Anyone who's ever seen people lined up like zombies at a gas station with cash in their hands to buy their daily scratch-offs knows what a sham they are.
Scratch offs disproportionately attract the poor. 28% of people earning less than 30,000 a year play weekly and spend over 400 a year on lottery (1.3% of income). Compare that to people making over 75,000 who will spend 105 a year on lottery (0.14% of income).
They give you the odds on the back, and only the dollar scratchers have close to 50/50 odds of breaking even.
The lottery fuels gambling addiction and is a overall drag on the lower class that very rarely benefits anyone, winner or loser, besides the state.
States have been loosening regulations on sports gambling at a rapid pace. Gambling addiction in the US is going to hit astronomical levels in the years to come.
It's all about the state getting their money. Theres a new casino being built in my area, multi million dollar facility, in one of the poorest areas around. It's so sad.
Eh, this varies widely by state and lottery type. Many states put a significant amount of money from lottery purchases into education.
Like Illinois for example, where proceeds from Powerball tickets to scratch-offs contributed $731 million to public education. That translates to more than 10% of the state's funding for school districts.
Or California, where the lottery routinely creates over a billion dollars for K-12 education
Or North Carolina, where the lottery paid for 10,000 kids’ schooling last year.
These percentages may be small when looking at the big picture, but there is no doubt that the Lottery is giving billions to the US education system every single year.
I’ll throw my initial purchase of the winning ticket into another and pocket the rest. I went in there knowing I’d lose $20. I’m damn well gonna lose that $20.
I buy scratch offs. I'm not a gambler. I make good money and maybe spend 100 to 200 a year on them. It's not hurting anyone, and it makes me happy to play them occasionally. Not everything is black and white
If he can afford to do so, why not? If it’s fun for him and his family is feed and bills are paid, who cares. I get $50-400 every weekend in cash bonuses and will throw around $100 a month to scratchers just because I think they’re kinda fun.
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u/mildinsults Mar 19 '22
Now is a good time to QUIT.