In the US, close to half of the winnings do go to the lottery, plus a portion of each lottery ticket usually goes to fund some government agency. Schools, programs for the impoverished and disenfranchised, etc.

The real question, in my opinion, is if you are willing to spend that much money on a ticket, why aren't you willing to spend that much money on just outright funding government programs? Imagine if 100% of what someone paid for a ticket went to programs for the disenfranchised? That could make real difference.

That depends on the government in question. For example, the Canadian government does not have a claim on any kind of lottery or game show winnings.

It is

My guess you never heard of stock manipulation.

It is, except for the way that money is derived from the labour of the workers, and the fact that you're not likely to make lifestyle changing amounts of money without already having a significant amount of money to gamble in the first place.

Not to mention the system is arguably much more "rigged" thanks to the major players in the scene, when you buy a lottery ticket you aren't competing against giant corporations that spend millions on figuring out the best way to buy lottery tickets.

Well it's like a lottery but with more variables and where better knowledge or analysis can mean some "players"are more likely to win than others. It's inherently less fair than a lottery, which should be totally random.

That's not grotesque and that's not wealth. But still a nice thought to keep in mind.

I wish these people were as famous as the loud-ass billionaires we have.

There certainly have been such people. But none were ever billionaires. Such people do something which creates great value. Billionaires are parasites who do nothing but siphon value away from society.

Albert Einstein, Nikolai Vavilov, Marie Curie, Martin Luther King Jr, Alan Turing, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Faraday, Nelson Mandela, Isaac Newton, Edward Jenner, Harriet Tubman, Louis Pasteur, etc.

That's incredible if true

Gambling that is prohibited by local laws.

Each state has its own restrictions and laws so really it depends on your location.

When the government doesn't control it.

Any gambling that isn’t regularly audited and controlled by the state. I work in the casino industry, I have sets of reports and evidence I have to run and provide to the state daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. Then every two years they get a room in our building to full audit everything again end comb through everything we do to make sure we comply with all of the hundreds of controls across the 25 chapters in our gaming control book. Anything not subjected to and complying with that is illegal.

If someone adds value to the world, but does so through exploitation of the workforce, scamming their customers, or tax evasion. They didn't actually add anything to the world. They are net negative.

That’s an argument for the product, but the system still promotes shitheads to the heads of the companies that deliver said products.

And that still means shitheads are shitheads, regardless of the amount of money they have.

Net negative matters.

I could, for example, kill every animal in the forest then claim how good it is that the plants grew so much that year without so many things eating them. In the long run, it's very negative however.

Same for billionaires. You could say how great it is that we have electric cars, but who gets hurt and could it have been done without harm to people or society?

Also most lottery winners end up dead or bankrupt within a few years of winning.

I mean the very fact that they are spending money on the lottery tells me that chances are they have bad spending habits.

And please, you, yes you, the person that buys lottery tickets and feels the need to explain to me how it's ok, we get it you're built different and aren't addicted or whatever, but there are still so many better things you could be spending it on.

How about lending your old pal kryllic a couple of bucks?

In the UK, you can take a lump sum or instalments just like this . Infact your get more if you take the instalments.

I would be willing to fall on that sword for the unlucky soul that wins that lottery. I actually knew someone that won the 10 million publishers clearance house back in the 1980's. Classic story of they were dirt poor before the win and dirt poorer about 5 years after the win. Banks lined up to give them loans and they took them all since the prize didn't pay out in a lump sum. After the interest their yearly checks and more were gone... But they had "stuff" for awhile.

Certainly less daffy than the people playing it or praising it. I don't know your reason why you think a state function that harms people for money should be allowed to exist, but I'm guessing it's not a very rational one.

check out the mortality rate of lottery winners, or other outcomes

Potahayto

Carrot

it's all accounting bullshit.. paying for schools with gambling money is weak and corrupt.. we have the money to pay for schools without it.. we like to pass the responsibility off to someone else, that's all.. and when you think about it, a voluntary tax on the uneducated to pay for schools isn't real bright, is it..