The Lottery, and what it means to me....

[Mitchell Andrus]

Every so often, I buy a few lottery tickets. I check the numbers on-line and then cancel the Mercedes.

Anyway..... I got a kick out of one of my quirks this morning.. After many years, I realized I bookmarked the NJ Lottery site under "Banking and Finance".

LOL

So... there it is.

Ummm.... you have a better category?
.

[Karl Brogger]

Is it sad that the only real dream I have in life is to win the lottery?


I wouldn't live lavishly, I wouldn't buy some super expensive 20+ bed room house. I'd invest all of it into something semi safe and just live off of the interest. There'd be toys for sure, but really all winning the lottery means to me is freedom. Wake up in the morning, and do what ever I want for the day. I'd definetly would have a rediculously nice shop for metal fabrication, and very nice wood shop.

For every million, one percent gets you $10k per year. So $1m, @ 4% gets you $40k. $40m @ 4% gets you $1.6m annually. Halve it for taxes, and I just might be able to live off of that. There would be sacrifices, but you do what you can, with what you've got.........

[Jim Becker]

Interestingly (or sadly) there are a lot of folks who do categorize the lottery (and Vegas...) as a "Banking and Finance" entry. It should really be under "Games and Entertainment".

I admit that I occasionally will buy a PowerBall ticket when the number gets large...but it seems that most winners live in "different demographics" than I do...they either win the lottery or get hit by tornados.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Like most, when the lottery first came out in my state I bought a lot more tickets than I do now. But whenever I do buy a ticket I put the purchase under the mental category of entertainment. What's sad are the number of people who think the only way they will ever get ahead financially is to win a game of chance of some kind. It's disheartening to go into a convenience store on Friday afternoon after work/paycheck hours and see the amount of tickets purchased and especially see people buying scratchoff after scratchoff.

[Randy Rose]

It's disheartening to go into a convenience store on Friday afternoon after work/paycheck hours and see the amount of tickets purchased and especially see people buying scratchoff after scratchoff.

Bumper sticker

" Lottery, a tax on people who can`t do math"

[Phil Thien]

If the market doesn't rebound in approx. 20 years, PowerBall is gonna be my retirement plan.

[James Jaragosky]

The lottery is nothing more than a tax on peoples dreams.

[Justin Leiwig]

I've realized that you have to be over 78 and live in a trailer to win the lottery around here. At least the big jackpots. I still go on kicks where I buy tickets, but it's more for the mental stimulation spent daydreaming about what I would do first, and how I would live if I ever won the lottery.

I don't ever go in expecting to win, but I think that if I did the massive heart attack from surprise would prevent me from enjoying it. That being said...thanks for reminding me that I need to check my ticket from last friday.

[Curt Harms]

Bumper sticker

" Lottery, a tax on people who can`t do math"

Same with gaming/gambling. When Atlantic City casinos first opened I took some people there. They asked me if I was going to play. I told them "They didn't build this place by losing money and they don't need mine". That was years ago. My view hasn't changed.


Curt

[John Schreiber]

I buy a ticket three or four times per year. I put it in my wallet and don't check it for a few months. I like the idea that I might be sitting on a couple of million dollars. So far, I've just been sitting on paper, but it's only cost me a few bucks a year.

[Chris Damm]

I buy the Mega Millions tickets when there is a big jackpot if I'm already in a place that sells them. It is not worth it to make a special trip. I figure I used to spend hundreds on beer every week that now being sober for almost 23 years I can waste a buck or two!

[Thomas Knighton]

The Georgia Lottery finances educational programs like the HOPE scholarship and Pre-K. Since the lottery is paying for these programs and my taxes aren't getting jacked up to pay for them instead, I'll buy a ticket every now and then.

I like to say that the Lottery should pay for my son's education one way or the other

[John Schreiber]

The Georgia Lottery finances educational programs like . . .

I don't know about Georgia, but they say the same thing in Illinois and it's just a scam. The lottery money does go to education, but they take the same amount away from other funding.

[Thomas Knighton]

Actually, in Georgia they actually leave the lottery money alone and use it just for education. Most states say it's for education but then use it for something else. However, when your state is usually ranked near the bottom in education, you can't afford to monkey with the money to much.

Besides, it was a hard fight just getting the lottery in the first place. I'm thinking that the state is worried that if they start pulling the money for other stuff, they'll end up losing it all together.

However, Georgia is an anomoly in this regard from what I understand and my knowledge of where the money for HOPE and Pre-K programs come from is a little dated. However, I know both programs are available in the same form they were originally. Everyone can go to K-4 and a "B" average is required for HOPE...just like it was originally worded.

So far as I know, there's been no money pulled from other education spending. The lottery just pays for special programs, rather than education in general, and that makes it harder to pull other funding.

[Belinda Barfield]

My SO and I used to have a Friday night "date". On the way home from work we would stop at the convenience store on the corner near our house. We pooled whatever we had left over in our pockets from our weekly allowances, sometimes three bucks, sometimes five, sometimes more. We would buy scratchoffs and sometimes get lucky. Most Fridays we wasted several bucks, but we also won $100 three weeks in a row. We do play Mega Millions when the pot is big, and I always play the same numbers. I figure if I'm up, I'm up. After we buy the tickets we go home and talk about how we'll spend the winnings. All of the kids in the family get college tuition first, then our parents are taken care of, then we go from there (if there's anything left over). Thank goodness we only have two kids left to fund! Usually someone far, far away wins, but recently a man in a nearby town won some huge jackpot like $140 mil or so. The convenience store clerk refused to sell him a ticket because he was so inebriated. After much discussion the manager sold him the ticket just to get him out of the door.