Somehow I doubt things would ever come to that.
We are talking about real world things here. If there are 6 billion people in the world and a given probability is 1 in 20 billion then I will say it is impossible in the same way that a Death Star may spontaneously spring up above the earth. The fact is that gamblers weasel out of this realization by assuming the nearly impossible will apply to them and we might as well close that hole.
Just to corroborate What Exit, I saw cartons of Marlboros on sale on the USS Truxtun (CGN 35) in 1987 for $5. A pack of Marlboros was 50 cents.
They were completely tax-free if bought outside of U.S. territorial waters.
Here’s my 2 cents, which is more than I’ve ever spent on a lottery ticket.
I have no problem with people who play the lottery with discretionary money. My dad did this for years, spending significant money on it. He was buying dreams, and for him it was worth it.
I even have no problem with people who spend their sustenance money on the lottery, as long as it’s only themselves that will end up going hungry. I do think such people are a justification for teaching good money management in school, because they are being stupid, but hey, it’s their life.
If kids, spouses or others are deprived because of their gambling, that’s another matter. Since it’s not illegal, I’ll confine my feelings to a lack of respect if the deprivation is mild, and contempt if it’s more extreme. Again, I suspect a lack of education is a big factor here, but it could also be from a personal failing.
I do have a big problem with the state that runs and promotes the lottery. If a private concern ran a game with such a low payout, the state would prosecute them as criminals. There’s no moral justification for the state legislators considering themselves above the law, which is what’s really happening. And the state not only runs the lottery, even worse they advertise it to promote unrealistic expectations, knowing full well that a significant percentage of the people who play the lottery cannot afford to lose the money they inevitably will.
Not only that, but the big winners hardly even get what they’re promised. A million dollar winner may get fifty grand in annual payments over twenty years. The state basically gets to keep all of the money, and the prize is only the interest that money gets. Request a lump sum payment, and they’ll be handed a lot less than the million. And then they get to pay taxes to the state (and feds) on it.
The game is rigged, and criminally in my opinion. But it’s the state committing the crime, not the players.
Odds of being struck by lightning: 576000 to 1
Odds of being struck by lightning 7 times: 1.6e+25 to 1
Roy Sullivan
Guess he didn’t get hit 7 times, that’s even less remote than your 1 in 20 billion. :rolleyes:
This thread has become a breeding ground for people that think ALL lottery players are stupid, deluded, addicted or some combination therein. It’s an attitude that I’ve noticed is very common around here and I’m sick of it. I’m upset precisely because I’m not stupid, deluded or addicted and I take offense when people imply as such.
And once again, I’m a liar. I don’t appreciate being called a liar and I’m sick of that as well.
So since I’m so dumb, can you explain this “fundamental mental and educational deficiency” to me in plain English? Because the way I see it, I’m spending a few dollars every few weeks on something harmless that you disapprove of and now I have some kind of mental disorder. Please explain how that works.
And how’s this for some parody? I disapprove of your latte. I disapprove of your beer. I disapprove of your weed. I disapprove of your cigarettes. I disapprove of your porn. And I disapprove of your groceries. All of them. I think the food you buy is shitty. The money you spend on shit that I think is stupid disgusts me.
Have I hit a nerve yet? Dumbass “intellectuals” such as yourself are dreaded by librarians such as myself.
And thanks to kidchameleon for posting that he (she? I’m not really sure) sees through your bullshit too.
Why in the fuck are some of you so freaked out that some of us play the fucking lottery?
You don’t think we know the odds of hitting the jackpot? Almost astronomical. So what.
You might piss away a few bucks a week on songs from Itunes. Or spend a buck a day on a soda. Or drop two bucks in the juke at the bar. Who gives a flying fuck.
We might spend a few bucks a week on a scratcher or a powerball ticket. And as has been said, you fucking can win a few bucks here and there. And even if not, again, so what?
I don’t like the seeming generalization from some posters that all lottery players are compulsive gamblers and dumbass idiots. Damn, people, we can piss away a few bucks on whatever the fuck we want.
Now, you will say in your self-righteous tone “Well, we piss our money away on tangible things.” or “You are an idiot, because you will never win.”
I don’t care. Most of us here don’t live in a homeless shelter, or on the street. We have a little money to burn. I could say people that spend thirty bucks a month playing stupid online games like say Everquest are idiots too, but I won’t.
So lighten the fuck up, damn.
I will amend that to say I guess online games are closer to ten bucks a month maybe, but that still doesn’t change my point.
Well put Klaatu, although the “fucks” may be a little excessive but points for enthusiasm.
Hey, it’s renting a dream.
Thanks. I tend to use too many “fucks” and derivatives thereof when I am irritated here in the Pit, but I am fucking working on it.
I had a friend with a scratch off addiction. I told him numerous times that his odds over time sucked. He always told me that he either came out a little ahead, or maybe lost “a few bucks”. Whatever, it’s his money right?
So, one day he says “I did it.” “Did what?” “I won $10,000!”
That shut my mouth. The facts were still facts, and he got really lucky.
The really sad thing was seeing him with a fistful of scratch offs the very next day. If it happened once… :rolleyes:
That’s cool. I was sitting in the bar one day, just me, my buddy the bartender and one of the regular old farts. I said maybe I’ll buy a one dollar scratcher, oh never mind, so the old fart buys that ticket and hit $7500 :smack:
The bartender had picked the ticket for the dude, and he tipped him a buck.
That ain’t right.
Watching all of this blow up is making me realize that I love living in Nevada, where there’s no lottery and instead you can pump your spare change into the nickel machine to the side of the register instead of backing up a line full of angry customers.
They might have a problem, but at least they aren’t getting in the way.
~Tasha
Can we have more people jump into the hyper-defensive-against-characterizations-that-weren’t-even-made bus? All of this crazy overreaction and frothing at the mouth is funny.
Actually, that’s really depressing.
Ever roll into a 7-11 at 3am, and see a bunch of people, tired, hagard, looking like they’ve been there for the last 12 hours, pumping quarter after quarter into a video poker machine at a fucking convenience store at 3am?
That shit is depressing.
So I’m overreacting to someone calling me stupid and telling me I have a “mental deficency?”
Come on, Shagnasty is trying to be as insulting as possible and as Klaatu just put it, it’s a few dollars.
People are always getting angry at the folks who “buy a latte a day” and then complain they have no money. This lottery-angst (including insulting comments on my mental stability) is like getting angry at some who buys one latte a month and is perfectly happy with the decision.
And these characterizations were made and who know it. So continue being a fucking coward and hide behind other people’s posts while you thinly imply you think we’re just as stupid as Shagnasty does.
It is hard to be insulted by someone who’s opinion you don’t really respect. Not to mention that your comparisons rather dumb and ham-fisted.
That is it. You have nailed my thoughts here exactly. I think people playing the lottery more than an occasional one-ticket-at-a-time as people who burn their money for entertainment (fine enough as it is), but do so hoping that millions of dollars will burst forth from the ash. It is amusing to me.
Though I have not called your lottery habits (as I understand them) overly stupid, your behavior in this thread certainly has been.
Why are those comparisons dumb? What benefit do you get from any of those things that it is impossible to get from a lottery ticket?
I’ll ask you the same as I’ve asked Shagnasty, can you articulate, in plain English what is so wrong about spending a few dollars every couple of weeks on lottery tickets as opposed to something equally as superficial?
People started this thread talking about the RUDE PEOPLE who demand their lottery playing come before all else in stores.
Eventually, some people ragged on stupid people who habitually play lottery money too much - with money they don’t really have.
You apparently don’t fall into any of these two categories, and yet you responded as if people were bashing you personally - totally foaming at the mouth with defenses of attacks that no one made.
From there on out, you were a dick to everyone, and made some pretty stupid statements that indicate that you might lack understanding on the issue. After that, people bashed you for that. But when you entered the thread, you were responding to attacks that no one ever made, and responding with a level of nastiness that the thread hadn’t come close to reaching.
So yeah, way overreacting and frothing at the mouth, definitely.
What? Coward? What have I done to be a coward?
I’ve said a few things in this thread.
Rude people who refuse to fill out scantrons and stuff and demand that you have to check all their tickets while customers are waiting, etc. suck.
People who buy substantial amounts of lottery tickets with money who can’t afford it are stupid.
Some people in this thread (mostly you) way overreacted, and to insults that weren’t even being made.
I didn’t call you stupid, though you aren’t making a good case for yourself there, but I wasn’t going out of my way to insult your intelligence. You’re seeing attacks where they’re not, but you’re pretty fucking dense and stupid if you’re interpreting what I’ve said in this thread as cowardly.
Are you responding to an argument that anyone actually made?
For instance, this is what I said:
“There are people who go to the casinos and gamble with money they can easily spare, and understand that they’ll probably lose, but they find it fun, and so the lost money is equivelant to spending money for another form of entertainment. I don’t think those people are stupid - they’re just spending their entertainment money that way. The same can apply to someone who buys one lottery ticket a week - the entertainment value, the excitement of the drawing, or whatever, might be worth it to them, even if they realize it’s not a good bet.”
So I’ve specifically said that casual lottery playing just for entertainment isn’t stupid. I said that spending a ton on the lottery, because you think you can win, is indeed quite stupid.
And you put yourself in the former group - a casual player. I don’t think anyone here has actually insulted that casual player. They’ve only insulted the idiots who think they can win long term. Now, if you don’t put yourself in with the hardcore lottery type, but rather the casual type, then why are you getting defensive about people bashing the group that doesn’t include you?