Ok, after I heard about the woman who started a GOFUNDME campaign because she spent all her savings on Powerball Tickets(and didn't win anything of course)and wanted complete strangers to send her money because she was broke, and people were actually giving her money!!! before the site shut her down, I just had to write something.
Yeah, me keep my big mouth shut? Who didn't see THAT happening?! lolz
Lotteries are bad ideas for the most part.
True they do fund some government programs and fill the state's coffers.
But the percentage of ticket sales that actually go into winner's pockets and the odds of winning, especially a multi-state super lottery drawing like Powerball, are so not weighted in your favor.
While playing games of chance at casinos are always in favor of the house and against you, the odds of winning a state or multi-state lottery are almost nil.
The jig is up, it's a highly rigged game!
A guy named James Walsh wrote a book back in 1996 called "True Odds". It's about how risk affects your everyday life. It's an interesting read especially if you are a statistics fan or numbers geek.
Mr. Walsh named one of the chapters, "Lotteries are a tax on the stupid".
That sounds a bit harsh(if not ultimately true), but I'd change it to "Lotteries are a tax on the foolish and the poor.".
The people most likely to play the lottery are the ones who can least afford to lose money on them, the poor. People who think of themselves as poor seem to play the lottery often if not weekly. I guess if you have so little money and have little to no hope of ever rising up on the socioeconomic ladder that you feel that your best, if not only, shot at being economically advantages is to hit a lottery. The dream of winning big gives people with the least hope something to grab onto, if not just for a moment or two.
I have heard it said by more than one person I know, that a large part of their retirement plan is to play and hit the lottery. Some people might say this as a joke but my mother truly believed that her numbers would come in one day and for a time she played religiously with the little income she had. She even went so far as to keep track of the odds of which numbers were "due to hit" in a notebook and studied it frequently before picking her lottery numbers.
I'll let you know that her numbers never came in. Gee, aren't you shocked? ;-) She was able to keep her gambling "in check" and didn't lose every dollar she had, unlike some addictive personality folks out there who lose it all betting in casinos, racetracks, football pools and/or state lotteries.
While winning the big prize in a lottery is akin to the odds of a modern day person being eaten by a dinosaur I am always happy for the folks who actually win(and equally sorry for all those who pissed away lots of money buying the losing tickets too).
But this go around, I saw spiteful people who threw money away on loosing tickets making terrible comments on social media about the holders of those 3 winning tickets. There was a rumour making the rounds that the person who bought a winning ticket in Callifornia was a 27 year old hedge fund manager, who may have purchased $20K in tickets. Once that story made the rounds the vitriol was flying!
"Must be nice to be able to spend $20K on lottery tickets?!"
"Someone like this doesn't 'deserve' to win!"
"There needs to be laws so that rich people can't play the lottery!"
Wow.
Just wow.
What do these reactions say about us as a culture?
Sour grapes is one thing but this is ridiculous!
Let's get a grip people.
Gambling is not a long term financial plan so don't count on it as such.
If you want to waste a couple of bucks playing the lottery be my guest and have your little "if I was rich fantasy".
But don't come crying to me(or any social programs our government runs funded by tax dollars)when you piss away all your economic wealth on highly risky games of chance, asking for us to bail you out.
And for gosh sakes, get your heads out of your asses and don't go grumbling and getting pissed at the people who do beat the astronomical odds and win.
Sluggy
