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Some people forget what it's like to be resource-limited. Not so much that a lottery ticket will make or break you, but enough that you can't afford to do the "

Some people forget what it's like to be resource-limited. Not so much that a lottery ticket will make or break you, but enough that you can't afford to do the "nice" things like... go on a decent vacation, where 4 bucks a week isn't going to amount to anything. Now, if you go into the lottery with the idea that you're gonna win, you don't understand math. But if you buy a ticket every time the jackpot is above $100M, then you're usually taking a short mental vacation by dreaming about what you'd be doing with the money. You could go on the internet and look at the vacation places you'd be going to, or the homes you'd like to live in, etc. It gives people with limited means a sense of freedom from the dull lives they've been living. I'm not going to argue that the lottery isn't predatory or that it's a bad investment. I'm just saying that these stories usually result in comments where people with assets show their whole asses with disdain for people who aren't well off. It's not completely about the money or the math and it never has been... and for a generation that cringes every time boomers claim that Starbucks ate your savings, you've got some nerve complaining about people show spend $4 a week on a fantasy.

rootusrootus 4y ago
> But if you buy a ticket every time the jackpot is above $100M That's the only way I'll play. Once in a while I'll drop two bucks on a seriously large jackpot. If I think rationally, I'm pretty sure winning would ruin my life. But it's fun to fantasize about what that kind of money would enable. Two bucks buys me a day or so of that, once or twice a year. I don't get the appeal of scratch-its or regular casino gambling, though. Even if you win the jackpot, it's a pittance. I assume that kind of gambling is a different mindset, more focused on playing than winning.
Karellen 4y ago
I did see someone once say that lotteries aren't a tax on the stupid, or on innumeracy; they're a tax on hope. It's made me think about why a lot of people play in a different light ever since.
- nerdponx 4y ago
  It also doesn't make the lottery any less predatory.
SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
4 bucks a week is unrealistically low. From the article, the average lottery player with an income below $30k spends 13% of their income on the lottery; it's not uncommon for individual scratchers to cost $10 or $20. If the only lottery game offered were a single big draw, I might be tempted by this line of reasoning, but in practice state lottery systems set up all kinds of micro-rewards and side games which make no sense from the "selling a dream" angle.
cercatrova 4y ago
This reminds me of the book Psychology of Money where this is specifically talked about: """ No One's Crazy ... But every financial decision a person makes, makes sense to them in that moment and checks the boxes they need to check. They tell themselves a story about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, and that story has been shaped by their own unique experiences. Take a simple example: lottery tickets. Americans spend more on them than movies, video games, music, sporting events, and books combined. And who buys them? Mostly poor people. The lowest-income households in the U.S. on average spend $412 a year on lotto tickets, four times the amount of those in the highest income groups. Forty percent of Americans cannot come up with $400 in an emergency. Which is to say: Those buying $400 in lottery tickets are by and large the same people who say they couldn’t come up with $400 in an emergency. They are blowing their safety nets on something with a one-in-millions chance of hitting it big. That seems crazy to me. It probably seems crazy to you, too. But I’m not in the lowest income group. You’re likely not, either. So it’s hard for many of us to intuitively grasp the subconscious reasoning of low-income lottery ticket buyers. But strain a little, and you can imagine it going something like this: > We live paycheck-to-paycheck and saving seems out of reach. Our prospects for much higher wages seem out of reach. We can’t afford nice vacations, new cars, health insurance, or homes in safe neighborhoods. We can’t put our kids through college without crippling debt. Much of the stuff you people who read finance books either have now, or have a good chance of getting, we don’t. Buying a lottery ticket is the only time in our lives we can hold a tangible dream of getting the good stuff that you already have and take for granted. We are paying for a dream, and you may not understand that because you are already living a dream. That’s why we buy more tickets than you do. You don’t have to agree with this reasoning. Buying lotto tickets when you’re broke is still a bad idea. But I can kind of understand why lotto ticket sales persist. And that idea—“What you’re doing seems crazy but I kind of understand why you’re doing it.”—uncovers the root of many of our financial decisions. Few people make financial decisions purely with a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a company meeting. Places where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together into a narrative that works for you. """
- ryandrake 4y ago
  This is a great comment. We can all sit here in our Herman Miller office chairs snickering about how the lottery is a "tax on stupid people" or whatever, but few of us have really lived that awful paycheck-to-paycheck life where you never have enough to make ends meet. I've been temporarily down on my luck financially, but never experienced the chronic, abject hopelessness that's a daily part of life for an astounding number of people. I don't have any idea how one could make good financial decisions in that mental state! We read stuff like "The lowest-income households in the U.S. on average spend $412 a year on lotto tickets" and scream at our dual HiDPI monitors "At least put that money into a diversified equities ETF!!" Our privilege makes us clueless.
dehrmann 4y ago
> short mental vacation by dreaming about what you'd be doing with the money Sweet, sweet index funds. One can dream.

rootusrootus 4y ago

> But if you buy a ticket every time the jackpot is above $100M That's the only way I'll play. Once in a while I'll drop two bucks on a seriously large jackpot. If I think rationally, I'm pretty sure winning would ruin my life. But it's fun to fantasize about what that kind of money would enable. Two bucks buys me a day or so of that, once or twice a year. I don't get the appeal of scratch-its or regular casino gambling, though. Even if you win the jackpot, it's a pittance. I assume that kind of gambling is a different mindset, more focused on playing than winning.

Karellen 4y ago

I did see someone once say that lotteries aren't a tax on the stupid, or on innumeracy; they're a tax on hope. It's made me think about why a lot of people play in a different light ever since.

nerdponx 4y ago
It also doesn't make the lottery any less predatory.

SpicyLemonZest 4y ago

4 bucks a week is unrealistically low. From the article, the average lottery player with an income below $30k spends 13% of their income on the lottery; it's not uncommon for individual scratchers to cost $10 or $20. If the only lottery game offered were a single big draw, I might be tempted by this line of reasoning, but in practice state lottery systems set up all kinds of micro-rewards and side games which make no sense from the "selling a dream" angle.

cercatrova 4y ago

This reminds me of the book Psychology of Money where this is specifically talked about: """ No One's Crazy ... But every financial decision a person makes, makes sense to them in that moment and checks the boxes they need to check. They tell themselves a story about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, and that story has been shaped by their own unique experiences. Take a simple example: lottery tickets. Americans spend more on them than movies, video games, music, sporting events, and books combined. And who buys them? Mostly poor people. The lowest-income households in the U.S. on average spend $412 a year on lotto tickets, four times the amount of those in the highest income groups. Forty percent of Americans cannot come up with $400 in an emergency. Which is to say: Those buying $400 in lottery tickets are by and large the same people who say they couldn’t come up with $400 in an emergency. They are blowing their safety nets on something with a one-in-millions chance of hitting it big. That seems crazy to me. It probably seems crazy to you, too. But I’m not in the lowest income group. You’re likely not, either. So it’s hard for many of us to intuitively grasp the subconscious reasoning of low-income lottery ticket buyers. But strain a little, and you can imagine it going something like this: > We live paycheck-to-paycheck and saving seems out of reach. Our prospects for much higher wages seem out of reach. We can’t afford nice vacations, new cars, health insurance, or homes in safe neighborhoods. We can’t put our kids through college without crippling debt. Much of the stuff you people who read finance books either have now, or have a good chance of getting, we don’t. Buying a lottery ticket is the only time in our lives we can hold a tangible dream of getting the good stuff that you already have and take for granted. We are paying for a dream, and you may not understand that because you are already living a dream. That’s why we buy more tickets than you do. You don’t have to agree with this reasoning. Buying lotto tickets when you’re broke is still a bad idea. But I can kind of understand why lotto ticket sales persist. And that idea—“What you’re doing seems crazy but I kind of understand why you’re doing it.”—uncovers the root of many of our financial decisions. Few people make financial decisions purely with a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a company meeting. Places where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together into a narrative that works for you. """

ryandrake 4y ago
This is a great comment. We can all sit here in our Herman Miller office chairs snickering about how the lottery is a "tax on stupid people" or whatever, but few of us have really lived that awful paycheck-to-paycheck life where you never have enough to make ends meet. I've been temporarily down on my luck financially, but never experienced the chronic, abject hopelessness that's a daily part of life for an astounding number of people. I don't have any idea how one could make good financial decisions in that mental state! We read stuff like "The lowest-income households in the U.S. on average spend $412 a year on lotto tickets" and scream at our dual HiDPI monitors "At least put that money into a diversified equities ETF!!" Our privilege makes us clueless.

dehrmann 4y ago

> short mental vacation by dreaming about what you'd be doing with the money Sweet, sweet index funds. One can dream.