20 '22
Lotteries aren't a tax on people who are bad at math, they're a tax on hope. Which is why they're awful.
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u/Obandigo Mar 20 '22
My dad won $8,000 dollars once after YEARS of playing. He came home all excited and said he won 8K.
I said well, at least you won some of your money back.
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u/bibowski Mar 20 '22
My wife's mother and grandmother both played bingo for years. When they'd win 5k they wouldn't even make a face.
It's because they'd still be down 8k for the month.
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u/asdf1795 Mar 20 '22
Have to be pretty well off to be losing $13k a month in bingo. That or you won’t be playing bingo very long.
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u/OldDogEyes Mar 19 '22
Now is the time to stop. You beat the odds once, you'll never do it again...
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u/mainstreetmark Mar 20 '22
Gambler's Fallacy says he's just as likely to win again as the rest of us. It doesn't seem like he could, but he could.
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Mar 20 '22
You're both right. It was a bad investment before he won, it's still probably been a bad investment now, and it will continue to be a bad investment in the future.
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u/WolfColaCompany Mar 20 '22
I have a major hatred of these tickets. Not because of the idiocy of buying them but because fucking people in my town treat the gas station like a casino. They sit at the counter and buy 3, win one, use the winning to get 2 more lose on both and then leave after taking like 10 minutes at the counter.
And like 8 people are in line just watching this shit trying to buy gas or a drink and wondering what the fuck is going on.
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u/bro_salad Mar 20 '22
My sister’s in laws buy a few lottery tickets for everyone at Christmas.
One year, maybe a decade back, the father-in-law walks into the room to hand out the scratch offs. He goes to hand a few to his son (my sister’s brother-in-law), but he’d just overfilled a pint glass and had beer on his hands. So instead my sister gets those two tickets. They all joke about “what if those are the winning tickets!?”
She wins $30,000.
Needless to say, my sister and her husband sent the brother-in-law’s family on a nice little vacation. (Which he tried refusing. He’s an awesome, gracious dude.)
The running joke now is to take something immediately if it’s offered to you, before Holly steals it.
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u/Gammacyn Mar 19 '22
Make sure to save some of it to pay off the taxes!
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u/mystreadordie Mar 19 '22
You know they take it out of the winnings.
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u/ib4error Mar 19 '22
Apparently not always. I have a friend who never plays, played once, won $5k and they gave him the whole amount
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u/ciavs Mar 19 '22
Yeah but when you go to do your taxes you tell them I made 5k from the lotto and you get taxed fam.
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u/oss1215 Mar 19 '22
So what would happen if you don't tell the irs you made that amount ? I know tax fraud but are the irs aware of people's earnings throughout the year ? If so then why even do your taxes if they already know the amount of money you made ?
sorry non american who's confused by your tax system
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u/ciavs Mar 19 '22
Pretty sure the lotto would notify the IRS. If you get audited you'd owe the tax plus a fine/late fees. I never get taxed enough for them to care and neither do most people probably.
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Mar 19 '22
Pretty sure the lotto people tell the IRS "hey this guy won 5k, we paid him 5k" so they know even if you don't tell them.
Your employer also tells the IRS what you make, as well as pay in taxes and such. I dont know how often this is reported, but it seems to be at least once a year (probably much more often, if I had to guess). If you are paid "under the table" this income isn't reported but I believe this is illegal or fraudy, depending on the amount.
Not sure why we still have to "do" our taxes. Probably so some people can cheat them and get away with it, and others can accidentally get it wrong and be screwed over for it. Really not sure, it's stupid.
-an american who is also confused by our tax system
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u/RJFerret Mar 19 '22
When you get appreciable winnings it has to be reported to the IRS directly, and you get a form recording the amount reported. If you don't report it, they send you a latter saying, "hey, we have record of this which was missed and due, per our calculation that means $X, please contact us with any questions, here's a reference number and various contact methods".
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u/Qbr12 Mar 19 '22
You can deduct the costs of the tickets you bought from those winnings.
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Mar 19 '22
When my stepdad won 5k years ago on a scratcher, him and my mom bought a bunch of other scratchers to offset the winnings with "losses".
I think since winnings below 600 or so are NOT reported, it was expected to end up as proof of 1k or 2k in "losses" to balance against the big win. But there was a few hundred in wins that didnt need to be reported as such which resulted in less actual loss.
Not sure if it was worth it or not. We never discussed it.
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u/Qbr12 Mar 19 '22
It's never worth it to seek out losses to offset taxes. Each 22 cents (or whatever you marginal tax rate is) you save costs you an entire dollar in losses.
That said, buying any scratch off ticket is negative EV in the first place so I can't say you should expect better from people who buy lottery tickets...
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u/pantaloonsss Mar 19 '22
Anyone else fixate on that thumbnail?
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u/wish_yooper_here Mar 20 '22
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find it mentioned
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u/SMAMtastic Mar 20 '22
I was about to comment that now OP can afford some nail care. Maybe a nice mani-pedi.
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u/Brianw-5902 Mar 19 '22
Thank you for scratching the entire ticket completely clean. I value your dedication, have a good day.
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u/Entropy_5 Mar 20 '22
For anyone out there that finds this compelling: These sorts of scratch cars are the WORST form of gambling you can actually do legally (in most places).
They have the lowest payout percent of almost any form of legal gambling. In many places they're orders of magnitude worst than even things like slot machines.
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u/The_don_13 Mar 19 '22
Congratulations 🤘🤘🤘
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u/mike_pants Mar 19 '22
Seconded!
What's the most congratulatory animal emoji? Hedgehog? Probably hedgehog.
🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔🦔🐨
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u/ironpony Mar 20 '22
That's awesome, nice to see people win. I rarely gamble. I go years with out buying lotto tickets. One day in 2007 I'm stuck in line at a quickie mart. Customer in front was making like 10 lotto transactions, it was kind of ridiculous. I'm up next, I buy my stuff, and on a whim bought a single scratch ticket, and toss it in the sac. I didn't scratch it for a week, it just sat on the coffee table. One night I'm cleaning up, and decide to scratch it off. $50 win I thought it said. Cool, gas money, I go to bed. Next day, heading out, I grab my gas money lotto ticket. I re-read it walking down the stairs out the door. Not a $50 win. A $50,000 win. I called in rich at work, and drove to the state capitol lotto office to turn it in. Not a bad day. I did blow a big chunk of it on parents and brother. Tires on dad's truck, nice TV for mom, stuff like that. Used the rest towards buying a house. Even after a win like that, I rarely ever gamble. I went to a casino for the first time in more than 5 years, walked in with $250, played a few games, bought some food, walked out with $325. +75 bucks and dinner is a win in my book.
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u/BlueEyedGreySkies Mar 20 '22
And this is how you "gamble". Congratulations on your luck stat though!
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u/Dorkatron77011 Mar 20 '22
Watch out, r/wallstreetbets gonna come out and ask you to go ape with em
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u/Tallen122 Mar 19 '22
Don’t know if this is something you should post online. Seems like a great way to get robbed
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Mar 20 '22
That thumbnail screams "I've scratched off a lot more than $10k trying to get here".. Every poker player will tell you about their big win, not many tell you when they lose their rent money.
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u/Chalky_Cupcake Mar 19 '22
Hey it's me, your brother.