A lottery would help schools, seniors

Discussion: 7 comments so far…

1. By jfnance32

   8/26/08 at 1:27 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   I am OK with lotteries.

   They suck with it comes to odds to win. For a lottery to make sense, the government has to garnish much of the take to fund education. In regulated gaming, the casinos have to give back at least 90%-95% of what it takes in. Lotteries will give back much less than 90%. That radically reduces the odds to win.

   The odds to win Megabucks are much higher than to win any similar size state lottery. In Philly, the mob ran local lottery has much better odds to win then the state ran one.

   Also, lotteries and gaming in general is a tax on dumb people.

   In gaming, you take from the dumb and give it to the smart rich casino owners and stockholders.

   In state lotteries, you take from the dumb and give it education.

   It is good to remove as much cash as possible from the dumb. It makes the economy so much more efficient.

2. By PatriciaLV

   8/26/08 at 1:38 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   "In regulated gaming, the casinos have to give back at least 90%-95% of what it takes in."

   Gee that's funny; I was told the machines are completely random. And all cards are to be above the table. And the roulette wheel is simply a spin. Et cetera. So if all of that is true, how can anyone possibly regulate the "give-back"?

   But let's say for the sake of argument, there IS such a regulation. What's the timeframe? An hour? A day? A week? A month? A year? Over the lifetime of the casino? (LOL)

   Seriously; there HAS to be a timeframe or some other way to gauge this. What is it?

3. By jfnance32

   8/26/08 at 2:26 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   http://www.gamblingweblog.com/2008/07/24...

   In Nevada, the average payout for slot machines is between 82% and 98%.

   The absolute mininum is 75% by law in Nevada.

   http://gaming.nv.gov/documents/pdf/ic_sl...

   In Nevada for each slot machine, they must report any "differences in theoretical payback percentage exceeding a 4% spread between the minimum and maximum theoretical payback" on a quarterly and annual basis.

   Lets say the payback percentage is set to 90%. It does not mean that for each dollar that you put in then you get back $.90. It means over a 3 months period if $100,000 is put in the machine then it should payout around $90,000 to the players. It can be set up to pay one player $90,000 or 1,000 players $90.

   Generally, the bigger the jackpot the worse your odds of winning anything.

   I believe you can request the odds of winning and what the payout percentage on is a slot machine. I believe by law the casino has to give you that information.

4. By KDR81

   8/26/08 at 3:13 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   1) State lotteries take from the poor the most
   2) Your chance of winning a state lottery is criminal...literally...in comparison to your chances of winning big at the casino.

   So basically to say you support lotteries to fund public education is like saying you don't mind robbing the poor to pay for education.

   If you're comfortable with that... good for you, I'm going to oppose it.

5. By PatriciaLV

   8/26/08 at 3:48 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   Thanks for that, jf. I still have to wonder how that's done in conjunction with the "completely random" claim. I appreciate the links.

6. By avatar

   8/26/08 at 8:32 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   Looks like it works in Colorado, and they have gaming as well. I just don't want to go to a stinky casino to gamble. That is my choice. I would purchase lottery tickets from a local C store every week. Some like it hot, some like it cold, but the residents of the nations "gaming state" should at least be able to purchase Powerball tickets and potentially win big money. Just my opinion.

   from www.coloradolottery.com

   Every time you visit a park, walk on a trail, or paddle a kayak course, thank people who play the games of the Colorado Lottery. The entire state benefits from funds generated by the Lottery. Nearly $2 billion has been returned to the state for parks, recreation, open space, conservation education and wildlife projects since the Lottery started in1983. In 2008 alone, more than $122.3 million went back to the state. The recipients were:
   Conservation Trust Fund
   Colorado Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation
   Great Outdoors Colorado
   School Health and Safety

7. By jfnance32

   8/26/08 at 10:50 p.m.

   Suggest removal

   Here are the Colorado Lottery numberes for 2006.

   http://www.cde.state.co.us/artemis/rev6_...

   $457 million in sales

   Only $274 million back to the players which is a very poor extremely pathetic 59% payback.

   In Nevada, slot machines are required to at mininum to do 75% payback. Most casinos between 82% to 98%. Megabucks is around 87%.

   59% payback is a good indicator of how terrible the odds of winning money from a state lottery.

   It is a horrible value for gamblers.

   Odds of hitting the jackpot for Megabucks is around 1 in 49,836,032.

   Odds of hitting the Colorado powerball is around of 1 in 146,107,962.

   You are right that $122.3 million went into state coffers.

   One just has to be dumb to put a lot into Megabucks.

   One has to be really stupid to put a lot of money into state lotteries.

   I am OK with state lotteries.

   State lotteries are a tax on dumb people.

« Previous TenNext Ten »