• FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
    11·
    9 hours ago

    It’s a stupidity tax, basically.

    Really wish I could have back every dollar my parents spent on lottery tickets over the course of their lifetimes, go back in time, and drop it all in stocks instead.

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.org
      3·
      5 hours ago

      TBF, if your parents did the stock investment themselves, it’s pretty likely that they would have lost most of it, too. Still better chances than the lottery, though.

  • rumschlumpel@feddit.org
    29·
    16 hours ago

    On one hand, (for the big types of lotteries) the odds are known and they will pretty much always pay if you win, unless you forget that you even bought a ticket or something like that. Both of those are different for most other types of gambling.

    On the other hand, most people don’t really understand these kinds of odds and lotteries make no effort to educate people on it, even though they’re often state-owned. They’re pretty much deliberately designed to prey on cognitive biases and lack of education.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      14·
      16 hours ago

      I think the odds for scratch offs legally have to be listed on the back of the card as well. So if you buy one it’ll say 1:4.25 or whatever the odds are on the back. But still you will likely win the value of another ticket or such.

      Anyone half way logical knows the company is winning, because they are also forced to pay out part of their winnings to things like scholarships. But people just like gambling. I remember walking into a bar and watching a lady doing scratch off after scratch off drinking at the bar smoking cigarettes. 1 after another, for hours apparently. I remember sitting there by myself wondering how anyone could afford it, but apparently that’s what she did several days a week. Day drinkers like that are either fun, or another kind of crazy