Comments on: Selling Hope: The Ethics of Lottery Tickets

By: tim moffitt

tim moffitt — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:03:56 +0000

more like selling false hopes , do i play the lotteries ? yes , do i think they are rigged ? yes , the proof is out there if you really look , the 649 and lotto max top prizes are “won” in eastern canada the majority of the time , these machines they use to draw the numbers can be set up for certain numbers or rather the weight of the balls can be (adjusted) , has been proven in the states.
as for the scratch tickets , we are being sold tickets in hopes of winning the big prize even though all thats left to win if you are lucky is a free ticket or a couple of bucks , the lottery commission says they dont do that but they are doing exactly that . gaming in this country is a total scam . if we all had an ounce of brains ,, everyone would quit buying the tickets until the laws were changed to enforce honest gaming , until then… we just keep buying tickets or gambling in general , whatever your gambling fix is … you are being ripped off.

By: money at home

money at home — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:25:38 +0000

Great post. I do buy lottery tickets on occasion. However, I don’t ever plan on winning. :( I am a stay at home mom and I work part-time from home, which is a total gift. I try to earn the best living for my family that I can and I think spending a little bit of money on the potential to win a lot is still worth it. I always say, you’ll never win if you never try.

By: Future Money-Bags

Future Money-Bags — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:41:26 +0000

I believe the odds of going from zero -> 50million from working in 1 persons life, would probably be the same as winning 50million in a lottery.
About 1:18,000,000
But unlike winning the lottery, if one actually tries their entire life and does everything possible and learns everything they can; I believe they have a much larger chance at becoming ‘rich’.
Maybe not 50million, but 5million net worth is very possible if you start in your 20’s.

I have never bought a lottery ticket of any sort, and don’t plan to. Similar to the ‘Latte Factor’ and Kathryn’s conservative investment of only 5%, you could earn an additional $25-$30,000 in 20 years. Thats just a couple dollars a day.
But if everyone stopped wasting their money and saved and invested it, than eveeryone would be rich. What fun would that be?

(All wording has been done by extremely rough estimates, by myself)

By: jason

jason — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:16:54 +0000

good post. you shouldn’t put your hope in the lottery.

By: Lottery Winners

Lottery Winners — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:07:24 +0000

I do believe paying out the money overtime is better for you can’t blow all the money at once. It would serve as a reminder that the money CAN last your entire lifetime.

By: cannon_fodder

cannon_fodder — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:08:36 +0000

There are many reasons why people play the lottery. One reason which I didn’t see mentioned usually involves the office pool.

What if I’m one of those who doesn’t participate and the group at the office wins? What if they win so much money that they leave the company and I end up having to pick up their slack? Not only am I not rich but I have to work even harder?

I wouldn’t be surprised if workers at the Aberta Treasury Branch, who were NOT part of the payroll group of 12 winners of a major lottery, thought something similar.

I don’t have a problem if someone wants to spend a few dollars “entertaining” themself with a lottery ticket purchase. If they can’t really afford it, or if turns into a gambling addiction, then that is a completely different story.

I work in an industry that provides solutions to casinos. One colleague of mine expressed a personal conflict with a situation. This casino (in the US) wanted us to create a software application on an ATM. The idea would be that the application would be able to find every single credit card or account that could be accessed to ensure that the patron could get every cent of his money in order to gamble.

My understanding is that casinos are for profit entities (some publicly traded) while Canadian lotteries often return a high proportion of their winnings back into government coffers to then help everyone.

One of the saddest things was the stat that Ed Rempel quoted – 30% of people counting on lottery winnings as part of their retirement plan. I would absolutely love to hear a story about a woman who invested the money her husband gave her to buy lottery tickets. She could, every once in awhile, tell him that they ‘won’ $10 here, or a free ticket there. Then, to his surprise, she let’s him know that they are millionaires – because she smartly invested it over time!

Now THAT would make a headline story!

By: Bryce

Bryce — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:28:55 +0000

Pat, Okay, I agree I was being a little dramatic and of course we could debate the value of social programs and our current canadian tax structure. But I really do think that lotteries foster selfishness. But I guess we can just take the fatalistic approach that people are always going to gamble so why not have a government rake. I would just like to see it treated the same way as tobacco and make advertising of it illegal. I would suspect that most of the people here could agree that those commercials do sell false hope. At least they should end with the disclaimer “Your odds of winning the jackpot are 1: 13,983,816″

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:08:22 +0000

Here is an updated article on the Fontaines (the winners of the $50 million dollar jackpot)

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2334697

By: cash back credit cards

cash back credit cards — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:13:14 +0000

Very interesting story, and this really true. I would like to see the complete article of this couple winning this money. It’s really true money can not buy happiness.

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:28:21 +0000

Bryce, while I agree about the TV, I can’t agree with “some of your neighbors money can be yours without you having to provide any service of product to them.” At least not as it pertains to the lottery. Nobody put a gun to a neighbor’s head to buy a lottery ticket and put their money into the pot. They know what happens to their money if they don’t win. It goes to someone else’s winnings. I don’t see what is immoral about that.

Now, if you want to make the quoted statement reflect what are euphemistically called social programs, then you and I will agree on it until the end of time. People don’t have a choice about paying the taxes that go into the social programs. They do have a choice about buying a lottery ticket.

By: Bryce

Bryce — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:39:54 +0000

PF $tudent: I think buying a TV is ‘morally’ better. But it isn’t the product it is the process. A TV is an example of a highly refined product. It goes from a pile of metals, petroleum and minerals something of high value. Many many people made money on the process from the ground to your house and people are still making money off your entertainment choices for years to come. TV is a huge economic engine.
Lets contrast that with lottery. No one seems to be arguing that current lotteries are a way to make money so their only real value must be as entertainment. I’m not sure that people really play lotteries because of all the ‘good’ programs that the government supports though them.
So what is the entertainment you are paying for? You are paying for the possibility that some of your neighbors money can be yours without you having to provide any service of product to them.

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:45:25 +0000

My wife and I get strange looks all the time when we cash in. We might spend $10 over 2 weeks on scratch tickets and Lotto tickets. We only go to movies 2-3 times a year, and even then it’s on discounted tickets. We go to dinner once or twice a month, so getting the tickets is entertainment for us. What we do, however, is take whatever we win in cash, and if we want to buy other tickets, pay for them separately. We put the “winnings” in a jar and let it accumulate and if we decide we want something, we can use it towards that.

I would estimate that we are within 20% of what we have spent to buy the tickets. We’ve been doing this for about 2 years now. It works fairly well.

Not that I am concerned about reaching this stage, but I saw a stark glimpse of what is being described here the other night at the store. I was waiting to get a ticket cashed in, and was thinking of grabbing another ticket. The lady in front of me had probably 9 or 10 tickets being checked, all winners. I think I heard around $30 in winnings from the cashier. The lady then proceeded to start grabbing all kinds of tickets for her next purchase. Like a crocodile in the Nile while the wildebeast are crossing. Just before the cashier put the tray back, the lady asked her to hold on and she just grabbed 3 more tickets like nothing. I think she had to hand over another $30-$40 on top of the winnings for the stash of tickets she bought. OMG, was my only thought. Needless to say I simply cashed in my ticket and walked away after seeing that.

I’m not going to turn down winning a large sum of money, but I’m certainly planning everything on the basis that the lottery is not going to be friendly to me. It really hasn’t yet, so I don’t expect that leopard to change its spots.

By: Big Cajun Man

Big Cajun Man — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:05:19 +0000

The pyramid of who makes moneys on lotteries are simple:

1) The top is the lottery commision (note these are tightly regulated, because that IS where the money is)
2) Printing and distributing the lottery tickets
3) Selling the lottery tichets
4) Buying lottery tickets

This is a logarithmic scale too. The bottom’s income is infinatecimal (sp?) compared to the top.

Lotteries rely on the “Shark bite” principal, everyone knows of SOMEONE who was bitten by a shark, same with lotteries everyone knows of SOMEONE who won it big.

By: PF $tudent

PF $tudent — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:26:49 +0000

Kathryn,

Great article. I always find it odd that someone would be so readily to dismiss another’s opinion as useless (why comment then?)

I agree that lotteries are something akin to an “idiot tax”. I’m not sure it’s such a bad thing though. At least money gets redistributed to others that need the money through government programs.

For instance, if I bought a TV instead, it’s true that I would be contributing to the economy, but is that ‘morally’ better? Who benefited from that purchase? The company, executives and shareholders probably benefited more directly than society did.

While I think lotteries are a great way to raise money for necessary things (i.e. hospital lotteries), I do agree that they are somewhat ‘unethical’. Because of the ‘hopes and dreams’ that they sell, I think that lotteries tend to draw many who are financially vulnerable and probably would be better off spending the money on other things or saving it.

I guess that’s reality (if everyone had what they need, lotteries probably wouldn’t be that popular).

By: Ed Rempel

Ed Rempel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:15:09 +0000

Hi Kathryn,

Good post. The one good thing about lotteries is that the can make people think about finances. Most Canadians will earn well over $1 million in their life. How they live depends on the choices they make about their million – how much they save, how much they enjoy the things they spend it on, how effectively they manage it.

I have wondered about the ethics of lotteries, since I think of it as a “tax on the stupid”. Studies say 30% of Canadians ACTUALLY expect to win the lottery as part of their retirement plan. If met a lot of people that buy lottery tickets every single week for 40 years and think this puts the odds in their favour. They don’t realize that the odds of winning are still negligible.

Interestingly, if you add up the cost over their life, they may have been able to make $1 million. Let’s say a couple pays $10/week for 2 tickets for 50 years and the ticket prices rise by 3% inflation. If they invested this at the average stock market return (11%), they would have $1.2 million.

And unlike the lottery, this COULD actually happen.

The government does make a lot of money from them, though, so if there were no lotteries, they would have to raise taxes on all of us.

I guess they are acceptable to the public because they are voluntary – unlike other taxes.

By: Ms Save Money

Ms Save Money — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:14:41 +0000

I wouldn’t say that the lottery sells hope.

It’s just luck – if you win you get money – if you don’t you don’t get money. Rt?

Plus the lottery winners have to give half of it to taxes – which is good for the public because tax money goes into education, and all that good stuff.

But of course people who buy lottery tickets are just ordinary people and don’t really know how to invest with the money they win and end up in the dumps later.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:49:57 +0000

I remember an experiment where a group plucked a homeless man off the streets and gave him 1 million dollars and tracked his life experiences for a year. At the end of the next year he was right back where he started, broke and homeless. I think in instances when people win a lot of money they should also be forced to go through financial education classes so that they understand how to spend it wisely.

Most lottery/contest winner have already spent their money before it even lands in their hands.

By: mp

mp — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:04:45 +0000

Gambling on the lottery is not a whole lot different than the gambling done on Wall Street. Done recklessly it hurts people.

By: Luc

Luc — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:59:27 +0000

Slow financial news day

By: Edwin

Edwin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:00:13 +0000

The ironic part is that people who tend to participate in lotteries are the type of people who are far more likely to mess up their finances once they win it. Of course this is no universal and many responsible people play the lottery for the fun of it rather than some hopes of actually winning.