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My father once won $100,000 from a scratch off ticket. It was a $20.00 scratch off ticket. I gave him crap for years over it because between playing Keno, and
by bbarn 11y ago
My father once won $100,000 from a scratch off ticket. It was a $20.00 scratch off ticket. I gave him crap for years over it because between playing Keno, and buying other scratch offs, he's probably spent close to that trying to recreate the effect.
The thing is, he's very serious about his lottery. He enters every losing ticket into a second chance registration on Maryland's lottery site. (This was how I got him to start using the internet, actually) He won a few times and knows what he's losing. He's not bad at math. He's not rich either, he lives off of a very small military pension and has a job filling vending machines on a route.
I've pressed him again and again about how stupid the lottery is. I've pointed out the math, the bad odds, the addictive design of the games.. you name it. His answer remains the same. A shrug and "It's fun." I have since realized after spending afternoons with him at the places he likes to play, that it's his own odd social network. He knows all the employees, the other regulars. He complains about politics to the other players. He sweet talks the old ladies behind the counter. It's his excuse to leave the house. He keeps making his mortgage payments, keeps making his wife dinner every night, and takes care of his mother. If he wants to blow his fun-money on lottery at this point, I've just quit arguing with him and I go play with him when I visit. Losing 40 bucks to spend the afternoon with my old man is a bargain, in my eyes.
- smt88 11y agoI'm not surprised that there are anecdotes of people who play in a (mostly) harmless way. One question I have is whether there might be another way for your dad to have an equally fulfilling amount of fun without losing as much money. It would depend on the individual, obviously. The problem with lotteries is that many of the players aren't like your dad. There are some serious ethical questions that arise when you think of lotteries are guaranteed to lose the vast majority of players a substantial amount of money: 1) If the state didn't run the lottery, who would? Would that money get funneled into public works if the state didn't run the lottery? 2) Is it ethical to market the lottery in order to create new players? 3) When the lottery is marketed (as it heavily is in many states), is it targeting vulnerable groups, like the poor? 4) Is playing the lottery an expression of hopelessness for some people? They know that their $5 is never going to multiply to $10 (the way it might for a wealthier person), so it's easier to risk that $5 for a chance to win $5 million.
- ryandrake 11y ago> 4) Is playing the lottery an expression of hopelessness for some people? They know that their $5 is never going to multiply to $10 (the way it might for a wealthier person), so it's easier to risk that $5 for a chance to win $5 million. I think this is key. Turning $5 into $10 is impossible. Turning $5MM into $10MM is inevitable. The Lottery is a band-aid to treat the symptom (hopelessness). Address the root cause, which is the lack of opportunity for economic mobility.
- bbarn 11y agoThis is an excellent point.
- mikeash 11y agoI don't think this affects your overall point, but the lottery itself demonstrates that turning $5 million into $10 million isn't inevitable. Most big lottery winners end up broke again, if not worse, after not too much time. Obviously, the more typical sort of person with $5 million tends to do a better job with it.
- runamok 11y agoIf you have 7 or 8 years and drop it in a vanguard s&p index fund your odds are pretty good. The $5 would be too small to even invest before getting eaten by fees.
- mikeash 11y agoYes, but lottery winners don't tend to drop their winnings in the S&P 500, they typically blow it on toys and entertainment and gifts and end up with nothing.
- smt88 11y agoI think you're on slightly different thread than we are. We were saying that $5M is easy to turn into $10M, but $5 is impossible to turn into $10. We were referring to the fact that good investment vehicles are only available to people with large sums of money. As a result, a poor person will be more inclined to blow the $5 on a lottery ticket because she has no investment options. It's still not a rational choice, but in her mind, she has nothing better to do with that $5 than take a chance at winning $10M. In her mind, that's how she gets to be a millionaire and no other way. We weren't suggesting that a lottery winner will be a smart investor.
- mikeash 11y agoAs long as he understands what he's doing and isn't spending himself into oblivion, it seems fine. I spent $60 on some fun flying yesterday and nobody ever gives me crap over that being a waste, and I can't even win any money with that.
- cowardlydragon 11y agoThe only gambling that makes rational sense is the megamillions jackpot: If you win it changes your life fundamentally (although for the worst for most, ironically) in a way not feasible in your lifespan. If you're playing under a million dollar payout, you're basically losing no matter what. The payoff approximates what is achievable by other means.