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Want to talk about disgusting: The governments hold the lotteries! More disgusting: People actually play them!
by jressey 4y ago
Want to talk about disgusting: The governments hold the lotteries!
More disgusting: People actually play them!
- AtlasBarfed 4y agoGambling in general is a loser's game, but the games people TYPICALLY play in gambling isn't generational wealth. What makes the lottery slightly different is "YOLO": yeah on average it is not a good play, but someone presumably wins, and for their one shot in life it gets transformed with generational wealth. That is: go big or go home. ... well, except that most lottery winners lose it all, but that's a different issue. To emphasize, I'm not advocating playing the lottery, just that odds don't really account for the biological reality of only getting one life to live.
- llamataboot 4y agoSome quick back of the envelope calculations suggests that powerball becomes positive estimated value at about 650mil for jackpot or above (though if we want to discount for taxes, lump sum etc, high than that) but obviously that EV is massively weighted towards one very very very rare event
- jressey 4y agoI've got no qualms with folks who can afford it playing the big jackpots from time to time, especially because the money coming in is typically earmarked for positive social programs.
- warrenm 4y ago>because the money coming in is typically earmarked for positive social programs Ostensibly it's "earmarked" ... but by supposed earmarking, legislatures think they can otherwise defund said "positive social programs" from the general budget
- Night_Thastus 4y agoWhat do you mean by "positive value"? Isn't any winnings positive, regardless how taxed?
- 8note 4y agoPositive expected value. You start negative because you have to pay for the ticket