3 ms·

But why do we still allow lotteries even if there are lots of examples of them ruining people's lives?

mrtksn 6y ago
Someone managing to ruin their lives every now and then with lotteries is not bringing down the society apparently. But as things happen rules and restrictions are introduced and as a result lotteries all over the world are regulated to different degrees. Don't worry though, if you have a lottery craze with too many people putting too much money in it and only few happen to profit, you will have lotteries banned. Until that happens, people can freely loose their money and I am in favour of it. Let's not have commissions that decide where people buy their hopes and entertainment, right?
- chroem- 6y ago
  > too many people putting too much money in it and only few happen to profit But that's the explicitly stated purpose of a lottery. The goal of the lottery is to have as many losers and as few winners as possible, in order to attract people with larger and larger jackpots.
  - mrtksn 6y ago
    Then they will get banned if they happen to succeed, don't worry about it. At the current state of affairs a lot of people put in a little bit money and very few happen to profit from it. Due to the fact that most people put negligible amount in, it doesn't create societal problems, thus not banned. AFAIK there is max amount spent per person in some jurisdiction though.
jokethrowaway 6y ago
A civil war can put the government in danger, a few individuals paying a bit more taxes than usual is nothing but extra profit to spend. The government is not your friend and it cares about you as much as a mafia boss cares about his protegees.
stareatgoats 6y ago
The state will protect itself and its vital tools (like the monopoly on violence, and monopoly on currency, monopoly on taxation etc). Its primary task is not to "protect peoples lives", the primary task is to protect itself. And it has good reason to; there is no better social mechanism than a state to grant people safety and (in some countries) - freedom.

Someone managing to ruin their lives every now and then with lotteries is not bringing down the society apparently. But as things happen rules and restrictions are introduced and as a result lotteries all over the world are regulated to different degrees. Don't worry though, if you have a lottery craze with too many people putting too much money in it and only few happen to profit, you will have lotteries banned. Until that happens, people can freely loose their money and I am in favour of it. Let's not have commissions that decide where people buy their hopes and entertainment, right?

chroem- 6y ago
> too many people putting too much money in it and only few happen to profit But that's the explicitly stated purpose of a lottery. The goal of the lottery is to have as many losers and as few winners as possible, in order to attract people with larger and larger jackpots.
- mrtksn 6y ago
  Then they will get banned if they happen to succeed, don't worry about it. At the current state of affairs a lot of people put in a little bit money and very few happen to profit from it. Due to the fact that most people put negligible amount in, it doesn't create societal problems, thus not banned. AFAIK there is max amount spent per person in some jurisdiction though.

jokethrowaway 6y ago

A civil war can put the government in danger, a few individuals paying a bit more taxes than usual is nothing but extra profit to spend. The government is not your friend and it cares about you as much as a mafia boss cares about his protegees.

stareatgoats 6y ago

The state will protect itself and its vital tools (like the monopoly on violence, and monopoly on currency, monopoly on taxation etc). Its primary task is not to "protect peoples lives", the primary task is to protect itself. And it has good reason to; there is no better social mechanism than a state to grant people safety and (in some countries) - freedom.