The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. Agree?

Answer 1

Statistically they are bad a statistics.

Answer 2

Some people, mostly on the political left, support the notion that there just aren't enough tax dollars to pay entitlements and thusly buy votes for the party. The lottery is a chance for people to contribute additional dollars to the budget. This should be encouraged. The more dollars that are willingly fed into the lottery system is that much burden off of the unwilling taxpayer. Think of it as a tax on stupidity. Now if there were a national level lottery the dfeicit and debt may be beaten at long last.

Answer 3

yes and no.
The risk vs. reward ratio of buying one ticket a month is interesting. A one dollar investment provides a infintestimal higher odd of winning than no ticket at all.
.0000000000023 is better than just plain 0.

Consider this forumula:
n! / (n - r)! r! where n is the highest numbered ball and r is the number of balls chosen.

An easier way to think about it is if there are 40 balls and 6 are chosen, there are 40 possible numbers that can come up first, leaving 39 that can come up second, then 38, 37, 36, and finally 35 on the final number. To find out how many numbers that is you multiply 40 ×39 ×38 ×37 ×36 × 35 = 2,763,633,600 making the odds 2 and a half billion to one.

Pretty slim odds, but luckily the order of the balls does not matter, so we can divide this number by how many ways these numbers can be arranged. There are six possibilities for the first ball, five for the second, 4 for the third, 3, 2, and one left over. That is 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 720 So, the odds are 2,763,633,600 ÷ 720 = 3,838,380 to one.

For me at least the thing to keep in mind is that if I play two dollars instead of one then my risk has doubled, while my odds of winning only increased by a ten thousandth fraction of a percent.

Therefore I find it most peculiar when people buy fifty dollars in tickets and sincerely believe their odds of winning are remarkably better than my odds. If the difference between a one dollar investment and a thousand dollar investment were measured in inches (compared to the overall odds) it would a microscopic distance.

So yes - it is a voluntary tax.
But no - it is also for people willing to pay a dollar for the chance to daydream.
A one dollar mental vacation of sorts......
But then yes again, because people who are bad at math will pointlessly shell out more cash and drive their risk/reward ratio based on their household income well into the ridiculous....

Hence, the answer is yes and no.

Answer 4

Yes.

The first day of statistics class in college we figured out that you are more likely to be stuck by lightening while waiting in line to buy lottery tickets than you are to win the Illinois Lottery. Since then, the odds have gotten longer because the Illinois Lottery has changed the game.

That said, the lottery is often thought of as a voluntary tax. If people stand in line to buy lottery tickets that is fine with me. I cannot tell you how many times voters have said "No" to increased sales, income and property taxes but "Yes" to a lottery.

Answer 5

Well yeah, that's one way of looking at it.

Another view is that it's a form of self-medication. Some people, including myself, occasionally purchase lottery tickets not for the chance to actually win, but for the 5 minute flight of fancy you get when you daydream what you would do with all the money if you did win.

In that sense it's harmless, if that's all you do.

Answer 6

No. I'm bad at math and I don't play the lottery.

Answer 7

I agree
I have also heard people say it was a tax on the poor. I agree with that as well.

Answer 8

The Las Vegas odds on winning Lotto are FAR better than on RANDOMIST creation of Earth and Man.

I just wished they'd actually GIVE some of that LOTTO money to the Schools like they are supposed to. THAT'S the real CRIME!

Answer 9

No, most people are aware of their chances of winning. It's a tax on people who suffer from compulsive behavior.

Answer 10

Absolutely. It is basically a stupidity tax. Not that much different than cigarette taxes in that regard.

Answer 11

So you discovered the famous quote and want to pass it off as your own thinking?

Try another forum that is more appropriate for the topic.