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Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

money.cnn.com

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Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#81

Post by InitialLastName »

bigleagueposter wrote: post #73
mrighele wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that when you are that much poor, you don't just buy the chance of winning, but also a little amount of hope that helps to get through the dull (or even awful) life. Even if you don't win you get something back for that money.

Is hope of buying a bunch of things you will never be able to afford really a good thing?

We've built an entire society on the notion that you should aspire to buy a bunch of things you'll never be able to afford. See also: luxury car repossession rates

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#82

Post by jveryreal »

froindt wrote: post #60
vertex-four wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ehh. A $1/week expense which buys you hope and dreams for a week isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. It's certainly cheaper than cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs to temporarily take the stress out of the fact that you're in a long-term shitty situation with little way out of it. This concept that the poor should only ever work, eat, and sleep, and any attempt to look after their mental health is wasting money,…

> Ehh. A $1/week expense which buys you hope and dreams for a week isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. The problem is that poor people aren't just dropping 1 dollar per week. They're spending much more. Some people have a very poor grasp of how bad the odds are and mention that playing the lottery is their way to retirement. Taking a convenient top link from a Google search (admittedly it references a study…

I don't think there's anyone out there that has played the lottery that isn't acutely aware of how poor the odds are. As some people above have mentioned, they're not buying a ticket to riches, they're buying daydreams and aspirations to let them forget about their financial situation.

They're not bringing up the lottery as their way to retirement as an actual financial plan. It's gallows humor.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#83

Post by wbl »

pseingatl wrote: post #72
notfromhere wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that he defected to Moscow, staying in the US wasn't an option

Snowden didn't defect. He was on his way to Venezuela, which had granted him asylum. The US canceled his passport, stranding him in Russia. Even though the Venezuelan Air Force has an Airbus, flying to Russia non-stop was not feasible--Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, had his plane forced down on the suspicion that Snowden was aboard. Still, if Putin wanted to get Snowden to Venezuela, all he had to do was put…

If Venezuela was willing to let him travel there they could have issued him documentation to do so.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#84

Post by rdtsc »

mrleiter wrote: post #15
rdtsc wrote: post #7

> "It's difficult even saying that with all the people that I know behind me that I hurt." It is interesting to think about who he considers he hurt. The potential winners who relied on lottery winning to secure a future for their families? The lottery workers? He is a criminal surely, but isn't the whole lottery system a tax on lack of education and it just gives false hope to people and encourages gambling. He redu…

I believe he refers to his loved ones.

Agreed. That's the right answer probably.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#85

Post by vertex-four »

froindt wrote: post #60
vertex-four wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ehh. A $1/week expense which buys you hope and dreams for a week isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. It's certainly cheaper than cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs to temporarily take the stress out of the fact that you're in a long-term shitty situation with little way out of it. This concept that the poor should only ever work, eat, and sleep, and any attempt to look after their mental health is wasting money,…

> Ehh. A $1/week expense which buys you hope and dreams for a week isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. The problem is that poor people aren't just dropping 1 dollar per week. They're spending much more. Some people have a very poor grasp of how bad the odds are and mention that playing the lottery is their way to retirement. Taking a convenient top link from a Google search (admittedly it references a study…

True, there's a population which overspends on lottery tickets. But those people would also be spending their money on other pleasures otherwise - the solution there is increased social care and responsibility for these people, rather than taking the lottery away from the many people who play it responsibly.

Also, that article may be very wrong - at least one other news article which would appear to reference the same study received an update to suggest the total is 2-3%, rather than the 9% originally stated, and I can't find the 9% referenced in the study itself, while the 2-3% does show up.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#86

Post by ransom1538 »

aw3c2 wrote: post #61
ransom1538 wrote: post #53

Ok. Do these guys that commit white collar crime not know how a passport works? If you have millions of dollars stashed in bank accounts WHY are you in the US? Why are you buying estates and testing out a new bmwI8 and spilling champagne all over? Why not get on a plane go to Morocco (a country with an extremely complex extradition process)? wtf. Even the guy running silk road was hanging out in SF now lives in a 4x6…

Maybe because they like living in the US and like having that money there? I doubt that a want to completely changing one's culture is what drives people to commit monetary fraud.

Living in a 4x6 concrete cube would be much more of culture shock for me.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#87

Post by cm2187 »

ransom1538 wrote: post #53

Ok. Do these guys that commit white collar crime not know how a passport works? If you have millions of dollars stashed in bank accounts WHY are you in the US? Why are you buying estates and testing out a new bmwI8 and spilling champagne all over? Why not get on a plane go to Morocco (a country with an extremely complex extradition process)? wtf. Even the guy running silk road was hanging out in SF now lives in a 4x6…

When a country really wants to get you, there aren't many safe places in the world. The terrorist Carlos got abducted by the French intelligence service. Eichmann by the Israeli services. There are less famous cases (like the Kalinka Bamberski case). What's interesting in that in all of those cases, these illegal means of grabbing the suspect abroad didn't invalidate the case against him and in all of those examples the suspect was then charged and sentenced.

So yeah maybe, but only for some petty crimes.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#88

Post by vertex-four »

smeyer wrote: post #59
vertex-four wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ehh. A $1/week expense which buys you hope and dreams for a week isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things. It's certainly cheaper than cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs to temporarily take the stress out of the fact that you're in a long-term shitty situation with little way out of it. This concept that the poor should only ever work, eat, and sleep, and any attempt to look after their mental health is wasting money,…

> Ehh. A $1/week expense which buys you hope and dreams for a week isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things There's a demographic of lottery players that really only are spending $1 a week (or even $1 every few months or whatever), but there is also a large demographic that is regularly buying multiple $20 scratch tickets on a regular basis, which tends to be more of what people are thinking of when they evoke th…

The actual solution for the population which spends significant money on scratch cards, of course, is to invest in social care and support for people who are obviously very vulnerable. They'd be vulnerable whether the scratch cards existed or not.

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#89

Post by metalliqaz »

notfromhere wrote: post #68
arcanus wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also always wondered this. But people seldom run. I think Snowden had seen enough of the sausage being made to realize that hiding in the USA was impossible, given the security apparatus' capabilities.

Given that he defected to Moscow, staying in the US wasn't an option

Crazy that people still believe this stupid lie, easily debunked by 30 seconds on Wikipedia.

Even crazier is that the people who really wanted to string Snowden up by the neck were the conservatives, because they love law enforcement and are willing to give up freedom in order to fight Islamic terrorism. In other words, supporting Big Brother despite ostensibly wanting less government.

Crazier still is that those same people, the ones who were demonizing Snowden for ending up in Russia, are now in love with Assange and Putin because Trump.

"Two things are infinite: the Universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the Universe."

Re: Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison

#90

Post by InitialLastName »

fitchjo wrote: post #43
booleandilemma wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once read the lottery is a way of buying hope.

I play every once in awhile, when the jackpot gets to be large enough they start talking about it on TV. The $10 or $20 I spend is well worth daydreaming about the things I would if I won.

Buy index funds and live off the proceeds?
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