Posted on 11/29/2012 8:11:47 AM PST by ExxonPatrolUs
[Households that earn at most $13,000 a year spend 9 percent of their money on lottery tickets. ]
With the Powerball lottery jackpot reaching a record $500 million, people from around the country are flocking to local convenience stores to try their luck. The majority of those standing in line for tickets and joining office pools are likely not habitual lottery devotees, but rather casual players who decided to get in on the fun once the media reported the unprecedented size of the pot. However, the everyday lottery business is a much grimmer affair, relying overwhelmingly on "poverty, habit, and desperation," says Natasha Lennard at Salon:
Studies of lottery ticket sales in North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Texas and Connecticut found that per capita lottery sales are consistently higher in the poorest counties and tickets are more likely to be purchased by unemployed individuals.
Statistics from South Carolina highlight the lottery’s reliance on low earners: people in households earning under $40,000 made up 54 percent of frequent players, while constituting only 28 percent of the state’s population. Meanwhile, a PBS report earlier this year showed that, for America’s very poorest, the lottery is a heavy expenditure: Households that earn at most $13,000 a year spend 9 percent of their money on lottery tickets.
“Lotteries set off a vicious cycle that not only exploits low-income individuals’ desires to escape poverty but also directly prevents them from improving upon their financial situations,” a 2008 study by Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business noted. The study, aligning with national statistics, found that people who felt poor were found to buy double the number of lottery tickets.
One of the main justifications behind lotteries is that the government — at both the state and federal levels — pockets a portion of the jackpot to finance education programs and the like. Consequently, the lottery has often been compared to a regressive tax, one that costs the poor more proportionately than it does the rich. The obvious counterpoint is that, unlike a tax, the decision to buy a lottery ticket is entirely voluntary — no one is holding a gun to your head. Still, critics say, the lottery is undeniably in large part funded by the poor, who are more susceptible to the jackpot's promise of lavish riches.
You didn’t intend it that way, but this cartoon clearly mocks trickle-down economics by showing the rich guy upset that ‘lucky duck’ got a whole dollar, used to buy bargain food, out of the thousands the rich guy spent on luxuries.
A more accurate cartoon would be ‘lucky duck’ now working a full time job since ‘rich guy’ spent his $. An even better one would be to show the cyclical prosperity by having ‘lucky duck’ now able to buy a new car from Mr. richguy’s company.
My father calls the lotery the poor mans tax.
I can honestly say I lost a lot more in the stock market than I ever lost playing any lottery. Actually, I think I’m ahead on the lottery; only play when it’s over $2M, 3-4 times a year, and won a couple hundred once.
Think of all the “goods” you could buy with tha money and how many jobs you might spawn.
Gambling: average payoff is negative.
Investing: average payoff is positive.
“When the lottery hits $100M or more, I buy a few tickets. I don’t expect to win, but it’s a nice little dream.”
I found a $5 bill on the ground years ago.
I keep it in my wallet, thinking about ways to turn that $5 into a business.
It’s a nice little dream, one much more viable than giving it away in hopes the government might lavish riches on me in return.
Actually, I did intend it that way. ;)
Why do you libs always have to lie? Why? You know, don't bother answering. I already know the answer and don't feel like (nor will I) read anything else you post here.
apparently they can afford to play the lottery.
they get more back from government than 1300 bucks anyway.
playing the lottery is voluntary,.......for now.
Its supposed to be a free country. If you want to gamble on the lotto thats your buisness.
some derm libtard politician in nj or ny is pissed that some people have private generators for themseslves and the poor don’t.
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