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Lotteries: America's $70B Shame

theatlantic.com

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Re: Lotteries: America's $70B Shame

#2

Post by Houstonymous »

I'm pretty sure we let the government run the lotteries here in the US because it's a lot better than when the gangs would run them. It's much the same argument for drug legalization, really... if people are going to be stupid, and you know they're going to be stupid, at least help them be smart about being stupid.

Re: Lotteries: America's $70B Shame

#4

Post by ideonexus »

I would never think of playing the lottery or engaging in any other form of gambling because I understand the odds are always in favor of the house. I understand that I'm going to lose money. What a terrible irony that we fund public education with a lottery that relies on participation by those who don't understand basic math?

But I see this as part of a larger trend of preying on the poor. Watching far-right media, I see poor people being told to invest heavily in gold, reverse mortgages, guns, and raging them up into sending all their money to political organizations whose sole purpose is to take money from the angry. And there are plenty of examples on the left as well (people investing in college degrees for the sake of college degrees without any idea if their field of study is a good investment or not). I don't know how we break these cycles and inspire low-income American citizens to temper their emotions and rationally invest in their futures.

Re: Lotteries: America's $70B Shame

#6

Post by radarsat1 »

Houstonymous wrote: post #2

I'm pretty sure we let the government run the lotteries here in the US because it's a lot better than when the gangs would run them. It's much the same argument for drug legalization, really... if people are going to be stupid, and you know they're going to be stupid, at least help them be smart about being stupid.

Yup, and it's not like the US is alone in this endeavour..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotteries_by_country

Re: Lotteries: America's $70B Shame

#7

Post by sanxiyn »

Houstonymous wrote: post #2

I'm pretty sure we let the government run the lotteries here in the US because it's a lot better than when the gangs would run them. It's much the same argument for drug legalization, really... if people are going to be stupid, and you know they're going to be stupid, at least help them be smart about being stupid.

We should also cut tax on lottery tickets. It would reduce economic inequality.

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/05/low_hanging_fru....

Re: Lotteries: America's $70B Shame

#10

Post by maerF0x0 »

A lottery is a better investment than other crap the poor often buy. Crack, TVs, xboxes, alcohol all have a EROI of 0. A lottery at least is >0 . Better would be if we sold partials of VT(I) in the store at lottery ticket prices. $2 for a near 0 chance at 1B, or $2 for a near 100% chance at $4 given enough time.
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