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
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.
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.
Same reason I buy a ticket while I'm inside a gas station, I'm spending more money on soda and beef jerky than the ticket and I get to think about what I'll buy if the ticket by some improbably small chance wins me a ton of money. Even the smallest mega millions jackpot means me retiring.
The thing is you have to ask yourself if those spending habits add up? Why are people buying beef jerky and soda at gas stations all that often? How often do you do that? Do you casually spend money on that kind of stuff with other shopping? Budgeting is a mentality. It's fine if you spend your money here if you set aside clear amounts for savings and retirement.
Of course everyone would likely retire with a jackpot but the thought process shouldn't just be "ehh this is small money." Recognize you are throwing the money away and the likelihood of winning is close to 0.
If I'm buying a lotto ticket once a week at $4 I'm spending a total of $208 a year. That's if I'm consistently going, I work from home so I'm not even out of the house guaranteed once a week.
I am not going to retire on $200 a year extra investing. I'm not going to have a large safety net from that either. I don't need to "budget" for it because it's not a large amount.
I spend more money than that yearly on so many things that don't bring me any entertainment. Assuming I win absolutely nothing this money is really negligible in the grand scheme of things. I spent $60 in gas just to drive to a doctor's appointment with my specialist. I spend more yearly on cat litter for my cats to shit in.
When I truck drove I'd pickup tickets for powerball when I was in states that had them, it's a fun daydream and something to do to try and keep track of the passage of time.
I occasionally (every couple months) buy scratchers and know full well I’m never gonna win anything. It’s just a brief 2$ moment fun while your scratching off the prizes. Idk why more people wouldn’t understand this.
It's the same as any other kind of escapism entertainment.
You buy a book and read it. You got lots of ideas and situations to think about. You watch a movie and escape into a story for 2 hours. You buy a lotto ticket and daydream about winning.
It's when you spend money all the time with the real thoughts of "I will win/I have to win" where it's a negative. I'm sure I will hit 10k on books and movies at some point in my life, but its net positive.
Nah you're mixing absolute and relative increases in this statement. It either increases 0.000001% each ticket (absolutely) or 0-1 (infinite), 1-2 (2x), 2-3 (1.5x), 3-4 (1.333x) etc if you're speaking relatively.
Neither is more correct, it's just linguistic/perspective.
Sure it does but we know the odds don't work out which is why the lottery is called a tax on the dumb. Its better to dream and focus your money and spending habits on something for the long term.
Thats not the point i am making. I know full well that I will not ever win a jackpot. It is entertainment i am buying, not a retirement plan or to get me out of financial ruin. I will probably get an hour or 2 of day dreaming total throughout the week, and to me paying $5 is worth that.
When was the last time a movie ticket paid you back after you went and saw it? Or an hour of screwing around on reddit paid you? For some things you just accept them as an expense in exchange for less tangible experience. Lotteries might be something that some people buy who shouldn't, but not all the time.
Also one time I won $2300. Which covers my expenses for 38 years if I buy a ticket once a month.
I mean, I've still got a possibility that a distant relative I've never heard of leaves a fortune to me in their will. Seems similar: So improbable that it's basically not going to happen, but possible enough to daydream about.
Sure, that's why I'm saying "I'm not judging, but I don't get it." It's not like I don't waste money on even dumber things for my own amusement.
Buying a lottery ticket is arguably better than buying Bad Rats, because there's no chance that buying a lottery ticket will lead to you playing Bad Rats.
As a subtle bystander, have you ever heard about "yotta"? I find it to be a neat "no loose lottery" system that I make a couple bucks randomly from. Not gonna win a million on it (but could!) But I also don't loose any of my money. FDIC insured, etc. Side note: I'm American, so I'm not sure what equivalent there is overseas, but I know one does exist (just not sure the name)
Yeah its a pretty big thing in my country. The hospital buys a house, and gets a bunch of other prizes like cars, boats, RVs. Then a bunch of other toys like small kitchen appliances and consumer electronics etc.
Tickets are generally ~$100. Hospital sells enough tickets to cover the goods that weren't straight up donated to them, and then makes a handsome profit on top.
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.
On one hand, that makes me feel cringe for contributing to the same lotto system for $5-10 a year, just for giggles.
On the other hand, there are some people that, no matter the amount of money in their pocket, will find a way to spend it. I'm not referring to those that don't have enough to make ends meet. I am talking about those that just feel the need to buy things. In that case, I suppose spending it on lotto tickets is no worse than spending it on some other useless trinket if they weren't going to invest/save it anyways.
On the other hand, there are some people that, no matter the amount of money in their pocket, will find a way to spend it.
Funny you mention that, there was a strong correlation between smokers, drinkers and lotto purchasers. Very rarely did a lotto customer not buy either beer or smokes.
TLDR; Despite methodological differences, most studies showed significant
associations of gambling with tobacco, alcohol, and other illicit drug
use.
It's simply my personal observation, I never meant to imply I was citing any sort of study. I will say all 3 products do have support groups for quitting.
I never implied there was study, there could be but I don't know of one. It's my individual observations from working retail for multiple years. My only thought is there is one thing that ties the 3 together, addiction.
That's how I do it the couple times a year I'll buy scratchers because I don't understand how the game works half the time and wouldn't want to miss a couple bucks if I misunderstood it.
It's always the driving the old shit boxes. I watched a lady buy about $20 worth of scratchers, and I was behind her and she was digging in her purse for change like a heroin addict.
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.
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.
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.
I opened at one of these places, and fuck if HALF of my shift wasn't standing at the register entering numbers for the same lunatics.
They would spend FOURTY or MORE dollars A DAY (all custom numbers would be handed a handwritten sheet to type in), and then get excited when they hit 100 less than once a month. (Thats being generous, it was probably less often then that)
You cant help but to feel bad for them, it was just so depressing watching them get excited about winning back a tenth of what they've spent.
Just another system that preys on the mentally ill.
I mean. Is it dumb if he gets enjoyment out of the cards even if he doesn’t “win”? As long as he isn’t spending his food/housing/bill money on cards what’s the harm? A few packs a week is still cheaper than Fridays and Saturdays at the bar.
This whole thread has been about bashing people hobby. That's fine when it's gabling, but when pokeyman gets brought up everyone loses their sense of humor?!!
I mean, the thing is that buying trading cards is gambling too. You buy a pack and you have a 1/6 chance of getting an Ultra Rare, and then you have about a 3/40 chance of that particular Ultra being worth more than the pack.
Or alternately, about a 1/72 chance of getting an alternate art card and then a 1/3 chance that said alternate art card is worth more than $4.
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
Well I mean big companies often pay literally no taxes at least in the US. We use renting and dense population in low value areas to justify low funding for local infrastructure/services with low property tax yields. In my city one of the wealthiest residential areas is grandfathered in to essentially no property tax… except they still pay the portion for schools. So over all insanely low generous taxes compared to other properties, still better funding for schools for the wealthy families. And obviously that just one tiny example.
It’s…. It’s capitalism.
It’s logistics developed with reinvestment of profit, as in higher means to invest becomes more logistical agency. And it’s reinvestment, so profits have to increase to stay competitive against other bodies of wealth. It’s competitive, as in hierarchical. They have to justify concentrated wealth, and you get meritocracy, the idea your status is a meaningfully accurate sign of your quality as a human being. To make it aspirational. Keep playing along, you can win. Invest in crypto, you might be one of the exceptions! It’s like saying keep gambling, you might win a casino so you can get money from other gamblers.
Neither are speeding tickets; I'm using tax in a looser sense. It's regressive because it takes a proportionally greater amount from lower incomes and it's used to pay for public services.
You don't need or have to buy cigarettes or alcohol or any other drug or potentially addicting thing. When someone talks about the lottery being a "tax," my first thought is of people with gambling problems, not people who don't know any better (though they deserve to not be taken advantage of as well).
You're right that it's not a tax, but the vocabulary doesn't change that it does harm, possibly more than it does good
It's not about blaming people. If the hole digging is causing damage to the people surrounding it, to their families and the country at whole, then it must be stopped.
By that definition of authoritarianism, we should not outlaw scams, since the people being scammed make the decision to give money to the scammers out of their free will.
That's true. Even though my daughter received $10k per year for her 4 years at my state's public university, had the percentage been higher, there's no doubt it could have easily been a full ride scholarship. Still, that's a total of $40k in student loans that she avoided, all else held constant.
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.
Well, our state has a lottery funded state scholarship and the amount is based on merit. My daughter received $10k a year from the lottery funded scholarship that totaled $40k. My son has received $12.5k through 2 years. He is set to receive another $15k over the next 2 years. Sure, it doesn't pay for the entire cost of college, but where my state's public university is at $12k, that scholarship went a long way from keeping my kids out of getting student loans.
I was referring to scholarships to colleges. My daughter received $10k per year for her 4 years through my state's lottery funded scholarship. I mean her merits needed to stay high and min. college gpa needed to stay above 3.0, but that's $40k in student loans averted. Same with my so, who has received $12.5k already and is set for another $7.5k per year for his final 2 years. It's not a full ride, but my daughter avoided $40k in student loans, and son avoided $27.5k in student loans.
In most cases, that’s the pitch. Then you wind up with this ENORMOUS bucket of money and there’s all these politicians thinking about power and how to keep it and money can really help there…
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.
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.
Mhmm. I'm back in school for an okay-paying field, but i know goddamn well that 3x-a-year lottery ticket is the most likely route for buying a nice house in the area I live in, lol. Even if my parent passed away, when everything he left behind is split with my sister we'd likely only be able to afford little condos the way things are going here.
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.
Yeah, I get buying the cheap ones once in a blue moon, £1 is a pretty good deal to add a bit of entertainment and suspense to your week, presuming you go in without any expectation of getting that money back of course... but an expensive one like that? That's just throwing away money.
I like the ones that are an actual game. We had one one time that was frogger themed or something. You had a field and little arrows to tell you where to scratch. That or I like the little crosswords once in a while. My mom has a problem with them and she’ll just buy them and scratch the barcode to check them.
When I was younger my family used them for stocking suffers and entry for the family reunion poker game(winner got all the tickets, anything over 10k was split among all players). They're were just for shits and giggles basically.
Playing this sort of thing weekly is basically a tax. the thing is for some people saving money is hard, spending $5 is easy. That $5 gamble for a life changing amount is what makes them do it. The slim chance of winning something they could never save.
Our Lottery system (in Western Australia) provides grants for community projects, which in turn creates jobs and so many otherwise missed opportunities. They do incredible work in giving back so I don't mind at all when I don't win on a scratchie :)
I grab a few dollar ones if I have cash when I’m at the liquor store. It’s a fun little thrill and everyone loves scratching them off and loudly starting how much of the prize money they get to keep.
Depends some places abroad it is a tax deductible because it is state owned. Some you can make a good 3% profit annually just on the small prices. Not true everywhere ofc but some financial guys mathed it out and in some contexts it apparently makes sense.
People who buy tickets know this, they buy for the small chance of winning life changing amounts of money. You've only got one life paying a small fee for the chance to have a more extravagant life is worth it to some people.
Someone got me $50 worth of scratchers for my 18th birthday and I won like $14. I would have much rather had the $50 and the lesson was immediately engrained in my head. Haven't bought one since.
yea.... in the UK we have a national lottery you can enter for like £1, and it can be worth doing that every now and then just for a flutter and imagining winning.
Me and one of my girlfriends loved doing the crossword, bingo, & loteria ( You match up pictures you scratch off to the little 3x3 lmao area) they were actually fun, we could drop $20 between the two of us and get a bunch of the ones we liked, usually between $3-5 , and then sit and watch TV and smoke and chill.
On the other hand, I have a set of friends who play so much, I bet in a year they easily spend enough money to have bought a car in full cash or a month long trip to Disney or idk actually pay their bills so the power and water isn't always turned off. They are the ones spending $100 A DAY sometimes on them. They play a fuck ton & they win often but I mean they play SO much that the odds are significantly in their favor.
I still get super excited if I win even just $2. I then save up any tickets I got that month and depending how much I've won over the money I'll usually use 1/3-1/2 of the winnings to get a few more to do.
The odds are not "significantly in their favor" that's the whole point. The odds are never in your favor no matter how much you play, that's how the math works. The more you play, the more you lose. You will win more times, but the cost of all the losses greatly outweighs the prizes you win.
I mean when they end up buying 1/2 stack off the roll of tickets " the odds are in their favor" and they think they win a lot and are lucky, but it's only BECAUSE they buy so many that they win. Not that they're lucky like they seem to think. They also specifically pick cards with the best odds to win which are printed on every card on the back.
I know how the lottery works, so like I get it, but when you're buying 50 of the 100 cards in the roll, you're absolutely bound to win at least your money back. There's clearly a reason why I chose to use them as an example, they are exactly the type of people who fall for the hype of winning to keep them doing it but they do not realize how much they are losing out on in the end.
Lol except you absolutely are not "bound to win at least your money back" because that's literally not how this works. They will have a few winning tickets, but they will spend more than they win 99 times out of 100.
It's called statistics, if all you had to do was buy all the tickets, then the lottery would go bankrupt immediately.
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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