5 ms·
In some places the local state lotteries are called the "dummy tax"
by ddtaylor 4y ago
In some places the local state lotteries are called the "dummy tax"
- sircastor 4y agoI had a friend describe state lotteries as a tax on people who can’t do math.
- witheld 4y agoWell based on this it should probably be rebranded a “desperation tax”
- 0xMatt 4y ago
- Sebguer 4y agoBecause desperate people don't make rational decisions.
- MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
- Tozen 4y agoExactly. It's not a situation of well off people going somewhere to spend extra cash, as it is exploiting desperate people hoping to find some miracle to escape their circumstances, by shoving a negative vice in front of them.
- mullingitover 4y agoI think of it as taxing hope.
- dillondoyle 4y agoI can't be the only one here who buys them. I make good money. They're only $2. The 5 minutes I spend walking to the office after buying one spent thinking about what I would do with ___ is worth it. Yes, I know the math and am under no delusion about winning. I'm more likely to die trying to avoid the shitty drivers on this walk. It's day dream entertainment!
- soulofmischief 4y agoThen maybe you don't follow under the demographic of "needy" My mother also spends $2 on them. Sometimes a couple times a day. She also compulsively gambles and has endangered my life before trying to satiate the urge. I also grew up absolutely dirt poor, she was homeless half the time, but two unwavering constants in her life have been cigarettes and gambling, and they are far from unrelated when speaking of industry motivations. These industries have ruined my relationship with my mother, severely impacted my own quality of life as a knock-on effect, and I'm far from the only one. Keep buying the tickets. But you can't justify the state of the industry today because you're not the one caught in its net.
- dillondoyle 4y agoSorry that sucks. I'm intimately aware of addiction and how it can sadly smash families and people from all backgrounds and economic situations, so I'm empathetic to that problem. And I'm for sure not disadvantaged myself. I didn't know where to comment a reply this seemed most relevant. I guess what I'm trying to get at is a lot of the threads here, to me, read as elitist & missing the full picture. E.g. for instance missing the value of entertainment. even on an unkind view of looking at players only as addicts, like lots of drugs (legal and not), that dopamine hit is fun... to be clear I'm not trying to put that negative frame into all the people's intention here, just trying to explain how I read a chunk of the comments It's not only some uneducated non-optimal financial ROI calculation made by disadvantaged people, or compulsive gamblers, who are being taken advantage of by state sponsored casinos imho
- mrguyorama 4y ago>E.g. for instance missing the value of entertainment. There are hundreds of different ways to get entertainment. Humanity will not be worse off if gambling is entirely banned. How much "entertainment value" does daydreaming from a lottery ticket really bring? Why should those addicts be subjected to the misery they experience dealing with their addiction just so you can pretend to win the lottery in your head? You could just as easily spend your time pretending that you find a giant, valuable diamond in the dirt.