What do you think of Lotteries?

[Endangered Specie]

edit: Im referring to state and powerball type of monertary Lotteries (not the draft or other things).

Discuss

[kixot]

1. A tax for people who don't understand statistics.

Just my take.

[Wickerman]

3. that's my rallying cry

as a stat guy.

[Endangered Specie]

6. A stupidity tax - is what I call it.

[mstrsplinter326]

2. Ditto: Tax on fools, should remain legal

[Worthless Teen]

5. I just turned 18 so I buy lotto tickets all the time!

Nothing wrong with them - here in Va. they support public education, so I have no problem with them.

[Endangered Specie]

8. So they tell you...

some states actually, send the lotto money to education, then cut the ORIGINAL education money which is usually means no, or negative gain.

[mstrsplinter326]

12. You must have the money to be supporting your state

I am giving enough every year to Indiana University and doing my part... Wish I could give more.

[Beearewhyain]

4. Regressive taxation

from the largely uneducated and poor...if that's not redundant.

On Edit: Hey down there, we even have the same avatar so we must be magnificent minds thinking alike. :)

[kayell]

7. Yet another regressive tax on the poor and undereducated

Edit: hi there above, great minds think alike at the same time, hmm?

[AP]

9. Government should drastically limit advertising, like cigarettes, & tax

operator's earnings at higher rate.

Also, I don't think the government should be in the lottery business at all.

I'd rather see money go the other direction via a small business investment plan. I'd like to see the government give grants to small business, and the equivalent of winning the lottery would be if you could turn a government grant for your business into a huge successful business which employs lots of people. I'd rather win that lottery.

[Endangered Specie]

10. Heres a link to look into, scroll down to the lotto section

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/go-now.html

[Sandpiper]

11. I have no problem with voluntary taxation

n/t

[NashVegas]

13. Other: Legal But Stupid

..

[jayavarman]

14. I just love a voluntary tax

In my state it ends up being a voluntary tax on the poor that mainly benefits the middle class & higher.

Maybe I'm evil, but there is some beauty in the irony.

[hughee99]

15. The lottery is essentially

a tax on people who are bad at math (who don't understand the astronomical odds of actually winning). But it is a voluntary tax, so I don't see any issues with it.

[wuushew]

18. Strange that posters(smokers mostly) rail against sin taxes

which are voluntary taxes also.

I am mostly ambivalent but dislike the class warfare aspects of sin taxes, lotteries and gambling in general.

[cheezus]

16. They should at least limit it to like $1/person/week

whoohoo! I've got so many ticket's I CAN'T lose!

[Endangered Specie]

17. kick

[Liberal Classic]

19. I don't oppose legal gambling, but I am suspicious of state run lotteries

I fail to understand why the government should be allowed to run a lottery while other forms of gambling are illegal. Honestly, even with the crappy odds at Keno in Las Vegas you have better odds of winning than at state run lotteries. There's also the issue that some people are morally opposed to gambling, believe it is destructive. I don't see how the government can justify this as a form of revenue. It may be making some money in one area but costing money in others.

Sadly, winning the lotter is now the American Dream (TM).

[lanparty]

20. Before lotteries were legal ...

... we had lotteries. They were called "policy rackets" and they were run by the mob.

If we stop the lottery, we'll have policy rackets again and they'll be run by the mob AGAIN!!!!

Proceeds from the lottery are basically voluntary taxes. And I'll take that any day when it goes to fund education.


What we HAVE to do is to tax the hell out of casinos and derive more revenue from this economic sapping activity.


We've managed to mitigate the effect of illegal lotteries and illegal alcohol smuggling. Ask me what I think about Marijauna and other drugs that the drug war????

We actually used LESS drugs when drugs were legal. What gives??

[JackDragna]

23. Policy rackets still go on..

..and have been largely unaffected by the lottery. Unlike most casino games, legalizing lotteries hasn't affected the underground element of the numbers rackets, mostly because one doesn't have to go to some back room casino to play it.

I want more education dollars ,too, but not at the expense of soaking the poor.

[RummyTheDummy]

26. The soaking of the poor thing is a little bit of a myth

Yeah, you have a lot of poor people buying lottery tickets. Some also buy a lot of low quality alcohol and food. Where's the outrage when it comes to that?

But the thing is, at a place I used to work, where people were making good incomes, many of those people pooled their money and had someone drive across the border into another state and buy lottery tickets each week. These are educated people who made a good living.

Could they have found a better use for their money? Sure, but I'm not sure I see a difference between buying a lottery ticket and going into a casino and gambling. Of course your odds in the casino are much better but....

[wuushew]

28. How is it a myth again?

Anecdotal evidence is not much for disproving a belief. How is governmental sponsored wealth inequity a replacement for progressive taxation as a revenue source?

[RummyTheDummy]

30. The myth touted on this thread over and over again

Is that it's only the "stupid poor people" who buy lottery tickets when in point of fact, that's simply not true. Or are you saying it is true?

Please don't get me wrong. You make some very very valid arguments. I'm just not sure the issue is as black and white as many believe it is.

[lanparty]

32. I'm not sure I agree ...

Every account I've heard is that the policy rackets have been marginalized by lotteries that provide much better jackpots and many, many locations to purchase tickets.

How many policy rackets have you played lately??? I've never played policy ... but I've bought lottery tickets!!!!!

[RummyTheDummy]

35. And that's just my point

There are a lot of well educated middle and upper middle class people who buy lottery tickets simply for the fun of it. When I travel to states with lotteries, I buy a few scratch offs. I just enjoy the novelty of it, like dropping a quarter into a slot. I never expect to really win anything, although sometimes I have.

[Egalitarian]

21. I find it rather disgusting

that government and a large percentage of the populace here in the states support lotteries. Yes, you can call it a stupid, or voluntary tax. I agree. But, we are all in this together folks and the more we can educate everyone and lift everyone up via equitable means the better we'll all be.

Everyone does better when everyone does better.

[JackDragna]

22. Lotteries prey on the lowest elements of society..

..it's regressive taxation. It's also notoriously inefficient, as a significant proportion of lottery funds go towards advertisement and salaries of people running the lottery. Income, sales and property taxes are all much more efficient. The lottery, however, with its allure of instant wealth and soaking of the poor, is unlikely to go away anytime soon.

[RummyTheDummy]

24. Gee whiz, I never thought I'd see so many DUers

On the side of Fundies on one issue. Most religous fanatics hate lotteries because they view gambling as a sin. They've been very active here in my state trying to defeat a lottery question on the Nov. ballot.

Personally, I'm all for the lottery. If you want to play, play. If you don't, don't. Fortunately the lottery question on my state's ballot should it pass would by law NOT reduce current education funding and specifically earmarks all of its funds (minus administrative costs) for public education from which a great deal of schools in poor areas will in fact benefit.

[Liberal Classic]

25. I didn't see anyone else mention moral arguments opposed to gambling

So I'll presume you're talking about me. If you were not, I'm sorry.

How am I siding with the 'fundies?' I did say that some people oppose it on moral grounds, but is that all it takes to be stamped with a fundie charge? After all, I did state that I support legal gambling, but don't agree the government should be in the lottery business. This is different that opposing all legal gambling, which of course is a position held by many religious conservatives.

[RummyTheDummy]

27. Nope

Wasn't necessarily talking about you, but I do find it ironic so many DUers are on the same side as the fundies on this issue, albeit for different reasons.

My state will have a lottery question on the Nov. ballot and to my knowledge it will be a straight yes or no question. The ballot won't say: I'm a religious fundamentalist and I object to the lottery or I'm a progressive, but I'm against a regressive tax on the poor.

[Liberal Classic]

31. People often arrive at the same conclusion from different directions

I don't believe that this should come as any suprise at all. I'm not sure I call that irony. It seems to me that there may be both liberal and conservative arguments against state run lotteries. You're right of course that upon closer inspection the differences become apparent. Most conservatives would go on to outlaw other forms of gambling, for example, whereas most liberals would favor regulation of private casinos. I'm not sure how you reflect this in ballot initiatives, maybe this is better left to the legislature.

[RummyTheDummy]

33. In my state I'd rather have the voters decide

Our state legislature is made up largely of idiots. We had a Car Tag reform bill here several years ago. You wan't to talk about regressive. People were playing $250 a year to tag 10 year old cars depending on what the intitial purchase price of the car was. In other words, if you bought a used Caddy, and it was 10 years old, you were paying a tax based on what the car was initially purchased for 10 years ago even if the car was a POS. Half the legislature wanted to keep it that way. Miraculously it went to a vote of the people and was defeated by about a 70-30 margin.

Fortunately, with regard to our lottery questionn, the legislature wised up for once, put out a good bi-partisan lottery bill/question that will almost certainly pass in Nov.

[eridani]

29. Lotteries for sure prove--

--that there are way more optimists than mathematicians.

[JHBowden]

34. They discourage the idea of hard work

and reinforce the idea that one gets ahead solely by luck.

[stavka]

36. I have played for about 12 years....

I know the odds are stacked against me, but I can prove at this point, I am FAR more likly to win the Lottery than I am to be hit by lightning.


"So, anyway, I have THAT going for me"

[Domitan]

37. I like the crossword scratch pads

Even if I lose, it's still fun playing it.

[Peak_Oil]

38. Outlawed, period.

Give it back to the Mafia, they paid out more when they ran the numbers. I know that sounds odd, but it's better for the people.

[CanSocDem]

39. Somebody wins....why not me?!?

And anyway, on the outside chance that you DO, actually, get what you wish for.....I think I'll keep playing.