Author Topic: Poor people and the Lottery. (Read 4337 times)

Rman · « **on:** June 20, 2008, 04:28:26 PM »

"A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income"
-NYTimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10brooks.html

Mupepe · « **Reply #1 on:** June 20, 2008, 04:29:13 PM »

it's because they can't do math and don't realize their odds

Tauntaun · « **Reply #2 on:** June 20, 2008, 04:32:20 PM »

Yeah it's bad. smh

Flannel Boy · « **Reply #3 on:** June 20, 2008, 04:38:56 PM »

Me: The odds of winning the lottery are something like 25 million to 1.

Co-worker: But if you don't play, you can't win.

Me: You can't lose either.

Co-worker: Well, you can get struck by lightening tomorrow, so you never know what's going to happen.

Me: . . .

Co-worker: That shut you up.

And wow at the article: America has close to a trillion dollars in credit card debt.

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #4 on:** June 20, 2008, 04:42:12 PM »

The brother of one of my old co-workers hit the lottery in SC for 88 million

Ganhyun · « **Reply #5 on:** June 20, 2008, 04:42:51 PM »

America: Land of the Free and home of the forever Indebted

Tauntaun · « **Reply #6 on:** June 20, 2008, 04:52:05 PM »

Quote from: Ganhyun on June 20, 2008, 04:42:51 PM

America: Land of the Free and home of the forever Indebted

Bildi · « **Reply #7 on:** June 20, 2008, 06:22:16 PM »

I've had two clients who have won the lottery (I'm an accountant) and they've both blown it all on essentially nothing and are back to struggling like always.

One won a bit over $1m and it was gone in a year and a half. Looking down their bank statement you'd just see endless withdrawals: $8,000, $13,000, $2,000, $20,000 etc...

Fuckin' dumbasses. They could have retired and lived off the interest.

Beezy · « **Reply #8 on:** June 20, 2008, 07:02:11 PM »

Quote from: Bildi on June 20, 2008, 06:22:16 PM

I've had two clients who have won the lottery (I'm an accountant) and they've both blown it all on essentially nothing and are back to struggling like always.

One won a bit over $1m and it was gone in a year and a half. Looking down their bank statement you'd just see endless withdrawals: $8,000, $13,000, $2,000, $20,000 etc...

Fuckin' dumbasses. They could have retired and lived off the interest.

I'm gonna be an accountant.

Bildi · « **Reply #9 on:** June 20, 2008, 07:04:33 PM »

Quote from: Beezy on June 20, 2008, 07:02:11 PM

I'm gonna be an accountant.

It's where the money is!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

lol

[close]

muckhole · « **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2008, 12:05:06 PM »

The thing I find strange is that around my area, the folks that wim always seem to be the well-off ones that don't "need" it. I even recall one couple that were already wealthy, won the lottery, then won it again a few years later. Very rarely does it seem to go to somene who looks like they need it.

Don Flamenco · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2008, 12:09:54 PM »

Then they win it and completely fuck up their lives.

I wish I could win it so I could properly invest it and shit.

FlameOfCallandor · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2008, 01:21:48 AM »

Poor People

pilonv1 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2008, 01:37:24 AM »

idiot tax is what I've heard it commonly referred to

demi · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2008, 01:40:41 AM »

I wouldnt want to win the lottery, then everyone starts begging you for money and shit, then you got the downright crazies who will probably give death threats. I've seen those sob stories, I'm not being THAT guy

Narag · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2008, 01:41:11 AM »

Quote from: Oscar the Grouch on June 22, 2008, 01:24:23 AM

The lottery is so clever. It's like a "you're stupid" tax. The tax rate increases proportionate to one's stupidity, to boot. It's poifect!

I play on occassion but it keeps license plates cheap where I live!

Quote from: demi on June 22, 2008, 01:40:41 AM

I wouldnt want to win the lottery, then everyone starts begging you for money and shit, then you got the downright crazies who will probably give death threats. I've seen those sob stories, I'm not being THAT guy

That's why you just sit on it then run it through an anonymous trust so no one ever knows you've won!

pilonv1 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 22, 2008, 01:41:40 AM »

Quote from: demi on June 22, 2008, 01:40:41 AM

I wouldnt want to win the lottery, then everyone starts begging you for money and shit, then you got the downright crazies who will probably give death threats. I've seen those sob stories, I'm not being THAT guy

morphix?

demi · « **Reply #17 on:** June 22, 2008, 01:42:31 AM »

morphix didnt win the lottery

pilonv1 · « **Reply #18 on:** June 22, 2008, 01:50:54 AM »

Raban · « **Reply #19 on:** June 22, 2008, 12:43:49 PM »

Quote from: Malek: King of Kings on June 20, 2008, 04:38:56 PM

Me: The odds of winning the lottery are something like 25 million to 1.

Co-worker: But if you don't play, you can't win.

Me: You can't lose either.

Co-worker: Well, you can get struck by lightening tomorrow, so you never know what's going to happen.

Me: Well a giant fucking dick can pop out of your forehead right this instant, but that doesn't mean it will happen, jackass.

Co-worker: ...

Easiest way to win this coversation.

Phoenix Dark · « **Reply #20 on:** June 22, 2008, 02:08:04 PM »

Quote from: Beezy on June 20, 2008, 07:02:11 PM

Quote from: Bildi on June 20, 2008, 06:22:16 PM
I've had two clients who have won the lottery (I'm an accountant) and they've both blown it all on essentially nothing and are back to struggling like always.

One won a bit over $1m and it was gone in a year and a half. Looking down their bank statement you'd just see endless withdrawals: $8,000, $13,000, $2,000, $20,000 etc...

Fuckin' dumbasses. They could have retired and lived off the interest.
I'm gonna be an accountant.

me too

Boogie · « **Reply #21 on:** June 22, 2008, 02:56:36 PM »

Quote from: Amber Lambchops on June 22, 2008, 02:08:04 PM

Quote from: Beezy on June 20, 2008, 07:02:11 PM
Quote from: Bildi on June 20, 2008, 06:22:16 PM
I've had two clients who have won the lottery (I'm an accountant) and they've both blown it all on essentially nothing and are back to struggling like always.

One won a bit over $1m and it was gone in a year and a half. Looking down their bank statement you'd just see endless withdrawals: $8,000, $13,000, $2,000, $20,000 etc...

Fuckin' dumbasses. They could have retired and lived off the interest.
I'm gonna be an accountant.

me too

Accountants? *snore*

Phoenix Dark · « **Reply #22 on:** June 22, 2008, 03:08:10 PM »

Boring as fuck, to the point that I kinda want to change majors. But unlike a history degree it's actually valuable :p

Most likely I'll use it to finance law school, and if that doesn't work out I'll have a profitable profession to fall back on

Bildi · « **Reply #23 on:** June 23, 2008, 03:31:48 AM »

Accounting can be interesting depending on what you go into. It's highly flexible, and hell, there's always work available no matter where you go.

Accountanting has it's fair share of boring people and awesome people like pretty much any profession. As evidenced by this thread, it's mostly awesome accountants that congregate here.

Reb · « **Reply #24 on:** June 23, 2008, 08:35:05 AM »

I'm an accountant, I rule hard.

huckleberry · « **Reply #25 on:** June 23, 2008, 08:37:25 AM »

Work sucks no matter what your job is. Might as well get paid for your time....

Fresh Prince · « **Reply #26 on:** June 23, 2008, 08:52:35 AM »

^If you have your own business it would suck less but from what I've seen it makes you paranoid and narcissistic.

DJ_Tet · « **Reply #27 on:** June 24, 2008, 10:36:46 AM »

Can't win if you don't play, that said, you can't afford to make your odds dramatically better, either. So, the only way for most/all to play is to find their number, and play once in each drawing. I play one number in the Powerball most weeks. It costs $104 to play for a year, as there are two drawings a week.

Smooth Groove · « **Reply #28 on:** June 24, 2008, 11:08:41 AM »

It's no surprise. Lots of gamblers spend their whole salaries and more on gambling every month.

siamesedreamer · « **Reply #29 on:** June 24, 2008, 11:27:50 AM »

WOW...9% of total income? That's an amazing statistic.

Its even more amazing when you consider states like GA that have public scholarships (HOPE) funded by lottery monies. Basically the poor are paying for white suburban children to go to college for free. What an awesome country.

FlameOfCallandor · « **Reply #30 on:** June 24, 2008, 11:31:53 AM »

At the county convention this year the republicans passed a resolution to end the Texas Lottery.

Reb · « **Reply #31 on:** June 24, 2008, 11:50:27 AM »

I hate poor people.

Olivia Wilde Homo · « **Reply #32 on:** June 24, 2008, 06:34:08 PM »

I used to work in a grocery store that was right next to a trailer park. Lottery ticket sales were huge, even outdoing entire departments in general in annual revenue.

demi · « **Reply #33 on:** June 24, 2008, 06:39:36 PM »

4 8 15 16 23 42

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #34 on:** June 24, 2008, 10:19:46 PM »

Quote from: Narag on June 22, 2008, 01:41:11 AM

Quote from: Oscar the Grouch on June 22, 2008, 01:24:23 AM
The lottery is so clever. It's like a "you're stupid" tax. The tax rate increases proportionate to one's stupidity, to boot. It's poifect!

I play on occassion but it keeps license plates cheap where I live!

Quote from: demi on June 22, 2008, 01:40:41 AM
I wouldnt want to win the lottery, then everyone starts begging you for money and shit, then you got the downright crazies who will probably give death threats. I've seen those sob stories, I'm not being THAT guy
That's why you just sit on it then run it through an anonymous trust so no one ever knows you've won!

Isn't one of the requirements of claiming the winnings that your name and likeness be publicly disclosed?

News:

Author Topic: Poor people and the Lottery. (Read 4337 times)