What is your opinion of lotteries?

[smcabee]

I spend $40.00/month on the powerball. Thats 5 dollars for each draw. Figure someone gotta win it, so why not me. But it is my entertainment. I dont go to the movies and pay $7.00-$10.00 a ticket, another 4-5 for a drink and 6-7 for popcorn. We dont go out to eat and drop 25-50 on dinner. However, I dont ever feel I need to play. There have been a few stretches when we were saving money for our home downpayment that 40.00/month went into the house fund. It also went into the emergency fund until we had saved up 6 months worth of monthly expenses.

 

[mafibisha]

In Georgia, most of the money goes to fund pre-K and HOPE scholarships. The pre-K program is free, and if you are a Georgia resident and maintain a B average, your tuition at any state college is paid for. Found this:

The mission of the Georgia Lottery Corporation is to raise revenue for education in Georgia. Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned over $10.1 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Prekindergarten Program. More than 1 million students have received HOPE, and more than 860,000 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.

Maybe.

But they're not additional dollars for the schools. Lotteries replace tax dollars - (they don't add to the schools) - that are then used for something else. (paving the roads maybe)

The lottery doesn't add anything to the schools. Its a wash.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

I'm of the opinion that each adult who purchases a ticket is doing so of their own free will.


I also do not play (Well since I turned 18 anyway)--as I pretty much never win and have never done well at games of chance or dumb luck. I much prefer games of skill.

I'm on the fence of whether it is considered gambling or not--which is a huge sticking point with some folks I know who are against it.

Our state finally has Powerball but it is unlikely that I will ever play. It would be nice to win, but I certainly will not add a line item in my budget to waste on the opportunity to lose.

Wondering how it can be considered anything but gambling? It is just a keno game. Keno is the biggest money maker in Vegas, if I remember correctly it has the worst odds out there.

 

[::Snow_White::]

My parents pick up the ones you scratch off with a coin maybe twice a month? Usually they either win $2 or just a free ticket, they don't blow lots of money on it though, usually just for fun. They did win $75 once though.

I think they're waste of money, I'm fine with the 1 or 2 a month since it's only $2 or so, but I wouldn't go spend money every week on them.

 

[PixiePlanner]

My brother once said he wasn't tempted at all. He said, "If I won, I would never be able to trust that anyone wanted to be with me for me. I would rather work hard with loved ones by my side and earn my winnings." He's a wise man.

I love to play, therefore I don't. I love the anticipation and the dreaming but I hate to throw my hard earned cash away.

 

[SandrA9810]

If it's an addiction to a person thinking all thier money problems are going to go away, once they finally win. I think that's wrong.

I've played occasionally in the past, one time the mega ball was at 109$million, Kari thought it was her lucky turn to win, so I let her buy a ticket. (Like I use 9810 for everything online, Kari uses 109) I think the most I've won on anything was 5-10$. About two or three times. At my aunt's office the guys in the back would pitch in to play if the lotto was big. Every one would joke about what they would do if they won, but I'm sure every one of those guys would still show up to work the next day. There was a lot of respect earned in that place, although I'm sure they'd pitch in to put in an AC unit in the warehouse area.

Kari's dream of winning the lotto includes becoming the official sponser of the Country Bears so she can bring back the Christmas show. My dream is to have a house and a family, but in no way think that it would pay living expenses for the rest of my life (maybe just retirememt if it was invested correctly).

Down in Hollywood at the Race Track, they would do "free" concerts on Saturday, but you had to buy a 5$ ticket (2$ admission, 3$ bet). But the concerts were 80's bands, which is Kari's favorite kind of music. Once we broke even, another time we won 10$ extra. It was a lot of fun, it was close by, and cheap entertainment.

 

[luvsJack]

Maybe.

But they're not additional dollars for the schools. Lotteries replace tax dollars - (they don't add to the schools) - that are then used for something else. (paving the roads maybe)

The lottery doesn't add anything to the schools. Its a wash.

Doesn't that mean that GA can then spend money that would have gone to the schools on the roads (or whatever) and still have at least the same sum going to the schools? I don't see how that can be a bad thing. If they didn't have the lottery to replace the tax dollars that would have been going to the schools then either the schools or something else would be losing out. Would GA really be able to fund both the scholarship and the PreK program plus whatever the original tax dollars were going to? Did they ever promise that taxes would go down as a result of the lottery?

The HOPE scholarship and the funded Pre-K both sound wonderful. I wish we had something like that in MS. If having the lottery in MS would give us similar programs, I would vote for it in a heartbeat.

 

[Golf4food]

A poor tax that preys upon the poor and undereducated (proven by any number of studies out there) and never gives what they claim they will when they are created (money to education, for example, that seems to just disappear instead of actually going to schools). The only people that win are the bureaucrats that run it and the few people who win anything, most of whom eventually wind up worse off than before they won.

 

[metime]

I have yet to meet a financially stable person who plays the lottery and there is a reason for that.

 

[Scurvy]

I have yet to meet a financially stable person who plays the lottery and there is a reason for that.

Hi, metime. I'm Scurvy. It's nice to meet you!

Now you can say you've "met" a financially stable person who plays the lottery! I spend less than the cost of one latte on the lottery each week (and I don't actually play every week, but I allow myself to if I want to) for a ticket with a set of numbers that have sentimental value to me. If I win, great! If I don't, then the entertainment value and the enjoyment I get from "planning" what I would do with my winnings is well worth the cost. In fact sometimes I think it helps me with my budget - anything that seems too extravagent a purchase (which is most things; I tend to only buy things that are on sale) goes onto my "If I win the lottery" list. Of course I'll likely never win a significant amount, but if I do I'll have my list of things to buy!

 

[pilesoflaundry]

While I applaud the state governments for being smart enough to funnel other people's stupidity into the schools, in general I think they are a bad thing.

I won't say I don't buy 1 or 2 a few times a year when the big one is out just for fun but I know I'm tossing out $2 and I'm ok with that. Gambling is a sorry, sad addiction that can easily devastate someone. My mom is a huge gambler in gdenial, she has severe untread ocd and that is her obsession. She spends so much money it's not funny and is in denial about how much she spends. To grow up watching her do that and yet we didn't have enough school clothes or anything else is sickening.

It's a different kind of addiction. You get drunk and pass out, you get high, get caught or sick and something smacks you into rehab. With gambling you go and go until the money is gone and then keep trying to get it back until you are left with nothing. It's awful.

 

[jaminmd]

OP here. Thanks everyone for your answers. Funny thing is, I never even considered it from the gambling perspective. See, this is why I like to hear from others even if the opinion doesn't match my own.

The loved one I was referring to has a bankruptcy in her past. Nearly 20 years ago she had tens of thousands of CC debt. I remember her family taking one big last Disney trip before they declared bankruptcy, because they were going to roll it in with all of their other debt. That is exactly what they did, too. The laws were different back then.

It hurts me that after all this time she still hasn't learned her lesson. She is a good person but she resents anyone with good financial sense. She won't listen to reason, so I won't even bother anymore. I try very hard to change the subject when she complains.

We all have a right to spend out money as we please but when you're dead broke, $300 a month is a lot to toss away on wishes.

 

[mrsklamc]

I have yet to meet a financially stable person who plays the lottery and there is a reason for that.

Most people would have very little way to know whether the people they meet 1)play the lottery or 2) are financially stable.

 

[sameyeyam]

I don't as a rule play the lottery. My husband does buy a couple of tickets every now and then, but honestly we probably spend less than $20 per year on lottery. Every once in a while I will get them for someone as a stocking stuffer or small gift if I can't think of anything else. Let them scratch and win, if they can.

But I do know people from my town that won the WA state lottery. It was about 20 years ago and they won $2 million dollars. He was a log truck driver and she was a waitress. They have used the money wisely and purchased property and put a nice mobile home on it. The property was near an area that was commercial. Well their gamble paid off and now their property is zoned commercial, their mobile home is not worth a ton of money (which is why they didn't build a house in the first place) and they have started selling off the land for a nice profit.

They were not big time lottery players. Just bought a few tickets every once in a while.

 

[NYCDiane]

I haven't played lotto or any scratch offs in a few weeks and don't intend to for quite some time. Right now, I'm saving for a new camera, a vaca for my daughter and I, and for B'way show tickets.

I've won small amounts in the past --- $50, $100, $150, etc but never anything big. It's nice to spend $2 and win $50 but that's far and few between. The $150 I won was on the Mega Millions where I matched 4/5 numbers. I've also won $100 a few times on the $2 scratch offs.

I consider the lottery games to be gambling because it IS gambling. They even have the Gamblers Anonymous hotline # printed on the backs of the tickets.

I think it's OK for people to play lottery games so long as they're not taking away from their family to do so. For example, I've heard of people who will blow over $100/week on scratch offs or lotto. To me, that's insane unless you actually have an "extra" $100 each week.

In NY, the Lottery was originally designed to raise funds for education only. Now it's all in a "general fund" with a small portioned put aside for education.

 

[Planogirl]

There was someone that won the lottery twice. Imagine the odds of that!

I have played a few times and DH buys a single lottery ticket now and then. If a person isn't addicted and blowing a lot of money on it I don't see the big deal.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm not a fan of gambling being a normal part of everyday life in general, so I'm not thrilled with the lottery. I'm not a big fan of the push to legalize gambling and throw up casinos here, there, and everywhere either. I can understand the appeal of a casino on a cruise ship or a trip to Vegas, but IMO that's how it should be - a special indulgence, right there with thousand calorie meals and wine flights (two of my personal vacation or date night splurges).

I also don't like the fact that the govt sponsors and advertises the lottery as a means of increasing revenue. When it comes to other vices, like smoking, drinking, heck, even junk food and soda, the govt steps in on the side of responsibility, but when it comes to the lottery, my tax dollars are paying for commercials that have the sole aim of convincing people to gamble.

To make gambling in any form a readily available part of life is to encourage addiction and foolish spending, particularly among the poor and desperate. And for the govt to be encouraging a vice because it is profitable is quite simply reprehensible in my view.

 

[Colleen27]

I agree with this as well. However, I don't see the difference between the people who spend money on the lottery and those who spend money on other things they can't afford. It's a problem with the people who can't budget, not with the lottery. No one is forcing anyone to spend money they can't afford to spend. It's no different to me than my uncle who drove himself into bankruptcy with his "get rich quick" schemes. I think it's silly to blame the lottery for someone's financial problems. If someone will spend money they can't afford to lose on the lottery, they'll find something else to spend it on if the lottery isn't available.

The difference I see is that the govt isn't running pyramid schemes or selling cigarettes or serving alcohol. That, to me, makes the lottery difference on principle from other vices and even from other forms of gambling.

 

[LoriNSC]

I only play when the powerball jackpot is high. I can't see blowing alot of money to play. But it's helping pay for me & DH to go back to school & get our degrees. Without that aide I doubt we could both go to college now with 3 kids at home.

 

[worm761]

DBF likes to play. It is entertainment for him. He likes the scratch off tickets. He usually breaks even or comes out 10 or 20 bucks ahead. We have a budget for entertainment and that is what he chooses to spend his on sometimes. Other times we pool it and go out to dinner and a movie. That costs around $80. Entertainment is entertainment.

Oh and we are financially stable.