pro-rich wealth-redistribution technique in Georgi

[Opti]

From an article on MSN:

Georgia's lottery players are the biggest suckers in the nation, according to Bloomberg Rankings, buying nearly $5 billion of the $50 billion a year in tickets for U.S. state-run games that have the worst odds of any form of legal gambling.

Players in Georgia, whose per capita income is about 10% below the U.S. average, are doing the most damage to their personal finances. According to the Sucker Index created by Bloomberg Rankings, Georgia residents spent the second-highest chunk of their income on the lottery, which funds college scholarships and prekindergarten.

Local governments use lotteries to help pay for education, environmental protection and other programs. In the past fiscal year, sales rose for 26 of the 43 states that have games, helping to close budget gaps caused by declines in tax revenue and federal aid. The pot comes disproportionately from lower-income residents, according to a Journal of Behavioral Decision Making study.




What is the secret to saving money?

"You're taking from those with few means and helping those with more means," Charles Clotfelter, a Duke University economics professor, said from Durham, N.C. "To link that tax revenue to a benefit that goes largely to middle-and upper-class citizens is a little stunning,"

"It's a pro-rich wealth-redistribution technique in Georgia," said Clotfelter, the co-author of "Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America," in a telephone interview.

[Deleted]

So we should outlaw gambling because low income people like to play the odds and they are too stupid to know they shouldn't? Or is it that unmotivated people tend to play the lottery because it is 'easy money' and an unmotivated person is usually lower income?

Before you get offended, yes - I know that not all low income people are unmotivated, lazy or stupid. I'm just generalizing to make the point that you can look at the 'facts' in more than one way and come up with a different conclusion.

I was married to a gambling addict, who in older times I'm sure would have been a con-man or card shark cheat. He was all about the ticket to 'easy money'. Susceptible to gambling, investing on 'tips' without a clue what he was doing, infomercials for get rich quick/no money down schemes - I'm sure he'd have been into the whole government grant thing by now if he was still alive. Literally anything that was little effort and promised huge returns would get his attention and money (my money really).

Even with a six figure income the man would have been poor. The more money available, the more he would spend. Well, actually he'd always spend way more than he had. I always thought that if he ever did win the Lotto he'd be in more debt than he won within a year. Champagne tastes & one lear jet and he'd have spent more than the win!!

Might be interesting to see the psychological profile on habitual gamblers. Maybe it is a form of self soothing for depression. If you have the big dream at least there is always that possibility to look forward to. Being an ordinary person with an ordinary life was never my xH's realm of possibility. Kind of sad when there is nothing actually extraordinary about you, which is why I wonder if it is actually a reaction to depression or some other sort of mental health issue.

[cronewitch]

The low income lottery ticket buyer wouldn't be banking that dollar anyhow. They have a dollar or a few dollars so they buy something it doesn't matter if it is coffee, cigarettes or a beef stick they will spend all they have.

[Opti]

"So we should outlaw gambling because low income people like to play the odds and they are too stupid to know they shouldn't?"

Actually I posted this as one of the ways that the poor do pay to support the better good instead of just the perception of taking. I'm pro-lottery. There's also a book just released by a lottery winner who has won 7 times.

[Opti]

Not true Lone. Qualifications for all programs are based on incomes and assets not what you spend it on.

[Opti]

Jun 2, 2012 16:14:27 GMT -5 @lonewolf said:

Jun 2, 2012 16:03:15 GMT -5 Opti said:

Not true Lone. Qualifications for all programs are based on incomes and assets not what you spend it on.

I really do have a splitting headache, so maybe that's why what you said didn't make sense to me.
Regardless of the qualifications, if someone on government aid is buying lottery tickets, then the taxpayer is basically buying those tickets. No?

No.
If someone is getting SNAP, how is a taxpayer paying for lottery tickets?
If someone has affordable housing and gets no government money in their pocket there is no taxpayer money they can use to buy lottery tickets. (Maybe the owners of affordable housing...)

So No. The closest to what you want to choose to see as the taxpayer funding lottery tickets is EIC and really you have no way of knowing whether the lottery ticket buyers are on EIC and how much that is compared to their earned income.

Maybe we should sit around and worry like we already do about teachers about how all government employees spend their money.
Perhaps we can dock Dark's pay and people in the FAA, NIH, etc.
if they buy lottery tickets because their income is 100% taxpayer funds.

[justme]

Perhaps we can dock Dark's pay and people in the FAA, NIH, etc.
if they buy lottery tickets because their income is 100% taxpayer funds.

You cannot compare people who earn the money by working to those that receive money for doing nothing other than meeting certain qualifications.

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

Jun 2, 2012 16:23:24 GMT -5 Opti said:

If someone is getting SNAP, how is a taxpayer paying for lottery tickets?

Because they only reason that they aren't spending that money on food (and, thus have it "available" to spend on gambling) is because the taxpayers are paying for their food.

If someone has affordable housing and gets no government money in their pocket there is no taxpayer money they can use to buy lottery tickets. (Maybe the owners of affordable housing...)

Except that the taxpayers are paying for the gambling because we are taking care of their shelter while any funds that they "come up with" go to gambling.

Maybe we should sit around and worry like we already do about teachers about how all government employees spend their money.
Perhaps we can dock Dark's pay and people in the FAA, NIH, etc.
if they buy lottery tickets because their income is 100% taxpayer funds.

Except that these people (govt contractors, FAA, NIH, teachers, etc) traded their work for that money. They did not get it just for the mere fact that they exist in this country. They fairly traded their resources of time and skills to get that money. It is now theirs because the taxpayer got value out of giving them that money. The taxpayer gets no value back out of giving people things like SNAP or section 8 simply because they are alive and breathing.

[alabamagal]

I received ~$9000 over the last 2 school years and expect to get ~$9000 next school year from the Georgia lottery in the form of HOPE scholarship - two kids in Georgia public colleges with good grades. Total for the four years should be ~$70000, and that is only for 2 of my 3 kids. The other one got a scholarship to a school in Alabama so didn't use HOPE money. Funding was reduced last year from 100% to 90%, as lottery sales were down due to the recession. I feel like thanking a person every time I see them purchasing a lottery ticket.