I stopped at a grocery store this morning and there was a guy at the machine buying a few scratch off tickets. I'm not sure what game he was playing but I doubt this was a one time thing if he is doing it on a Monday morning before he gets on a bus. This leads me to believe that this is a common occurrence which means that he is clearly going to lose money because the odds on those things are pretty much terrible with no real upside of making "never work again" money. A quick google search indicates most of these games pay out 60-70 cents on the dollar. Given this persons financial situation of not having a car or not using a car and instead using the horrible bus system here I just truly don't understand why you would do this.

I get buying a lotto ticket to try and win $250 million. The odds are astronomical but if you do happen to hit it then you make back all of your money by a massive amount. Most scratch offs have a maximum payout that would only last a short time. I guess you could play some of those that payout a few million dollars, but even that isn't going to let you live the rest of your life without working.

I get that playing the lottery is dumb pretty much always, but why play something where your "winnings" are almost certainly not even going to cover what you put into it unless you succeed quickly and then quit?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Do you know what the second biggest thrill is?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Getting judged by a guy buying pork chops?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I never understood the scratch-off people. You would have better odds making a trek out to the casino each weekend, and you would probably have a better time even if you lose.

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No, losing.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I think its the cost to time gambling ratio

You can get 10 scratch offs for 10 dollars and spend an hour losing.

Rick, would it surprise you to learn that there are people who play scratch-offs 6 or 7 hours a day, 7 hours a week, at the same store or gas station?

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I wouldn't surprise me. They're usually scratching them off on the counter while I'm trying to buy my newspaper.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The lottery was invented to tax the poor. It does a very good job.

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There's a guy at my local 7-11 who does this. He's there all day. I think he's retired.

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I have 10 cups and I will place a ball under 1 of them, and I will give you 2-1 odds you will guess which one.

Are you in?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

That would be even worse than the person who writes a check and then also records it in their checkbook register while you're waiting to check out.

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I get mad when the guy in front of me is buying a newspaper. Doesn't he know he can get that online for free? Another tax on the poor....

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i enjoy playing the Bingo one every now and then

The "Win for life" ones are tempting.

Engage this person in conversation next time you see them to find out the answer to this question.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Those are probably impulse buyers. The addicts are pretty good about the protocol.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Bagels take a look on the back of a card....they will tell you that the ODDS of getting something like 4 of a kind is like 150-1, thus if you played $5 and got 4 of the same symbols, you should get $600, maybe less some vig/profit.....but instead they will pay you something closer to 25-1.....

I dont know the exact numbers, but the payouts are FAR FAR less than the take in.....it's about 20%....

I would like 50 people here to send me $100, then I will give one person $500! ......that is the essence of the scratch off...

And try to find where that $$$ goes into the "Special Education fund"

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

To help Jerry Reinsdorf pay for renovations at State of IL Park.

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The answer is that they are addicted, and the addiction supplants any adherence to the logic or odds at play.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

You should tell them about this message board. It is a better addiction and slightly less damaging to a persons life.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm going to wait for Spaulding's next move before I agree with you.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I did. They find your Swiftian tropes to be tedious at times (I'm paraphrasing.) They love bagels.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I will buy now n then ...maybe 100$ yearly ...usually the Win 4 Life

I'm sure there are many scratch off junkies , just like shopping or eating too much...or addicted to the internet or porn...there are always going to be people who over indulge .

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I wonder what some of these players' understanding is regarding the odds. It's one thing to go into a casino and know you're giving the house 2% on slots, a 10% edge on other games, etc. Do they have any idea?

Conversely, if these tickets were only paying out 20%, you would think that the lottery is not optimizing its profit. Wouldn't you get more players (and retain more regulars) if you gave them a better payout? That's what Vegas does...they don't try to bury you immediately. They give you enough success to keep you coming back.

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I would say the vast majority have no idea. Just like most horseplayers have no clue about the takeout.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I just won a $1000.00 on saturday. Put $100 in, then went to Hollywood and won $900.00 more
Now I am done for a while I play about once every 2 months.

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https://www.backroadspubandgrill.com

Probably right...that's what kills me about the regulation of gambling. You can have all these lottery games with arcane odds and obscene edges for the house (state), yet God forbid we allow sports betting, where it's relatively easy to understand and the house vig (~10%) is reasonable.

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I have a hunch getting 4-of-a-kind on the Bingo scratchoff is considerably less likely than 150-1.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

yeah, i didn't say i play because there are great odds.....probably once or twice a year when i actually go inside a gas station i might get 1. in the grand scheme of things it's probably in the bottom 1% of things i waste money on ...