It serms incredible to me to give over a billion dollars to a random person.
Not really.
The lottery is paid for by those who all have an equal chance of winning that prize. Also, the profits from lotteries are usually spent on social funds etc.
I feel more conflicted about thr fact that it preys on addiction and those who buy the most lottery tickets are often those who can least afford them. I find that much more grotesque than a random person getting very lucky, but to each their own.
Half would go to the government no?
In the US, close to half of the winnings do go to the lottery, plus a portion of each lottery ticket usually goes to fund some government agency. Schools, programs for the impoverished and disenfranchised, etc.
The real question, in my opinion, is if you are willing to spend that much money on a ticket, why aren’t you willing to spend that much money on just outright funding government programs? Imagine if 100% of what someone paid for a ticket went to programs for the disenfranchised? That could make real difference.
Probably worth noting that, at least in places like Texas, they take the funds from the lottery, allocate it to school, and then take the same amount of money out of schools to fund whatever bullshit they want.
And then in some places they decide to divert the school money for a new Raiders stadium.
That depends on the government in question. For example, the Canadian government does not have a claim on any kind of lottery or game show winnings.
On the first year I believe.
To my understanding, and a quick Google search, winnings are never taxed.
Correct. And they’ll get your money for you if you win big in Vegas.
Lottery > Casinos for sure
State lotteries are in effect a tax on the uneducated; largely used to fund education.
But part of the reason they exist is that, in their absence, people spontaneously come up with even worse forms of gambling, like the old numbers game that funds the expansion of organized crime.
Most lottery players, especially scratch-ticket players, would be better off sticking that money under their mattresses or in credit-union accounts. However, again, when there are no gambling games around, people spontaneously invent them; abolishing state lotteries would not cause that money to go under mattresses or into credit unions.
Wait til you find out about inheritance
It’s not as grotesque as the mundane realities that we accept as normal under capitalism
If someone inherits a billion dollar, how is that not just given to a random person?
Chances are the person who inherits a billion dollars is already used to dealing with large amounts of money, and likely has the support structure of accountants and advisors that will help them deal with it.
A lottery winner is usually middle-class or lower, the type of person whose life would be changed by a few thousand dollars, and likely has no idea how to manage wealth of that size.
First of all, they are not getting $1.2B. The lump sum cash value is $551.7M. The usually reported jackpots are presented in terms of the value of a 30 year annuity.
Second, those winnings are before taxes. After taxes, depending on the state, the person will walk away with $280m-350m.
Now, sure, that is still an absurd amount, but still like 1/4th the stated jackpot.
That’s more reasonable.
Also most lottery winners end up dead or bankrupt within a few years of winning.
I guess that’s my point
They should split it up into $100,000 increments. Yeah, that’s not a billion, but that could still be life-changing for thousands of families.
That’s not how lotteries work.
In the UK, you can take a lump sum or instalments just like this . Infact your get more if you take the instalments.
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It’s because most people who win don’t have good habits with money, and they don’t know how to keep their mouth shut. They tell people, and they spend it frivolously.
You find out fast if your friends or family love you or not.
I mean the very fact that they are spending money on the lottery tells me that chances are they have bad spending habits.
And please, you, yes you, the person that buys lottery tickets and feels the need to explain to me how it’s ok, we get it you’re built different and aren’t addicted or whatever, but there are still so many better things you could be spending it on.
“voluntary tax on the poor”
You sound like a recent Econ grad wielding little fun facts you learned to throw in peoples faces. Unnecessarily judgmental. People waste money on all kinds of things every day. It’s not a problem if it isn’t being done to inappropriate levels.
Hurr durr tax on the poor.
Spending money on something that is less likey to return a profit than it is to get hit by lightning isn’t exactly an indicator of financial literacy, tbf.
No but see he made personal attacks, which proves their point…somehow.
But an insignificant amount of money for an insignificant change of being rich isn’t a big deal either.
How much return do you get for a Starbucks? Some things are just for enjoyment and people enjoy the existence of that chance, however slim.
Not me personally, but I totally get it.
The problem is if you spend an insignificant amount of money every day the total amount doesn’t stay insignificant for long.
Absolutely, but that’s a very different point to the one I was responding to. The only point I was making is that plenty of people responsibly waste money on things every day, for some people it’s the lottery, for others it’s Starbucks.
Buying a lottery ticket doesn’t instantly mean you’re bad with money.
What is $1 x 100? 1,000?
Why is that relevant to people who responsibly play the lottery?
The lottery is literally a regressive tax both in concept and practice and I’m not really sure how you can view it any other way.
Ok but you sound like an asshole trying to belittle someone for the most basic facts. I love how you talk down and try and frame me as a youth, guessing you’re either pretty young yourself or need to stop with pathetic ageism personal attacks instead of debating the subject.
Also I guarantee you buy lottery tickets and are mad at the second paragraph, stay mad salty kid, spend your retirement fund on little pieces of paper.
I love how you talk down and try and frame me as a youth, guessing you’re either pretty young yourself
You chastise me for implying you are young, and then immediately call me young.
You then attack the use of ageism and proceed to do it to me after.
Wow what inconsistent stupidity.
I’m sure there are 100 things you spend money on that we could say the same for.
Jesus, people act like it’s impossible to play the lottery without ruining your life.
It’s possible to do hard drugs and not ruin your life too, but I wouldn’t suggest it.
But you can appreciate that some do it without ruining their life right?
It doesn’t make them good by any means. But people have done drugs and had good lives afterwards, just like playing the lottery.
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You can stop any time and prove them wrong
I don’t play the lottery at all.
I just don’t also think that everyone who does is financially irresponsible.
I may act different if I actually saw half a billion dollars in my account but I would I’d buy a house and car for each family member, save 20mil to live off the interest, and then donate the rest towards projects like spine repair medicine or desalination or something. Or maybe buy a shitload of solar panels for homes.
it is weird how people say that getting a lot of money, the thing whole world is based on, all humans work every day to get, is the worst thing that happened to them.
Shakespeare - shot by someone who was trying to get his money
David Lee Edwards - was a convict, spent a lot in several years, lost all his money and died.
Jeffree Dampier: was sleeping with his wife’s sister, shot and killed by her and her husband.
Urooj Khan: coughs blood and dies the next day of getting his check. Cyanide poisoning.
Michael Karoll: “parties, coke, hookers, cars”
Harrell Jr: spent too much, lent too much, killed himself after his wife left him.
Stories go on and on. Almost all of them can be linked to already unstable, unwell people, their inability to manage the money properly or them not shutting up about the huge cash pile they recently sat on, to the trashy, money crazed people around them.
Then you’ll feel better knowing that in the US that whomever wins that Powerball will end up with less than half the amount they won. Taxes will eat up about 60% of the winnings .
And then, statistically, their life will be ruined so… Grotesque indeed
I would be willing to fall on that sword for the unlucky soul that wins that lottery. I actually knew someone that won the 10 million publishers clearance house back in the 1980’s. Classic story of they were dirt poor before the win and dirt poorer about 5 years after the win. Banks lined up to give them loans and they took them all since the prize didn’t pay out in a lump sum. After the interest their yearly checks and more were gone… But they had “stuff” for awhile.
And of course the US government only does cool and awesome things with that money that everybody in the country benefits from.
The entire idea of a statewide lottery seems awful to me. I think there should be a cap on the size and reach of any one lottery. It’s been shown to be more harmful than helpful to dump millions of dollars on one person’s bank account.
Considering how many of their lives go off the rails, yes.
The public opinions on Lemmy are fucking daffy. So on top of everything else, yall are cool with predatory gambling system that randomly ruins one person’s life?
By saying you’re not “cool” with the lottery, does that mean you want it abolished? I don’t like the lottery. I don’t think it should be outlawed. Would you classify me as either cool with it or daffy?
Certainly less daffy than the people playing it or praising it. I don’t know your reason why you think a state function that harms people for money should be allowed to exist, but I’m guessing it’s not a very rational one.
There should be a cap on maximum wealth / revenu
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Potahayto
Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew
Carrot
