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The basic premise: “We the government, who represent the people, are in the business of exploiting the people’s unfamiliarity with probability. You the retaile

The basic premise: “We the government, who represent the people, are in the business of exploiting the people’s unfamiliarity with probability. You the retailer, who represent us, are not supposed to be in the business of exploiting our unfamiliarity with security.”

danharaj 11y ago
Yes, laws are unphysical and totally notional. When people talk about the law as if it were a physical real thing, that is just abuse of language. Law is convention. Defrauding the government is what the government says is defrauding the government. Try to convince a Judge and Jury that this wasn't fraud.
ryanlol 11y ago
> exploiting the people’s unfamiliarity with probability You have to give "the people" a little more credit than that, I'm sure most people know that they aren't actually going to win the lottery, but are doing it for the thrill. Edit: Do the downvoters believe that a significant portition of lottery players expect to win?
- braythwayt 11y ago
  I was just making a joke. In reality, it’s a lot more complicated then innumeracy, there are a number of “profiles” of lottery ticket buyers. Here are three common ones: Alice buys a ticket every once in a while for “the thrill,” usually she buys tickets for the big jackpot games, and usually she buys just one on her own, plus she puts a small amount into a go in a pool with friends for social reasons. She doesn’t spend a lot every month, but she’s steady. Bob has a sense of desperation in his life. He's older, and with chronic economic problems. For him it’s a hail-mary play: He doesn't believe he has any other way to get rich, or even be comfortably provided for in his old age. Bob spends a lot on tickets, more than is advisable, but he tries to pick the ones with the biggest rollover jackpots to maximize his outcome. Carol is addicted to the rush of the gaming itself. She goes for the instant payoff games, and mixes lottery purchasing with video slots. There is a compulsive aspect to her play, and she spends what to us is a horrifying proportion of her disposable income on lotteries and video slots. She also has substance abuse problems. Alice, Bob, and Carol all know the odds are against them. Alice thinks that what she loses is made up for in entertainment and the social interaction with her friends. Bob know he’s losing, so he thinks he’s being perversely rational in buying tickets. Carol has problems, and the instant-win games and video slots are engineered to exploit them.
danielweber 11y ago
These were people placed into a position of trust that they abused. It wasn't Joe Sixpack figuring out that 1 was more likely to be drawn than 2 and making his Lotto pics accordingly. It was machine operators who took advantage of a timing problem to rollback unfavorable transactions.
Laaw 11y ago
They represented the government in this instance, so no, your premise is incorrect.
- braythwayt 11y ago
  You just said what I said! "You the retailer, who represent us."

danharaj 11y ago

Yes, laws are unphysical and totally notional. When people talk about the law as if it were a physical real thing, that is just abuse of language. Law is convention. Defrauding the government is what the government says is defrauding the government. Try to convince a Judge and Jury that this wasn't fraud.

ryanlol 11y ago

> exploiting the people’s unfamiliarity with probability You have to give "the people" a little more credit than that, I'm sure most people know that they aren't actually going to win the lottery, but are doing it for the thrill. Edit: Do the downvoters believe that a significant portition of lottery players expect to win?

braythwayt 11y ago
I was just making a joke. In reality, it’s a lot more complicated then innumeracy, there are a number of “profiles” of lottery ticket buyers. Here are three common ones: Alice buys a ticket every once in a while for “the thrill,” usually she buys tickets for the big jackpot games, and usually she buys just one on her own, plus she puts a small amount into a go in a pool with friends for social reasons. She doesn’t spend a lot every month, but she’s steady. Bob has a sense of desperation in his life. He's older, and with chronic economic problems. For him it’s a hail-mary play: He doesn't believe he has any other way to get rich, or even be comfortably provided for in his old age. Bob spends a lot on tickets, more than is advisable, but he tries to pick the ones with the biggest rollover jackpots to maximize his outcome. Carol is addicted to the rush of the gaming itself. She goes for the instant payoff games, and mixes lottery purchasing with video slots. There is a compulsive aspect to her play, and she spends what to us is a horrifying proportion of her disposable income on lotteries and video slots. She also has substance abuse problems. Alice, Bob, and Carol all know the odds are against them. Alice thinks that what she loses is made up for in entertainment and the social interaction with her friends. Bob know he’s losing, so he thinks he’s being perversely rational in buying tickets. Carol has problems, and the instant-win games and video slots are engineered to exploit them.

danielweber 11y ago

These were people placed into a position of trust that they abused. It wasn't Joe Sixpack figuring out that 1 was more likely to be drawn than 2 and making his Lotto pics accordingly. It was machine operators who took advantage of a timing problem to rollback unfavorable transactions.

Laaw 11y ago

They represented the government in this instance, so no, your premise is incorrect.

braythwayt 11y ago
You just said what I said! "You the retailer, who represent us."