[General] Lotto Run?

[Matthew H]

Definition of a tax:

a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for
specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales,
etc.


You are not FORCED to buy a lottery ticket, there for it cannot be a
tax. As far as exploiting people, might as well stand up against
alcohol and other addictive things as well.


On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 7:47 AM, Jake McArthur <jake.mcarthur at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think if it is not a tax it is something even worse. It encourages and
> exploits people's irrationality.
>
> On Mar 29, 2012 8:52 AM, "Matthew H" <hendrix04 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Can you call it a tax when it isn't mandatory? Don't think so... I
>> really hate the "The lotto is a tax on the poor" bullshit.
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 7:55 AM, Jake McArthur <jake.mcarthur at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > State lotteries have negative expectancy. Always. If they didn't, there
>> > would be no reason for the states to have lotteries. They aren't
>> > charities.
>> > They are taxes on people who can't do the math or who don't read the
>> > rules.
>> >
>> > On Mar 29, 2012 6:19 AM, "David" <ainut at knology.net> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> BUT, if other people also had the winning numbers, they all split it,
>> >> AIUI.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Devin Boyer wrote:
>> >>
>> >> "A jackpot-winning ticket must match all five numbers drawn from a pot
>> >> containing 56 balls and then match the Mega Ball, which is drawn from a
>> >> pot
>> >> containing 46 numbers. Odds of winning are almost 176 million to 1.
>> >> Each
>> >> ticket costs $1."
>> >>
>> >> If I'm reading this right (too lazy to crunch the numbers) for $176
>> >> million, you can buy one of every ticket.  Because "Friday's $476
>> >> million
>> >> prize is payable as an annuity over 26 years," it seems like it would
>> >> make
>> >> for a decent return-on-investment.
>> >>
>> >> If only I had the $176 million...
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 8:22 AM, Wayne Neumaier <wneumaier at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Any plans for a ticket run up to Tennessee?
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/28/mega-millions-jackpot-hits-record-476-million/?hpt=hp_t3
>> >>>
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>> >>
>> >>
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