Topic: Lottery is a poor man's tax (Read 659 times)

Probability does not apply when you are desperate to find a shortcut to a life that is advertised to you by these lottery outlets. When it comes to charity though, I am skeptic about it because people in power have the tendency to be corrupt and plunder this lottery earnings that was supposed to help the people in need. I find these lottery using the earnings for charity to help the poor that is funding these charity by buying lottery tickets to be a bullshit perpetual system with only the administration benefitting from it no matter.
I think that there is a term for that kind of mindset, if I am not mistaken it is Gambler's fallacy wherein the belief that continuous bet on something even if you are losing will lead you to win someday, no statistics but just the belief that eventually you will hit the jackpot. I do not blame them for their decision though, this mindset was not innate. If people were taught at the early age financial literacy then that kind of mindset of luck reliance will not manifest in their adult life.
Shouldn't you stop that tradition of buying lottery and put the money on things that is more essential or could return an interest, the money you spent on lottery could add up to buying an investment that will help in the long run. You might regret all that money you have spent on lottery in the long run, I am just reminding you and you are free not to do my advice. Good for you that you trust your government which means that they are doing their job and they are not screwing the people in your country.
Yes they are not technically abusing the people but they benefit from the perpetual cycle of poor people funding their lottery charity for the poor people. They do use psychological techniques when they advertise lottery which is in a way an abuse. I think people relying on luck makes them poor even though they have jobs, yes their jobs will not make them rich but if they do not manage their finances and find other ways to generate cashflow then nothing will happen.

if you bet in moderation? then yes. at least for me. I know several people who keep betting on lottery even though they are already in debt and barely baing able to pay the monthly bills

as long as it doesn't negatively affect me financially I will continue and will stop when it does.

sure it goes to a good cause but the problem is there are corrupt government officials who are taking maybe half or more than half of that money and only so little that actually goes to that good cause.

I forgot about that, and you are right. The ticket prices appeals strongly towards people as much as advertising. The individual price of the ticket is a psychological tactic employed by business to make people think that they are not spending that much when they are purchasing something which in turn makes the chances of this people to buy more go higher.
I agree that occasional bets are alright, but this occasional bets could be bad when you are buying bulks of tickets. Habitual lottery betting is as bad as buying a lot of combinations in one go because they only differ from time scale, buying 12 tickets occasionally is the same as habitual 1 ticket. Lottery for the most part is always a lose for those who bet.
I have my share of people who have played the lottery and regretted doing it too. Thanks especially to my parents for teaching the dangers of playing lottery. I feel bad for this people and the money that they have spent because I always imagine what could have been of their money if they did not spend it on lottery to take chance to get the jackpot, if only they knew of compound interest or investment, they could have been more happier and more content than the people winning the jackpot.
You are right in some parts, yes people assumed it but that is because they are introduced to it through advertisements. The comparison of chances to become an astronaut and winning the lotto has statistics to back it up. And no, not everyone can be an astronaut because there are only few countries that have a space program, unless you are born in those countries, the chances goes to zero. Not mentioning the training and the requirements to become one.

It comes down to a inability to judge optimism and reality properly. Poor people are either too despondent about their situation so they're in a depressed state or they feel overly optimistic about their chances to win despite know that the ticket may state the odds of winning are 1 in 43 million or something to that effect. Instead of focusing on themselves to improve their condition the long arduous way they're looking for a shortcut. for middle class and rich people it's probably more of an excitement issue than a need to achieve some goal.

It's better to play lottery games for entertainment because we will not think much about losing the money. We know the consequences of losing money from the lottery games, and even if we can't win the jackpot, we will be okay, and we can try to buy the ticket on the other days. But most people buy so many tickets, especially if the lottery price is cheap, so people can buy a lot of tickets, just hope that one of the tickets will come to be the winner. Many people like to play a lottery game because they aim to win the prizes, not just poor people, but the middle and high-class economy will also like it.

10$ might look insignificant on a small but imagine if they do it zealously for a year, that is 120$ in annual spending in lottery which does not guarantee a win. If they used it for other things like essentials in a household if you are from a low income household or you could have invested it in bitcoin if you have access in purchasing it. There are plenty of options out there to spend that amount that has worth. It may look insignificant in annual scale but the accumulation over time will make you regret your decision to spend it on lottery tickets.
That is the sad reality about lottery, it entices people the idea of easy escape in poverty even when the odds are stacked against them in colossal scale. I have to commend the first people to introduce lottery to the masses because masses hate tax but they love gambling. Yes there will be occasional winners but either they spend it on stupid things that effectively waste the money or they become so miserable because they do not know what to do with the money they have. There is a book about the latter that documents winners of lottery and their behavior after winning. I forgot the title but I think it can easily be searchable.
I am the same as you, because most of the news headline in my country is all about corruption in the government. I effectively lost faith in the lottery system in my country even if they say that the proceeds will go to charity.

I suggest not getting your hopes up of winning the lottery, because the chances of winning are very small. And there is still the possibility of
being cheated, therefore I joined the lottery for entertainment only. I also agree with the opinion that most people who enter the lottery are in
the lower middle class economy. Because they think the Lottery can provide instant wealth, so many poor people try their luck.

If the operators cannot show legit winners of their lottery then we can say that it is indeed a poor man's tax and people are having a delusion that they are going to win a lottery but so far here in our country, there are testimonials from real people who won the tournament, yes people are winning here that is why the ticket sales are always record-breaking whenever there is a huge jackpot because people want to win a lottery for a life-changing event of their lives.

It depends on someone how often he bets on a lottery. Some spend almost half of their daily earnings which is not good, and some who bets once a day hoping it would change their life.


No, I don't think so. Like here in our country the government owned lottery helps the unfortunate people to have some discount on their hospital bills.


Only once a day, that's all I'm willing to bet. As you've said there are millions of combination to win in a lottery game so if you are given a chance to win there I'd consider it as a blessing from above.

Thinking a lottery is a scammy way to tax poor people is not a valid point. In the first place, no one forces them to joined lotteries. We can't blame these poor people if they are taking chances. After all, this was the only gambling they can play with only a few bucks to join. And the winnings are insane so it's just a win-win situation to them.

Countries really need these lotteries as it was a big help for funding government projects such as infrastructures and other essentials. But we can't deny the fact that there's corruption so we just need to trust that the department involved in monitoring the government's fund is doing their job.

Unless the people behind the government spending and the government is corrupt. The money will only go straight from someones pocket. We all know that most third world country (which my country is) is either corrupt or tolerates corruption.
That is funny in a way but this is the scary thing about lottery, it specifically targets the low income households which does not contribute much in tax but with their number bigger than high-income households, they exploit this instead of truly helping.

As far as the proceeds of the lottery-owned government go into good projects then it's good (although corruption is just around the corner).

In the first place, that's the purpose why there is a lottery-owned government, at least here in our country.


I'm just a few blocks away from the nearest lottery here so there's a time I want to try my luck.

Not expecting to win in this luck-based game but who knows I can hit the bell even it's more possible to reach the moon than hitting the lottery. So far, my highest win is 4 digits combinations (in a 6/45-59 draw depends on what day I will place my bet) and I hit that combination several times already.

Take this an example where people do spend up millions of dollars on buying up lottery tickets and see on what are the results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V2B28OqfqM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XLmCb3y3o

This doesnt really matter if you do purchase almost of the combinations or what.Winning chance is always been slim.

Being a statistician or mathematician doesn't help you in any way. It only makes things brighter for you that it's almost impossible to win because of insane numbers of combinations. To understand this, you don't need to be any of these but one simple formula is enough to calculate the number of combinations according to numbers that take part in the lottery and how many balls will come.
It's not taxation in any way too. Who gives you pressure to buy a lottery ticket? Noone, so, there is no one to blame here except you if you spend a lot of money on it and it affects your financials. The lottery is really a lucky accident that can change your whole life but you have to be very lucky. You can be among 99.9999% that spend money on lottery without benefits or the one who wins.

-Cons outweighs its pros but to know that if you do hit that jackpot then that thing what matter most.

-Its not that to be a tax but here on my country, weve been using lottery in form of charity and part or portion of it is being
used to help out people who are in need.

-Play for fun and don't expect for you to win because this will just mold up addiction due to desperation.

Lotteries have existed for a very long time and your insinuation that this is a form of tax is not mistaken since in the past there were countries that used lotteries as a form of tax on their citizens, I do not play regularly but taking into account the bad economic shape some people find themselves it is possible the lottery is their only chance of improving their situation, I believe they know it is very unlikely they will win but taking into account the low participation cost and the huge payout I think they consider this to be a fair trade.

Yes I do. There is virtually no risk aside from a few dollars it costs to purchase a ticket. The price is usually not very significant.


They are not forcing you to participate so I do not see it as unethical. It is hypocritical if they ban other forms of gambling in their country.


I don't participate in the government sponsored lottery but in online casinos I might spend a negligible amount on tickets. Sometimes I might get free tickets from achieving certain wagering requirements.

I don't think it's a scammy thing to tax the people. First they are legitimate operating and we could see publicly the winning number also we know that there are some bettors that actually wins.

The lottery helps a lot of people in our country. So even if it's impossible to win in this game, I will still play this lottery to help many people in need and still hoping to win a life-changing amount of money. One of my family members tried to apply for medical assistance, and this lottery donates a good amount.

He called it as a tax because people are playing despite knowing that hitting such lottery is nearly impossible and even then we are making such bets.

I don't think though that this "tax" is a bad thing because if 1 million players are playing the lottery and even 10 guys change their life forever then it still changes life and you won't be rich by saving the money for the lottery ticket and might spend that in other small things which you don't even realize so it is better to take a near impossible but chance to change your life.

I personally hate lotteries and never take part in such draws but I understand why people like it because you get a life changing opportunity and you don't have to spend much for that.

Though it's really a strategy of government to get a tax however they are legitimate and even the odds is really low there's still a possibility if you are really lucky you could be a millionaire in just 1 day for me there's nothing wrong to test your chances the only wrong thing is that some people rely on it.

with the huge jackpot and low cost per bet or ticket , who wouldnt be ? poor people are mostly hopeless , no huge money , skilless , no education but they have some small amounts of money that are enought to participate in a lotto draw .  

the problem of some poor is that they have a small money that supposed to be allocated for the food but they still choose to risk this money to buy a ticket instead of buying a food .

some that have a job but they also choose to buy a ticket instead of saving this money which is more sure and can help them in the future

It can be considered that way, because the poor man is the one patronizing the lottery but even if the odds is very huge to win the jackpot this is one of the hope of the poor people to have a chance to change their life for the better, as long as you are not betting more than you can afford I don't see any issue at all.

Since the lottery is a gambling game base on luck, then I think the cons will be bigger than the pros because you will see that you don't have a big chance to win the money. If the government owned the lottery, I think they give all people a dream that they deserve to win the jackpot, but they need to compete with the other people. I don't play the lottery too often because I know the chance to win will not be bigger.

Although I doubt the government really does help 100% but I'm sure they do. So playing is one way of helping the government.

I have also tried that scratch card for awhile that I won few numbers. Its almost like how I won bets on Keno game hitting only 3-4 numbers out of 10. Its almost impossible to really hit the 10 digits but there are incidents lately just like this guy in this thread who won 5LTC by with just 0.001 LTC bet.

We also sometime see winners featuring their real life experience in television so I don't doubt it, especially it was able to help others. I even bet in lottery whenever I feel lucky and sometime won few numbers and some small winnings in their scratch cards. It's just a matter of taking risk like how gambling works but with a chance to help charities as well the government. Hopefully whoever deserving win in a right way and they don't do any misleading results especially when the price is too high.

This is a poor man way to catapult himself to get riches, here in our country I see some people actually winning the jackpot I like to believe that there are people winning the jackpot and in case you did not hit any of the jackpot the big percentage of the revenues go to welfare of the poor in our country one of my friend is a benefactor of that I do not want to think it as a tax I rather think of it as a way of helping the government. 

Lottery still can give you profit even if you don't get the right lines , but it takes a lot time and effort to actually win the jackpot. Depending on your luck you just might bleed money instead of winning, some machines are just really doesn't give you anything and end up with a lose streak. So i'd rather go with quick high risk games than playing for hours to just gain nothing.

you give me a good idea about this mate and yeah it looks like government is really scamming lottery bettors by this.
though i use to bet in lottery in past when i am still living in my parents house because there is a ticketing  near us and some of my friends bets as well.
Hope this is not truly happening because if does then the Poor is the most victim in all of gambling games.

The lottery gives us small chance or to no chance of winning at all, yet these people still want to try their luck by betting. Living in a developing country, I can see how the lottery is popular in middle to lower class. I don't know why but people who are struggling financially are the ones who have high hopes of winning the lottery although they know that there's a low probability. Maybe because they think that winning from the lottery can help them to become rich. But for me, there's nothing wrong as long as it's fine for them to risk a small amount of money with small hope of winning. As for the government, since they usually own the lottery, of course, they will tax people.

It's actually a tax trap by the government. There's a lot of free money coming in on lottery since anyone can play it disregarding financial status. Playing it cost small amount of money so even poorest of the poor can bet there last penny to gamble for there fortune.

The chance of winning the lottery is slimmer rather than by a lightning. Imagine the majority of the people throwing there money on this government gambling makes a huge chunk of money for the government. Why small time gambling is prohibited while this gambling is legal while the amount of money on playing on it is same small amount? Simply because government can easily monopolise tax using this lottery game. I agree on OP the way he view this game.

People are not mandated to bet on lotteries and that is enough I think to tell that it is not an abuse of the government. They tend to bet not because they are required but because it is their own likeness hoping to get a "better" life out of luck. Since they are having a tough time to get rich on their jobs, they are still gambling their luck to the other way of having huge mount of money. We cannot blame them from doing so, since in the first place they are not required to bet on lotteries. But it is true, winning is a punch to the moon and little do they know that as their trials are getting bigger, same thing happens with their losses.

i am a Lottery fan mate and i still Bet in lottery at least one or twice a week not because i am Poor but because this is the gambling i learned from my parents and even my grandies .

now about Being taxed?nope taxation is just a normal in each gambling either online or in lottery and real casinos.

and i don't feel that way mate,i trust the government and give them a chance to seek taxes for the people.
Government also gets taxes from casino and yes it is to help people and Non government organizations that seeks for support.

Here in our country lottery were being operated by the government. Legally implemented and yeah mostly of the customer was a poor people hoping that the spin of luck will throw to them and will win a million prizes. Though i cannot blame our other countrymen since the life here in our country was really hard. You can't get that dream million money of yours by just working out even 24/7. What i truly meant was cost of living was high and the salary of regular job were not so enough to sustain the daily needs of the family, so yeah maybe its true that the lottery was a poor man's tax.

I'm playing lottery and I don't see anything wrong on it, our government is the one running the lottery and a big chunk of the revenue go to the charity program of the government, so if I'm betting in a lottery I am hoping to win the jackpot but if I did not win the jackpot at least I have a consolation that I am helping the government's program to uplift the need of the poor, and if it's a way to tax the people I consider this no issue at all as long as I can see that people benefits from this.

Maybe the others winners of lotto is not true but for sure other winners are true. The profit that lottery will get in my country will gives to the charity or people needs help but for sure behind that they have still corruption because in every government operation for sure they have group or person who are doing bad but not all. They tax us already we are all tax payers and maybe this is other way for them to get more money or as tax. The ticket or betting is lottery is very low everyone can avail that but the winning is not easy because yes it is lot of combination numbers.

When we say tax, it's coming from the government impose to people with income. This is not a right definition of lottery, IMO, it's more like a donation and most lotteries revenue are to help the poor people, but unfortunately, poor people are their usual bettors.

That's a clear point, tax is something compulsory while lottery is not.

Lottery is a kind of game that the poor loves to play, they are hoping that when their luck comes it would change their lives, but only small percentage are really winning, that's why our government loves to run their state sponsored lottery as they can make huge money from it.

I still remember that the lottery in our country run by state was stopped by the president due to corruption, but it was resume later one as they maybe realized they are losing big money on a daily basis when it's on pause mode.

If it's not for the poor people's benefited from the medical assistance, our charity sweepstakes office has already closed. but a lot of people have requested to put it back because they think it is the only chance to raise themselves from poverty. nowadays, you can a lot of people fall in line just to get their hand to buy one ticket that might lead them to escape poverty but in most cases, that's become one of the reasons to stay in poverty because of such mindsets.

This is the article regarding our national charity sweepstakes office.



https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/7/27/what-s-at-stake-duterte-order-pcso-lotteries-closure.html

Nope because Lottery has been there ever since and not only poor people is engaging in Lottery,also taxation is applied to all gambling games not only this.

though yeah majority of bettors are poor but it does not necessarily mean those are being abused of the government.

A professor of mine who held (hedl) a chair in economics knew a man (I can't remember whether he was statistician or mathematician) who used to say that he knew better than anyone else he knew the extent of the probability of winning the lottery, and he was probably right.

Even if he understood better than any of us the abstract implications of such a minimal chance, he used to say that the savviest choice was to play: there is no other thing that you can buy for $1 with the potential to give you such a huge excitement.

The problem is that some people spend too much money on it, while just a little bit makes almost the same impression of hope.

Considering the amount that you can win on Lottery, of course people will play more to increase their chances of winning, unfortunately those people don’t know how to know the probability to win on lotto and this is also why the government is making them fool literally, and taking advantage against them to collect more money. Though I support their Charity works but hopefully, bettors will not literally depend on this because hard works always pays off.

lotto did not make any promises but people are the ones that assumed it . infact lotto is still questionable to some if this is really legit or its only a way to milk people but not totally milk because its said that government based lotto are being tax or can go to the charity . i hope that was true and they dont lie when they say that  . people in any status make bets on lotto not just the poor , comparing lotto to astraunut is new to me but its not fair because anyone can be an astraunut  while winning in lotto is close to impossible.  no mathetmatician can make a combination but i agree that buying all the possible combination can increase your win chance

That's one way at looking at it, and I do agree with it. At the least, the government is being honest somewhat on their lotteries, given that from time to time they are advising the public to gamble responsibly.

On the taxation part, I do agree since most government-run lotteries are still subject to tax, which takes a lot of cut from the winnings too. There had been a documentary wherein lottery winners were interviewed about their huge winnings. It was a surreal experience, sure, but the tax that they impose on such wins is just insane, too. Some other times, they also suggest hiring a legal adviser from their public offices to 'handle' such funds, which then bills them a huge sum for a single piece of advice. I mean, financial advisers are good and all especially in making a financial decision, but from the public offices? No.

The promise of a good life after winning the lottery is what gets poor people hooked to playing the lottery. I have known a lot of people 'taking care' of certain numbers for decades and still hasn't won a single cent, and have even told them had they saved those few $ per bet, they would have gotten somewhere else now.

Everyone will definitely hope to win a lottery, this is a natural thing because whatever prizes we get can be used as additional income. The problem is when it becomes a habit and costs a lot of money to pursue the opportunity. What is wrong is not in the habit but using a lot of money to get a chance to win the lottery so that the habit becomes bad.

The chance to win the lottery is always related to luck, although buying many combinations can increase the odds, but if we are not lucky then we could still lose.

First gambling is Luck based mostly so whats the difference between playing in Slots and betting in lottery ?at least in lottery there is only 2-3 draws a week (in my country) so it is more cheaper than playing in casino either Online or in real.

there is a person who tries to beat lottery in the past but in the end?they still the loser.
Nope all gambling institution in my country has been taxed so even the richest person is entitled in taxation by all means.

You forgot to mention the true appeal of a lottery and state lottery for example which is the cost of a ticket.Usually varies in developed countries between 1-3 Eur or Usd and in third world countries to 1 Usd max.These are amounts anyone can afford even those hanging near the poverty line as even the one with the minimum wage can decide to spend 5 usd on tickets every week and rely on luck.That is what makes lottery a very lucrative form of gambling even for people who only play lottery and are not real gamblers.

That sounds about right.

Gambling in general is a way to tax people.  Because mathematically the house has to make profits to stay afloat while the players have to lose money.

Sometimes you pay your taxes directly to the government, sometimes you pay the casino and the casino pays the government.

Some smart people find ways to trick the casinos (arbitrage betting, value betting etc) but without a surprise, casinos ban them right away.

I have a negative attitude to state lotteries, as I do not believe in the integrity of such lotteries. In my opinion, more transparency is needed to ensure the necessary level of trust. This could be achieved using a blockchain, but my state is unlikely to do it.

I totally agree with the idea that lottery is a poor man's tax, but when you're in that position and desperate - it looks like a way out. The odds against you are so astronomical that you are effectively wasting money if you do this form of betting on a regular basis. There will always be a winner, but you'll find that lottery operators are constantly tweaking the numbers and it is rarely to favor the people buying tickets.

The pros and cons depend on how addicted the player. If they only spent like $10 per month, it's really not a big deal for the hope of getting rich. People need hope!
The cons start when they spent more and have foolish expectations.

With or without governments, lottery operators will still do their business as usual. Why not run and make it a source of government revenue?

I would only buy one ticket per round. If I'm lucky, then I'm lucky no matter how many tickets I have.

Most notorious gambling game in terms of getting their money .
Since it only needs a small amount of money to make a bet, even an Average Joe can bet in lottery and even a poor person can bet on it too.

I can't really say that the government-owned lottery is their way to scam people since our lottery here are helping other poor people. I don't know in other government-owned lotteries in different countries though. Although it is already in my mind that government = corrupt, I can't say 100% that they are scamming people thru lottery.

I'm not playing TBH and I never tried it in my whole life. Once a week is enough maybe for me. I'm not focusing too much on things that will not give me benefit if I give some time, money and effort into it like gambling.

The funny thing is that where most lottery is sold is in the poorest neighborhoods.

I also put it in another thread. This is a lottery simulator:

https://www.cuandomevaatocar.com/en/

If you hit "start" you can see the ruin that is playing the lottery. It is clearly EV negative.

The only good thing about it is that if you hit the jackpot, it can change your life. But this is so unlikely that it's almost impossible.

Although I very occasionally play. Always when I am offered to play halfway between friends. Mostly because of the FOMO.

Are you suggesting that Lottery is gambling? If that is what you're suggesting then you could aswell be saying that countries that ban gambling but allow lottery or lottery-like betting games/competitions still allow gambling?

  Lottery bets should simply be seen as a way a people or community can randomly redistribute their small occasional contributions, pooled-fund, pooled-valuables, more responsibilities etc to their lucky members.
I think the current model I'm familiar with could be improved or made in a way that more members/winners get the distributed funds/things.


Well, I have bet on lottery before, probably one or  few times when I was kid/teen. We bet with little amount we could afford to lose, I don't consider that gambling. Many years ago, I was quite lucky in a  lottery-kind of competition that does not involve people betting directly with money... but I didn't scale through the final round. The lucky ones went through. I would not have complained or felt bad then if I didn't spend too much for ticket. I couldn't afford the ticket fee, but I could not afford to stop because I was already in the middle of the competition. This was something you would think was free lottery but they "charge" you huge amount in the middle of the competition. That is a clear gambling in betting/lottery space... It appears like free lottery/betting but with huge hidden ticket fee i couldn't afford.

Being a mathematician doesn't help increase the odds of winning - because it's a lottery. All that you can do is to maximise your share of any jackpot by picking numbers that other people don't pick.

Yes, I think so. Unless all proceeds from lottery ticket sales (minus small admin costs) are fed back into supporting the poor, then it's definitely exploitative. It's selling a dream, and a way out, but taking care not to emphasise just how phenomenally unlikely you are to win.

The thing is, it's always for poor people that's the perception, considering if they won it's a guaranteed unexpected wealthy lifestyle. It's called poor man's tax since most of the people that buying those tickets comes from low earner individuals. Besides, if there were high rollers or rich that plays the lottery will it be still called a poor man's tax?

I couldn't say that it is really a scum way to tax the people since it's still from the government and they spend it as well to health, charities and so on and I'm seeing it's for the good cause in the long run.

Not all lottery own by the government , but hell yeah they are recieving large portion of taxes in lottery.

They are betting in lottery hoping to make their self millionaire if they win, there is nothing wrong with that. the only bad thing is that the others did this and think that as an investment where they can win a lot if they continue betting, they are  dreaming to win  without noticing how much money  they already use to  gambled .

Well, to be fair, anyone thinking that lottery money will sustain a good life for themselves is just dreaming. Out of all the people who won a lottery, none of them could keep living a luxury life for long because they have no income source as large as the lottery money they won. So what usually happens is that the money finishes; they can’t pay for their luxury expenses and these people end up becoming bankrupt.  

Say you won $1 million, for example. A luxury sports car costs about $100K or $200K, resorts and estates go for several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lottery money will be finished just from buying these two items if not more stuff.

As I like to say, $100K you make a month is better than $1 million you win once.

I had remembered one of my colleagues says that the winning combination number of a lottery can be predicted by solving its probability.
I had just think how could be that happen where for me the combination of winning number were rambled and it was really hard to figured out by just solving the probability. To cut the story short, i am not convinced by this method. So basically i didn't make any bets in lottery, i feel that i am just wasted my money but the mere fact that if you become the winner a million prizes are waiting but then it didn't convinced me, i'd still want to worked hard for the money than hoping to win in a lottery.

I am not saying it will make you win per se, what I was saying there is that you have an edge if you know the statistics to predict the result. Buying all possible combination can win you profits especially some lottery have conditions that can net you some break even like 3 of your number matched the winning number.

That is a dangerous attitude towards finances, saying that it does not cost a lot when buying lottery tickets is nothing compared to the travel time you wasted to buy the lottery ticket and if you add up the accumulated money you spent on it and other people, you will be surprised that it is not a big deal.

I understand why economicst would say that a Lottery is a poor man tax because for every 1$ you put in, the value of your winninng is only around 75cents because of taxes. But this assumes a linear preference function which is wrong in my opinion. Do we really value $1 Million the same as 1 million times $1? It's very unrealistic that we can save so much to reach $1 Million, which makes lottery so attractive for most people. Sure most of us will never win big, it's only a lucky few you experience that. But for the once that do it, it's life changing.

Don't call it tax. Call it some form of "donation" since people are doing it voluntarily. They know the odds for winning is low but they still do it because one ticket is cheap.

Some people are winning but you don't see their name announced on national television or social media for security purposes. You would often know someone won if the winner is close to your area.

Rigging the numbers would be difficult since the draw is done live but i wouldn't dismiss the possibility.

That is really scummy for the people behind the curtains taking the jackpot after earning a profit from the sales of lottery tickets. There are controversy everytime money and officials in the government is involved, I do not get this people plundering the money of the people, is a lot of money worth to tarnish their reputation. The craziest thing you said is the lottery is rigged because they need to pull off this some kind of heist in front of their citizens watching the lottery draw. It could be a conspiracy but it also be true because there is no definitive proof.

Even being a statistician wouldn't make you win lotteries. They can only calculate the amount actually required to achieve a certain success rate, but in the end, a 100% success rate is close to impossible, unless you buy out every ticket, but if not? Then you can only infinitely approach the rate of you actually winning.

Lotteries offer huge prizes due to the number of people that can actually join it, without burning a hole into their pockets. For a small price, there's also a small chance of them winning big, so it is technically a great business idea. Pros and cons? I doubt there's actually one when you're playing a game that relies on luck. It's like no matter how much you discuss the pros and cons there, there's really no changing the result of it, no matter what.

I haven't bet on any lottery games before even tho the prize is life-changing. The odds of being hit by lightning are higher than winning a lottery jackpot. Most people who bet on it are those who are struggling in life, clinging to that tiny odd to change their life in a snap. We cannot blame people and it's a gamble that they are willing to take.


There are controversies about it, there are rumors about it. Every election period someone wins the jackpot and even my father-in-law who works for a governor told us that there are instances that the lottery in our country is rigged and fake people are chosen to collect the jackpot for election money. There is no way for us to verify this but this makes sense since most mega jackpot are won during election perior or even prior to that.

That is what I meant by saying that lottery is the tax for poor people. Honestly, if they only rely on chances then they wouldn't get far. Most statistics on lottery players has shown that most of the players come from low income household. Even if they are free to avoid, then how come people aare still betting on it, there is only one to blame and that is the advertisements that promises things specifically targeted towards these people. Even if you win the lottery, most winners suffers Sudden Wealth Syndrome.

Another way to collect money from a poor people, there's a lot of bettors on Lottery everyday in my country and this become a one of the major betting place.

I don't know if someone really win the money or our government is just using fake people so they can collect the award money which I think is possible to happen considering our corrupt government. I don't bet on lottery, its just like wasting of money and hoping for my entire life to win the jackpot, this is too impossible yet many people depend on this one seriously.

I don't see it as a tax since they are free to avoid it but most of the poor are really clinging into it.
They are paying for it every once in a while to try their luck on hitting that jackpot that is almost impossible to get.
And I understand them even though I hate the idea for them it is a small sacrifice to have a chance of becoming a multi millionaire.

The one thing is that somebody is going to win it if they get the correct numbers, now will it be me or no will depend upon the number selection. I know I may not be the luck one who will get it right , but just in order to be able to become part of winning who knows I may get it right or somebody else may get it right will first need to participate in it else they will never ever win by remaining outside. Now I may do it for fun just once in a while or so but those who are just doing it every time with hope will only win that is where I think it is wrong on their part.

The probability to win on Lottery almost didn't exist, and a very few lucky individual will win the jackpot once in a while. Our local Lottery is not just a Lottery they have many Charity works despite of the corrupt officials. I don't think this is just a way to collect taxes since this is a voluntarily game, and those who wants to play are welcome to bet as long as its legal. I do play lottery sometimes, but I'm not expecting to win big and honestly My Dad always bet and he's consistent for the past decade until now, we're still a commuter. 

Lottery is the most notorious of all the gambling institution. The promise of a good life is what makes this a lucrative attraction for the people below or hanging in the poverty line. Although the odds of winning is higher than becoming an astronaut, many still take the chance to get the coveted numbers. Unless you are a statistician/mathematician or you have the money to buy all the combinations, winning is close to impossible.

Do you think that the pros of playing lottery outweigh the cons or vice versa?

Is government owned lottery a scummy way to tax the poor people?

How far are you willing to gamble to win the coveted jackpot (If you are playing lottery)?