Buying lottery tickets is...

[getbent]

I try to buy tickets as quickly as the new drawing is coming up. So, if the draw is sat and wed, I buy on sunday and thursday. That way, as the world is taking its licks on me, I quietly dream of generational monies that I can distribute as I choose.

harmless. just buy one ticket. 520 bucks a year for an infinitessimally, but real shot at generational wealth.

I'm a happy person, have a great life, make plenty of money to survive etc... but, imagine monopoly money... the fun things you could do with it.

 

[getbent]

Sadly an awful lot of habitual lottery players have kids who get a candy bar for breakfast because the budget has no room for food and new shoes etc.

We can write that off as bad parents but remember just like AA and NA for addictions to substances there is Gamblers Anonymous for gambling addicts. Which is why lottery ads include the admonition to “play responsibly” same as drink responsibly.

what is the defnition of 'an awful lot' precisely (in numbers)

 

[Lonn]

The only guarantee regarding lottery tickets is that you won’t win if you don’t have one.

 

[Cyberi4n]

what is the defnition of 'an awful lot' precisely (in numbers)

To the “fun police”, ‘an awful lot’ is simply ‘more than one’….


Disclaimer: I’m not for one minute suggesting that telemnemonics is a member of said fun police. I don’t know him well enough (or at all for that matter) to make that claim.

 

[Knows3Chords]

I try to buy tickets as quickly as the new drawing is coming up. So, if the draw is sat and wed, I buy on sunday and thursday. That way, as the world is taking its licks on me, I quietly dream of generational monies that I can distribute as I choose.

harmless. just buy one ticket. 520 bucks a year for an infinitessimally, but real shot at generational wealth.

I'm a happy person, have a great life, make plenty of money to survive etc... but, imagine monopoly money... the fun things you could do with it.

 

[getbent]

To the “fun police”, ‘an awful lot’ is simply ‘more than one’….


Disclaimer: I’m not for one minute suggesting that telemnemonics is a member of said fun police. I don’t know him well enough (or at all for that matter) to make that claim.

where I work, there are people who utilize 'an awful lot' to signify a perceived quantity that is actually hypothetical/theoretical but, by faith, 'must exist' and therefore, we must plan for them, make room for them, budget for them, grieve them, be shamed by them etc... when they never show up, we are tired, broke and wanting to go home.

 

[Cyberi4n]

where I work, there are people who utilize 'an awful lot' to signify a perceived quantity that is actually hypothetical/theoretical but, by faith, 'must exist' and therefore, we must plan for them, make room for them, budget for them, grieve them, be shamed by them etc... when they never show up, we are tired, broke and wanting to go home.

Yup, precisely.

 

[buster poser]

I try to buy tickets as quickly as the new drawing is coming up. So, if the draw is sat and wed, I buy on sunday and thursday. That way, as the world is taking its licks on me, I quietly dream of generational monies that I can distribute as I choose.

harmless. just buy one ticket. 520 bucks a year for an infinitessimally, but real shot at generational wealth.

I'm a happy person, have a great life, make plenty of money to survive etc... but, imagine monopoly money... the fun things you could do with it.

I haven't bought one in years, but we used to do a $5/head pool at the office when it got over $100m. Fun and yeah... lightning strikes someone, why not you. You can easily lose five bucks in your 401k's fund on any given day. Bag of chips and a soda. Half a beer at the local watering hole. I put several hundred times that amount into retirement savings every month, I feel okay lighting the occasional Lincoln on fire.

We've all got our own ideas about suspect purchases. I surely see a lot of them online, most a lot more than $1.

 

[telemnemonics]

You’re buying the chance to dream of winning life-changing amounts of money. Your choice, your money (just like locking tuners…)

Your point being what? I’m not trying to be rude, sorry if it comes across that way. I’m genuinely curious to know.

My point was that the "your" money concept applied to poor families who believe in the promise/ dream of winning the lottery, very commonly ends up as borderline criminal neglect of their children.
Child abuse and neglect laws imply or stipulate that parents MUST properly care for their childen, even if it leaves little $$ for booze drugs and gambling.

Locking tuners hurt no-one, but lottery tickets are a well known harmful scenario, which is why just like booze, the ads have a disclaimer to "play" responsibly.
Interesting also to consider that financially secure lottery players see it as a game, while financially struggling families see it as an investment.

Society has a limited capacity to see society.
Many of us think or believe that problems in other parts of society "are not that bad/ do not exist/ only happen to lazy people of poor character" etc.
But poor families commonly see the lottery as their only escape from their miserable poverty.

 

[Cyberi4n]

I can’t control how others spend their money. Only how I spend my own. There’s this thing called responsibility. That others may suffer from a lack of it is simply not my problem. Sounds heartless? Yeah, sure, but again, other people’s actions are out of my control.

I choose to buy lottery tickets because I’m
Buying a slice of a dream for a while, and because I can afford it.

 

[Mouth]

Last week my neice's babysitter won 3 million on a scratch off. So there's that.

 

[buster poser]

My point was that the "your" money concept applied to poor families who believe in the promise/ dream of winning the lottery, very commonly ends up as borderline criminal neglect of their children.
Child abuse and neglect laws imply or stipulate that parents MUST properly care for their childen, even if it leaves little $$ for booze drugs and gambling.

Locking tuners hurt no-one, but lottery tickets are a well known harmful scenario, which is why just like booze, the ads have a disclaimer to "play" responsibly.
Interesting also to consider that financially secure lottery players see it as a game, while financially struggling families see it as an investment.

Society has a limited capacity to see society.
Many of us think or believe that problems in other parts of society "are not that bad/ do not exist/ only happen to lazy people of poor character" etc.
But poor families commonly see the lottery as their only escape from their miserable poverty.

That's fair, not everyone is responsible and gambling addiction is a real thing. Scratchers seem like something apart from 'the lottery' in my mind, but I guess it's all the same stuff.

 

[Cyberi4n]

Last week my neice's babysitter won 3 million on a scratch off. So there's that.

A nice feel good story well done to her

 

[Knows3Chords]

When I was young, there was an 18 year old dude that lived down the street from us. He was just a typical working class kid in the 70's. He partied a little, but nothing too crazy. Then one day he hit the Michigan Lottery. I think it was a million. He immediately got his own place and a brand new Corvette. His place became party central. Every time he would drive down our street to see his parents, the car had new dents and scratches. Finally he totaled it. Damn near killed himself. He did it few more times with really nice cars. Long story short. He became a cocaine addict, and within a year and a half he lost all the money and was in prison on drug charges. How's that for a feel good story.

 

[telemnemonics]

what is the defnition of 'an awful lot' precisely (in numbers)

Who shall go into the ghettos and the subsidized housing complexes asking parents if they neglect their childrens financial needs to buy lottery tickets?
Will those moms asnwer: "oh yeah, for sure I cheat my child for the promise of a big lottery score"?

How do we get stats if the subjects are not inclined to self incriminate?
Well lets see, is there much drugging drinking and gambling among poor Americans?
As compared to middle class Americans?
Are middle class and wealthy Americans just as prone to problem drinking,mproblem drug use, and problem gambling, as poor Americans?
The answer is probably both yes and no.
Everyone is potentially addictive, but we also know that drug use is rampant in ghettos.
I do not know if any stats show lottery use is rampant in ghettos, but I have certainly seen high lottery use in ghettos when I was in those areas. Because the very poor, dream of having money. And have little disposable income which makes the cost to them, higher.

(maybe a disconnect here is that middle class folks who do not have any addictions, do not see gambling on the lottery as even BEING gambling?)

Then maybe instead of asking exactly how many poor families buy lottery tickets while their children suffer from lack of $$ provisions, how about if we compare the effect of a middle class family spending $730/ year on lottery tickets vs a poor family spending the same amount.
Will the child of the middle class family lose out?
Will the child of the poor family lose out?

My question is why do you doubt that poor families do indeed buy lottery tickets and struggle to feed their kids?
And that this is widespread and common?
Have you not seen poor NYC kids riding the subway early morning with a candy bar and a coke for breakfast?
Have you not chatted with a poor janitor about his special lottery numbers he is certain will soon get his kids a better life?
Have you not seen the cars that sit in front of the convenience store while the driver keeps running in to buy a few then out to scratch them then back in?
Notice that it is always an old car in poor condition?

Good question though, and again, I wonder if there is any organization that takes this on?
MADD?
They are busy with another crusade.
The ATF?
Wrong crew.
The lottery commission?
Against their own best interests.
With the bigger problems of violent crime, homelessness, race tensions, gender battles, drug abuse and OD deaths, police reputation, govt reputation, golfers reputation etc etc.

Investigating lottery spending and the harm or costs to America of "problem gambling" in particular state sponsored gambling, I dont see that being a top priority.
But, I do see it being a problem among American poor in NY, MA, NH, and to some degree in Maine.
MA seems to be deep deep in lottery and Keno addiction.

 

[24 track]

I have known a few winners when I wa in Vancouver a superintendant of operations won one of the first Lotto max 25,000,000.00
when I transfered to Kamlops and was in Letter carrier land one of the carriers won over 2,000,000.00 then won again a few years later so I was told , while at my last job at the grocery outlet a cashier won 10,000,000.00

it does happen but would i base a religion on it?, No

I will play every now or then

but the tax laws in canada are much different than the US here if you win you are not taxed on the principle amount won only on the interest accrued

 

[bottlenecker]

...a noble gesture because you're helping someone else get rich. Yeah, that"s it.

So it's like a job...

 

[kuch]

You can't win if you don't play.....

We get a couple of tickets when we're someplace that sells them and the jackpots are high

 

[RoscoeElegante]

Renting hope. Which can help you cope with reality.

And if you control your hopes in buying 'em and win, the few bucks you spend are the best material gamble you could ever make.

 

[telemnemonics]

That's fair, not everyone is responsible and gambling addiction is a real thing. Scratchers seem like something apart from 'the lottery' in my mind, but I guess it's all the same stuff.

In numerous trade jobs Ive had in long term sites like cabinet shops as opposed to house building, I commonly find stashes of loser scratch tickets and weekly lottery tickets, where workers like the janitor or the shipping person keep their lunch box.
Im talking piles as big as a 1950s dictionary, and when I see those piles amounting to many hundreds of $$ spent by working poor, often parents, it really cuts me deeply.
My these days hotel maintenance job can have numerous stashes like that because there are 6-10 housekeepers all buying lottery and scratch tickets.
Odd to sace them in piles?
Now and then I take home a pile abandoned at seasons end business closing, imagining I might make some sort of collage and drop it an an open juried gallery show in town.
Creepy though, "taking advantage" of the lost dreams of poor people. Even as I feel it is an overlooked societal problem.