Ohio Lottery

Short money, long odds

Lottery profits most in neighborhoods where money is tightest

Sunday,  March 16, 2008 3:40 AM

By Spencer Hunt

 

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Charles Spaulding Jr. spends about $90 of his monthly $1,300 income on the Ohio Lottery.

 

The 68-year-old retired truck driver says his favorite game is Mega Millions, which has odds of 1-in-176 million for its top prize.

 

"I've just about lost hope on it," the East Side resident said recently after buying a ticket at the Yearling Market & Carryout in Whitehall. "I'm not going to spend every penny on it. If I see I'm getting low on money, I pass it up."

 

...

 

""You're passing judgment on another law-abiding citizen's law-abiding activities, as if that person isn't capable of managing his life," Dolan said."

 

I have to say I agree - at what point does personal accountability defer to government intervention?

Isn't the Lottery a government intervention?

"Everyone is always screaming about doing things to help people who are the most in need," said Rob Walgate, vice president of the Ohio Roundtable, a public-policy group based in Strongsville.

 

I'll point it out before others do  :snicker:

 

The main annoying thing about the lottery being a "stupid tax" is the people who hold up the line in stores thinking they are in Atlantic City or something, especially the ones who insist on scratching off their clintoning tickets right at the counter.   :whip:

Yeah, seriously. Rich people don't buy scratch offs. They stay at their time share in VEGAS. People probably have a greater chance of getting struck dead by lightening but it doesn't sound as sexy as winning that jackpot, now does it? Poor people should take advantage of Roth IRAs.