Some See A Dark Side To Powerball Frenzy — The Toll On Poor Players

[Purveyor]

Isaiah Gonzalez has played the lottery for more than two decades. He thinks he's won about $15 in that time.

"If I had started putting away a dollar here and there 20 years ago, I probably would have saved up $1,500 or more," said Gonzalez, 51.

The Long Beach resident often struggles to earn enough money painting houses to eat and pay rent. Still, the possibility of a jackpot compels him to play.

"What if I win?" he said. "I want the money because life is hard right now. And who wouldn't want an easier life?"

For years, the lottery has been a way for people of modest means to dream about striking it rich, no matter how low the odds. But the last few weeks have been particularly frenzied as the Powerball jackpot broke records and drawings yielded no winners.
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That jackpot — now at $1.5 billion — has reignited debate about whether this is all harmless entertainment or something darker that plays on the hopes of poorer players, eroding their ability to save while offering little in return.

"They're playing this to try and get back to some status … and see this as their best chance of doing so," Cornell University economist David Just said. But the chances of coming out a big winner are "astronomically low."

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http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0113-powerball-people-20160113-story.html

[yeoman6987]

1. I've heard of worse

1500 dollars in 20 years isn't exactly a tragedy. But for many it's a serious problem

[hollysmom]

4. I know a guy who admits to over 5K a year

I often wonder if he admits to 5K a year, how much does he really gamble, he does all kinds of lottery (power ball, pick 6 pick 5 , etc.) and scratch offs.

[NobodyHere]

2. I have a hard time garnering up sympathy for lotto players.

[Kalidurga]

3. Me too

no one forces anyone to buy a ticket. And most people do it knowing it will get the nothing but dreams.

[leftynyc]

5. Same here

A friend in Vermont was talking with someone selling the tickets in a convenience store and they were telling how people were cashing their paychecks and spending half on tickets. I bought one ticket.

[KingCharlemagne]

10. Do you believe gambling addiction is an illness, just like alcohol or narcotics addiction? - nt

[jamzrockz]

12. Greed is also an addition

But I don't see anyone showing any sympathies for the greedy people on Wall Street. I am also weak when it comes to big jackpot lotteries but I have the common sense to buy just one for the draw.

[KingCharlemagne]

13. False equivalence of Greed to Gambling Addiction. You should

probably study up a bit on the latter.

[jamzrockz]

14. Maybe it hasn't been classified yet as an addiction

But the irrational desire to accumulate more and more resources seen with greedy people is very likely an addition problem in the same vein as gambling. And actually, I don't have a lot of sympathy with people whose addition is in any way related to greed like irresponsible lottery buying when jackpots are huge, casino gambling etc.

[Ex Lurker]

6. Like any other vice, for most people it's harmless entertainment

For a few, it will turn into a problem.

[hobbit709]

7. some see a dark side to anything a poor person does to make themselves feel better

or to numb out the world they live in.

[Javaman]

8. George Orwell

George Orwell

“The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made their living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent persons.”

[brooklynite]

15. Your choice of quote implies that the lotteries here are rigged?

[Javaman]

16. that's what you imply.

lotteries have long been used to distract people from their problems.

that's what I have implied.

[central scrutinizer]

9. I try to give my students a visual image of the probability

The classroom is 30x30x12 feet. Suppose we completely filled this room and five more just like it with 8.5x11 inch sheets of paper. One of those sheets has your name on it. A tornado hits the building and all of the paper is sucked into the vortex and whirled around. Suddenly the tornado stops and the paper starts drifting down. You reach out and grab a sheet of paper. If your name is on that sheet, you win!

But the more powerful argument for many people is that if you don't buy a ticket, the probability of winning is exactly zero which is less than 0.000000003.

[KingCharlemagne]

11. I can tell you are a great teacher! Really super explanation of the laws

of probability. And a great sardonic coda!

[MisterP]

17. at the very least, it shows quite how little money and savings people are left with

but at least the McMansion has a refurbished wine cellar, and the gift-wrapping wing's coming along nicely 3 inches from the curb (no sidewalks in these communities)