"Lotteries: America's $70 billion shame"

Are there any particular subgroup poor people you are thinking about here?

If there's anything poor, educated people are notoriously razor sharp at doing, it is processing mathematical odds.

 

I refuse to buy the "lack of education" excuse for just about any poor choice. Common sense (lottery odds are horrible, having unprotected sex causes kids) is not "education."

 

Then why do uneducated people tend to do these things at a higher rate?

 

It's nice to think that would be money back in a poor person's pocket -- or put to good use -- if the lottery didn't exist.

Based on other spending choices that group of people makes, it's pretty foolish to think they'd hold that 20 bucks a month as sacred and only do something good with it.

 

Yes, this particular subgroup of poor people takes forever in line at the gas station, deciding on their cigarillos and what scratch off game they want to play.

 

And which watermelon to take home, amiright?

 

Define "uneducated."

Then explain where in the educational system "lottery odds suck donkey balls" is taught. I don't credit my "education" for knowing this.

 

Consider: 1) the $70 billion (approx.) Americans spent on lotteries in 2008; and 2) the $5 billion (approx.) they spent on federal, state and local elections.

Which was the worse bargain?

 

People who didn't graduate high school, primarily. But I'm sure college graduates buy less lottery tickets than non-college graduates. It's all relative.

Do you think it's a coincidence that people who lack education happen to buy more lottery tickets?

 

You're the only who played that set of cards.

I encounter the poor and hapless of all races, except for Asian, in this. (They're usually good with odds.).

 

I can't possibly imagine why someone stuck in the throes of poverty would view lottery odds as more worth the gamble than a well-off person would.