How lottery tickets ravage low-income families

yikes ...

Lottery tickets should come with warnings like other damanging substances (cigarettes, alcohol) And a phone number to an addiction line

Malcolm Mansfield: Most lottery tickets already come with a phone number to an addiction line. In the small print, but still.

Jason Buckland: I followed your link, because I was wondering if "20% of lottery players are low income" meant their just share in the population, but really, the article describes this "20%" of the playing population as "low-income, minority men". So once you include low income earners who are either women and/or white, there probably is more than 20% of people who play lottery who are low income.

But really, the tragic part is that according to your linked article, the 20% slice you referred to do 80% of the lottery spending. Now that's totally mind-boggling. That's in the U.S., so it would be interesting to see if this breakdown mirrors the same way in Canada.

Yes, you CAN completely blame the "low-income" family. I know many "low-income" people. I also know some "high-income" people. I find it interesting how the people WITHOUT money always seem to find a few dollars for the lottery, yet the people with money, rarely play the lottery. (and yes, there will be exceptions to that rule) I always bite my tongue when I hear the "low-income" friends tell me they will win the lottery--NEXT WEEK!! lol (What a waste of money!) Then again, I guess there IS a reason they are "low-income" people in the first place. They don't know how to spend.
However I truly wish, here in Canada, it wasn't my tax dollar going to support their habit.

@Lisa
Of course low income familys play the lottery while people with a lot of free income don't bother. Those people aren't rich because they don't play the lottery, they're rich because they have great jobs. People who play the lottery and are poor aren't poor BECAUSE they play the lottery. Being low income because you don't know how to spend doesn't make sense either. What you spend doesn't affect how much money you get paid, your job type and position affect that. I have no idea what you're talking about. Also, how are your tax dollars supporting their habbit? It's funded by ticket buyers.

To "Hey!"....
Lisa is right, our tax dollars ARE supporting their habits when we are paying for their EI and welfare. Then they go and spend that money on lottery tickets.

Thankyou very much "Girlicious." My point exactly.

It is nice to know some of the money from lottery ticket's go to help our proud and noble olymphic athlete's. God bless em all.

Lottery tickets for the poor. VLT's and casinos for the rich.

Girlicious:

last time I checked YOU don't pay anyone else's EI but your own.

Lisa:
People with money don't need to play because they already have money.
"Then again, I guess there IS a reason they are "low-income" people in the first place. They don't know how to spend." -- I do not see the connection here. What you spend has nothing to do with what you earn. The type of job you have does. According to you all low-income people don't know how to spend. Poor spending does not equal low income. Low income CAN equal poor spending though.

Low income people generally don't have the education to know how to spend, and they are low income for a reason. They are ever pursuing their goals of being rich - by playing the lottery. The idea that rich people don't buy lottery tickets because they already have money is absurd. They generally have the education and the common sense to realize that playing the lottery is only a waste of money and will get them no where. The rich also have a different mind set than the poor, which also distances themselves from the likes of those who play the lottery.

I couldn't help but notice that if low income families spend 9% of their money on lotteries that they would have an extra entire year's income every decade. It adds up over time, especially when you think that some people play the lotteries for multiple decades. Another sad point is that even when people actually do win, they often don't have the resources to plan it wisely and then end up right back where they started, just more hopeless.

In Ontario at least, the Government doesn't care about poor people. It in fact cancelled one lottery at $2 per ticket and introduced it's replacement at $5 per ticket. Obviously, the Government wasn't satisfied with the money they were making and needed to find a way to take even more money from it's citizens.

I used to buy one $2 Super 7 ticket every month or so, but when they replaced it with the $5 ticket, I STOPPED buying lottery tickets completely. The lottery is a scam, and I hope EVERYONE stops participating in gambling of any kind.

Well "j"...the way I will reply to you is simply read what "Matthew" says. I completely agree with him.
On another note...you seemed to have answered your own question, upon reading it again...so I guess you understand what I'm saying.

The richer people are in the casinos and playing VLT machines. So, perhaps instead of paying a couple of bucks for a ticket, they're pumping hundreds and for some, thousands, of dollars into their gambling habits. I've seen some lose everything all for the sake of gambling....and then they became poor.

Now I don't know how "rich" a person has to be to fit into your idea of it, but in my career, I see on a daily basis the amount of money a fairly large amount of well to do people are spending on gambling. And that's only the people I come into contact with.

So, is this a matter only of the poor?...or is it a matter of this nation slowly being turned into gambling fools?

I agree with everyones comments , but the problem is most of us to not think outside the box ! Most of the Lotteries give back 50 % of the take to a lot of programs , which helps those low-income families , so its like a tax , but a fun tax , gives everyone a chance to get some back ! If only the rich would pay more tax , say 50 % of their income , then we would not need lotteries ? Maybe we should beat the system , say if we use the computers to help us pick the numbers , if everyone wins then they will shut down the lotteries and make the rich pay ??? Pick3 ontario , next numbers overdue > 049 , 147 , 911 , this may help , bet on it !

@ Matthew and Lisa:

WOW, I never the class system was in such strong effect! Valuing people based on the amount of money they have, priceless! What about the people that are just working in careers that are lower income because its a job they love, instead of just being an office drone (i.e I believe the States do not pay teachers a whole heck-of-a-lot), they seem much smarter to me.

Yes, Michelle. I agree with you that the "class" system is stronger than ever in Canada. It is just unspoken, for the most part. However, it's definitely there. It comes back to what Matthew said. The different classes DO think differently. The part I don't like, relating to THIS particular discussion, is that MY tax dollar goes to support welfare recipients, then THEY get to choose what they do with their "free" money. I hope they spend wisely, but my point is, often they don't. I strongly believe whoever MAKES the money should get to say where the money is spent. If not, maybe I should go on welfare too...which is what many Canadians do...and why they might choose Canada to live over the USA. (In the USA, the poor get food stamps. I'm all for that.)
Lastly, I don't think I was ever talking about people who made a decent living. ie. teaching...and YES they DO make decent wages BOTH in Canada and the USA.

Sheer luck of the draw is the only way the poor think they can ever attain these amounts of money,get off the system and live the dream. Chances are that it will ever happen are little to none but it does keep the dream alive.

Michelle, I get what you are saying and concurr. To state blindly that the more intelligent and valued people are the ones with the money really is a shocking statement.

Hmmm...that type of mentallity was popular back in the 40's wasn't it??