In Japan here they have cigarette vending machines that require you to scan your ID before they will dispense said tobacco. So, a lotto vending machine is possible.
Actually we have scratch off vending machines in Ohio. It just occurred to me that there is no way to check ID - the one I know of just sits perpendicular to the checkout lines at the grocery store.
In fact, I’ve seen people give their kids dollar bills to buy tickets. But, a kid could never claim the winnings himself so does it quite matter?
If they’re still able to throw their allowance down the pit, then it probably does.
I agree I cant stand people who hold me up from buying essentials such as . . food? . . . . for their fucking lottery tickets.
Most of the people I see buying them look like they have low IQs. Well, the good news thanks to The Stupid Tax aka The Lottery local governments have found a way to get revenue off the lowest producers in society so in part they can pay for their own welfare.
Good post.
When did that happen? I never had to scan an ID to buy a pack when I was living in Tokyo. There *was *a beer vending machine on the walk between the Yotsuya and Ichigaya campuses that required an ID, though, IIRC.
Yeah, when I was a kid once or twice Dad gave me a dollar to go run in and buy a Powerball for him while he was pumping gas.
It’s all that scratchin’, right?
I know you were kidding, but what really does irritate me about state-funded gambling is that it is clearly a Poor Tax. There’s a convenience store in Newark Penn Station with a lottery machine. In Penn Station, there are people of various apparent income levels, but in the long line in front of this machine, there are only apparently poor people.
Yes, poor people are less educated, and more prone to bad financial decisions. I don’t see how taxing them further is an appropriate response by our state governments.
Oh, don’t worry, the people who have a bit more money go on gambling trips, IME. So EVERYONE gets an opportunity to show off their poor understanding of statistics!
Amen and hallelujah for pay-at-the-pump gas stations!
If I had to get in line behind a yahoo buying scratch-offs every time I needed to fill up with gas I’d probably be sitting in jail for assault.
Yeah, I noticed that too… cucumbers… plural.
They’re getting money from people who won’t complain about paying taxes.
Me too. I used to enjoy pulling up to my local gas station, sliding my CC in the pump and then walking inside to grab a drink or a snack. Now I just linger at the pumps because there is always some homeless fuck clogging up line ‘diversifying his portfolio’. Like tho OP, I don’t mind them buying and trading them but it’s fucking rude to scratch while still at the counter. There is a corner market about 2-3 blocks from my house that is infested with these morons. Sometimes I just drive the 2 miles to the supermarket so I don’t have to deal with these assholes.
And fuck you too, clerks, for letting them do it.
Which way does the causation go, there? It could be that lottery machines are somehow more attractive to the poor than to others, or it could be that a lot of people who use lottery machines become poor as a result.
Our state lottery has ads claiming that it “helps older Pennsylvanians”. I find these ads a tad irritating, and I have nothing against state-funded gambling. It’s gambling, though, NOT a donation to charity, dammit!
The laws in Japan are going to be different than the laws in the US. In fact, the laws on this sort of thing are probably going to be different from one state to another. There could be a law against selling lottery tickets in vending machines that dates to before vending machines could scan ID’s, but that law hasn’t been changed as technology got better. Some people claim that lottery-ticket vending machines attract children (I don’t get it, but that’s what they claim), so it might be illegal for that reason.