Comments on: Who’s the Idiot Now? In My Family, We Play the Lottery to Win

By: Markham

Markham — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:04:17 +0000

@ThatJenn The delta is that you drink alcohol purely for enjoyment, and people play the lottery expecting not to lose or for those few times they don’t.

For the record, I don’t drink :)

I bought one lottery ticket in my life, I had been laid off, I was broke, friends on Facebook were traveling, so I said “what the hell” and gave it a try.

I still feel like I wasted a dollar.

But I’m cheap.

By: Markham

Markham — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:02:14 +0000

You don’t “win” because once in a while you win money, you win if the amount you spend on tickets is LESS than the amount you win.

If you spend $20/week on the lottery you spend $1,040/yr, if you win $3k every five years – you’re still down $2k.

SO you still lost.

If you spend $30/week, then you spend $1,500/yr and over five years you spend $7,500, so even if you win $5k per five years, you’re still down $2,500.

No one plays the lottery to win, you just lose.

The math doesn’t add up.

By: deepomega

deepomega — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:23:12 +0000

@julebsorry Yeah. 30 dollars is… not trivial! Or sixty, if you don’t win enough! And the worst part is, the more you play, the more you’re gonna trend towards the statistically normative result (losing).

By: Worker Parasite

Worker Parasite — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:57:06 +0000

@Megano! Well yeah, but I’d rather someone be an honest jerk than be nice and encourage a gambling problem. Ideally one can be honest and nice, but that’s a rare combination.

By: julebsorry

julebsorry — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:48:19 +0000

See, I buy dollar scratch-offs because I figure that they definitely provide a dollar’s worth of entertainment. I never play to win, although I almost always win my dollar back, or a free “Take 5″ play, and occasionally I win $5 to $10. The fun of the anticipation of the BIG WIN seems worth a buck. But $10? C’mon. Buy three $10 cards, you’ve spent $30. Do you know how much fun I can have for $30? Not enough to merit $30 worth of scratch-offs, for sure. And if you’re playing as an actual investment rather than just for fun…I think that’s how you can potentially get yourself into trouble.

By: Megano!

Megano! — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:52:05 +0000

@ThatJenn In Ontario you can only buy alcohol from government-run stores, so

By: Megano!

Megano! — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:50:56 +0000

@Worker Parasite Not really the point. You’re still a jackhole if you say that to an old lady.

By: ThatJenn

ThatJenn — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:43:21 +0000

@ThatJenn Hell, it beats drinking alcohol for ROI, I gotta say, and I’m betting most people who would say the lotto is an idiot tax “waste” money on alcohol all the time.

By: ThatJenn

ThatJenn — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:42:21 +0000

We’ve all got things we’ve probably spent more money than we needed on that gave us joy without a demonstrable financial benefit (and assuming your family’s broken even or been in the negative this counts). It just happens that your family’s thing is the lottery, and it also just happens that gambling is a serious issue for some folks. If it’s not for your family, and you all enjoy it, it’s really no different from people “wasting” money on any other hobby with no financial return.

By: Worker Parasite

Worker Parasite — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:07:31 +0000

@Megano! Harsh, but true. It’s a system designed to separate people from their money. My dad always called gambling “a tax on the poor and stupid” – which, while mean, rings true, especially after I spent a year as a dealer in a casino.