Lottery is systemic racism

[jon-nyc]

The very first time I voted was 1988. I was at university (Purdue). By chance Indiana had a referendum on the ballot that year asking for approval of a state lottery “where the proceeds would be earmarked for education”, (lol as if money isn’t fungible, something intuitive to me at 20 but it generally fooled people).

I voted no and remember telling friends “this is basically a tax on people who are bad at math”.

[LuFins Dad]

The real problem is all of those scratchers… I can’t count how many times I’ve been stuck in line at a convenience store behind somebody turning in scratchers for $20 prize, use that to buy $40 worth of tickets… Win $10 more, redeem that $10 and buy $20 more that loses…

[George K]

I have never bought a lottery ticket.

[Copper]

I have a subscription.

$2, twice per week.

I might have been doing this for 10-15 years now.

A few times per year I'll win between 4 and 8 dollars.

But my big day is coming. And when that day comes, everyone here will get their fair share.

[LuFins Dad]

@George-K said in Lottery is systemic racism:

I have never bought a lottery ticket.

I’ll occasionally buy 1 ticket on one of the big jackpots. Bought one for the 1.5 Billion, but forgot to get one for the $2 Billion.

[George K]

@LuFins-Dad said in Lottery is systemic racism:

forgot to get one for the $2 Billion.

Missed it by that much, eh?

[jon-nyc]

@LuFins-Dad said in Lottery is systemic racism:

@George-K said in Lottery is systemic racism:

I have never bought a lottery ticket.

I’ll occasionally buy 1 ticket on one of the big jackpots. Bought one for the 1.5 Billion, but forgot to get one for the $2 Billion.

I think the expected value of buying tickets for low-to-normal jackpots greatly exceeds the expected value of buying tickets for the earth-shattering jackpots.

(But either way the expected value is a rounding error from zero)

[Mik]

The guy in Altadena who sold the winning ticket is the FIL of Don Peko, a former Bengal.

[George K]

@Mik said in Lottery is systemic racism:

The guy in Altadena who sold the winning ticket

What's his take?

[George K]

NVM: In many states it's 5%.

Whoops, that's the percentage of sales.

The bonus for a winning ticket is "only" 0.5%. So this guy only gets about $10MM.

https://www.lottoanalyst.com/how-much-do-lottery-retailers-make-in-commission

[Doctor Phibes]

Hang on a minute - are you guys telling me that I can't win a ton of money out of gambling?

That can't be right! When the government legalized it here, they said it was a great opportunity for people to make a great deal of money. Of course, they didn't specify which people, exactly.

[Mik]

@George-K said in Lottery is systemic racism:

@Mik said in Lottery is systemic racism:

The guy in Altadena who sold the winning ticket

What's his take?

A cool million bucks.