People making under 35K spend 13% of their income on lotto tickets!

[CC27]

Cattledog (5,444 posts)


People making under 35K spend 13% of their income on lotto tickets!
People making 50K or more spend 1%

Just reported on CBS morning.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217293383

Describes the DUmmies who partied with their disability check.

[DefiantSix]

Lighten up, DUmmies. They're just trying to cash in on the GLORIOUS Biden Economic Recovery, after all those years under the taskmaster's boot heel of Orange Man.

[SVPete]

IMO, that stat sounds like the DU OP misunderstood the SeeBS story (or the reporter misunderstood the data they were reporting). I looked in on the thread and DU-member sl8 was also skeptical.

Off-topic, being a non-member, my view of the DU-thread featured multiple ads, as picked by some ad service. The large and prominent add at/near the top of the thread was for Jeremy's Razors, . I realize that DU's ad service custom selects ads based on the viewer's browsing history or browser cookie collection, but !

[fatboy]

We have a detailed budget with accurate line items.

When I add up all of our "needs", the things we need to sustain a living environment, it comes out to $2000/month and there is room for further cuts if necessary. $2000/month is $24,000.00 per year roughly the poverty level.

"Needs" incorporate heating oil, Insurance, electric, gas, taxes, water, food, transportation and clothing. Fitting in there is internet although it is not a need.

"wants" are things like pets, vacations, eating out, cable tv, cars we cannot afford, phones we cannot afford, anything that is "rent to buy" or "buy now pay later". 5 years ago our combined debt carried a monthly interest payment of about $1000

[enslaved1]

It has been said that the lottery is a tax on people who aren't good at math.  Those stats support that idea.

I'm not above dropping a few bucks on scratch tickets here and there or when the big lotto jackpots start reaching those 9 figure payouts or even hitting a casino occasionally.  But it's entertainment money.  I know the odds of God dropping that much cash in my lap are minimal.  Sadly, there are people who look at the lottery as their retirement plan.  Rather than saving or investing in themselves (education, job certifications ect) they walk out of the convenience store with a stack of tickets and a wish. 

[Ralph Wiggum]

It has been said that the lottery is a tax on people who aren't good at math.  Those stats support that idea.

I'm not above dropping a few bucks on scratch tickets here and there or when the big lotto jackpots start reaching those 9 figure payouts or even hitting a casino occasionally.  But it's entertainment money.  I know the odds of God dropping that much cash in my lap are minimal.  Sadly, there are people who look at the lottery as their retirement plan.  Rather than saving or investing in themselves (education, job certifications ect) they walk out of the convenience store with a stack of tickets and a wish.

I've probably spent less than $100 on lottery tickets in my adult lifetime. I prefer games that at least involve thinking, aka blackjack or poker. I don't play often, but I know the mathematics and percentages involved.

Damn near gave my now ex-wife a coronary when she saw I was betting $25 per hand on blackjack when we were on vacation in Vegas. Little did she know that I started with $5 per hand and had already squirrelled away about a grand of winnings in my pocket. She was personally thrilled that she won 5000 nickels on a 5 cent slot machine, back in the day when the machines actually paid out in coins.

It is all a personal decision regarding risk management and the value for your entertainment.

[landofconfusion80]

Not an awful lot of top hats and monocles feverishly scratching off lotto tickets at 5 am in the gas station

[RuralNc]

I can honestly say I have spent about $25 on lottery tickets in my adult life to this point. I think the last time the misses and I partook, probably a couple years ago.

[miskie]

The math point is a valid one. There are so many ways odds calculations are misunderstood by the public that starting one’s own casino is pretty much a no-brainer.

And <<THAT>> is the secret to getting rich on gambling. In the end, The House always wins.

With that being said, I’ll play different games, with cash I have no problem losing 100% of. Like the two dollars I spent yesterday on Powerball. ( at this moment its at 825 million )

Investing more than that has a negligible effect on the odds of winning, it doesn’t “double “ or “triple” anything, as each ticket is unique and odds are computed accordingly. E.G. a lottery has a 1-in-1000 chance of winning. If I buy two tickets, my odds are not 1 in 500, but still 1 in 1000.. twice - once per ticket.

[landofconfusion80]

The math point is a valid one. There are so many ways odds calculations are misunderstood by the public that starting one’s own casino is pretty much a no-brainer.

And <<THAT>> is the secret to getting rich on gambling. In the end, The House always wins.

With that being said, I’ll play different games, with cash I have no problem losing 100% of. Like the two dollars I spent yesterday on Powerball. ( at this moment its at 825 million )

Investing more than that has a negligible effect on the odds of winning, it doesn’t “double “ or “triple” anything, as each ticket is unique and odds are computed accordingly. E.G. a lottery has a 1-in-1000 chance of winning. If I buy two tickets, my odds are not 1 in 500, but still 1 in 1000.. twice - once per ticket.

This alone is why I see no sense in playing the lottery or gambling on anything else. I can take a minimal amount of income and make it prosper with sound research.  The odds are astronomically higher

[jukin]

I'll just use the top line number without what the federal, state, county, and city governments steal from us.

$35,000*0.3=$4550 per year.

$4550/52 weeks =$87.5/week

$87.50/7day/week=$12.5/day

I played the lottery once when there was some fantastical record jackpot only because if I had won it, the headline of man buys one lottery ticket in his life and wins $5 billion. Back then it was $1/ticket. Might be more now but that is living at the 7-11 store buying tickets....

SO I CALL BULLSHIT ON ALL OF THIS.