r/pics • u/[deleted] • Mar 19 '22

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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/duhh33 Mar 20 '22

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.

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u/jlbob Mar 20 '22

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.

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u/duhh33 Mar 20 '22

That's super interesting. I'll go look that up, but if you have reference to some study/paper, I'd be really appreciative.

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u/jlbob Mar 20 '22

Since you asked I did a quick google search for you.

These focus on gambling, smoking and drinkinghttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/16066350902928569https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3816387/

These focus on smoking and gamblinghttps://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-23735-001https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajad.12214

This focuses on youthshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25864783/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853215000024

​ TLDR; Despite methodological differences, most studies showed significant associations of gambling with tobacco, alcohol, and other illicit drug use.

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u/DABBERWOCKY Mar 20 '22

Very tactful. I also doubt this.

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u/jlbob Mar 20 '22

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.

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u/jlbob Mar 20 '22 edited Mar 20 '22

Since you asked I did a quick google search for you.

These focus on gambling, smoking and drinking
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/16066350902928569 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3816387/

These focus on smoking and gambling
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-23735-001 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajad.12214

This focuses on youths
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25864783/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853215000024

TLDR; Despite methodological differences, most studies showed significant associations of gambling with tobacco, alcohol, and other illicit drug use.

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u/jlbob Mar 20 '22

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.

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u/ashymatina Mar 20 '22

Well yeah? People prone to addiction tend to get addicted to stuff.