Or more drooling for the Lone Star Card abuser? The Texas Lottery has devised another scratch off game to pull money out of people that don’t have it.
Now, Texas Lottery officials are upping the ante on instant miracles to $50.
That’s right, a $50 dollar scratch off.
The $50 game comes with a 63 percent chance of losing.Those odds won’t deter Mike Swain, 44, a driver for a moving company who picked up $4 worth of scratch-offs in East Austin this week.
“I’ll try it. I definitely could try it once. Sometimes I have $50 extra,” he said.
Swain, who estimates taking home between $1,800 and $2,000 a month, said he plays scratch-off games daily, plopping down $4 to $6 at a time.
Let’s see. Take home of $2,000 a month. $4 a day out the window = $80 month using only working days and a 20 working day month. $80/$2,000 = 4% of Mr. Swain’s income and that is the minimum. $6 a day in a 30 day month = 9% of his income. And we gripe about property taxes?
Or, you could be like the janitor that works two jobs to buy his tickets.
William Scott, 64, a custodian in Austin who works two jobs and said he often spends $120 a day on lottery games, is eager to try his luck on the $50 game. “I play all of them.”
Methinks we all need to find janitors jobs that pay enough to throw away $120 a day.
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Hey, you know how much crack and Big Red soda can be bought with $50.00?
Why you gotta be a hater?
Mornin’ “Speedier than me in my three point three” and all!
Wonder how long it’s going to be before some liberal thinks we should subsidize janitors income because of their gambling habits?
God rest her soul, Maw Richards pulled a fast one on the poor folks before she left.
Swain and Scott are idiots!
A fool and his money are soon parted. Wisdom for the ages. Unfortunately risk and odds seem to escape some older folks and can have serious or devastating consequences.
My dear widowed Mom at one point in her late 70s and early 80s was convinced the lottery was her “insurance” and insisted on a weekly ticket purchase. Fortunately we could keep it to no more than $5, mostly in the form of $1 scratch-off tickets that I bought. We were blessed with scrupulously honest help who successfully found excuses why they couldn’t buy tickets for her.
Some days when she was able to think more clearly it was just a lark. But on the days when her thinking was pretty clouded, she was absolutely convinced she would win a large amount that would be her security, and there was no way to dissuade her. In her case (thank you, Lord) the ticket spending never got out of hand, but oh boy it sure could have.
It is alarming to think how many elderly do not have loving and sheltering arms around them to protect them from disaster.
You sure are right, Adee. My father-in-law was the same way. A brilliant NASA engineer with a firm grasp of mathematics, in his dotage believed he had a “system” and WOULD win. So sad.
My family has always referred to the lottery as a “stupidity tax”. There’s no excuse for a younger person posessed of their faculties to spend that kind of money on the lottery. If they do, tough toenails. Helps make sure they pay their share of state taxes.
BTW Mega Millions is up to $81 million. Not bad for being in for a buck, way less than a cup of Starbucks! But, if you spend more than a buck or two a week, you’re a moron….
http://www.txlottery.org/export/sites/default/Games/Mega_Millions/
The lottery is just a tax on the poor. But keep in mind that they always tell us that the money is “for education”. If you’re against it then you hate children. Do you hate children jolly?
The poor get poorer, and they can all thank State Rep. Ron Wilson (D-Houston) and Governor Ann Richards (also a Democrat) for that. Separating people from their money is always the goal - the govt knows how to spend it better than we do.
#5 mrygill2, I’m sure there are thousands more children/relatives of elderly folks who face this dilemma right now. It breaks your heart, first to see the deterioration of a loved one’s faculties, and second to figure out a way to gracefully and lovingly neutralize the situation to prevent disaster.
Indeed there is no excuse and little sympathy for someone who has all his marbles who falls for the allure of the lottery and spends more than he/she can afford to lose.
Am I the Moron in these here parts that has yet to buy ANY of the states’ get-rich-quick games? Nary a one. Does that make me a winner or a loser?
4larm
Me thinks that would make you
Drum roll please…….
A winner.
Congrats and take a bow.
/Gotta go now and get my tickets. Yeah I know I am a moron. But hey I only buy one or two, well sometimes three. I can quit anytime. No really I can. And I will definately quit once I win the big one. I never buy anything over the 10 dollar scratch offs either.
Can’t do scratch offs. If I win or break even I am back for more until I lose. It’s the “clean, upper middle class” version of crack.
the lottery is a con game against the poor and very much for the rich!!! its not genius to figure it out!
Just watched the Kentucky Derby. Being able to watch those magnicient animals run would be worth the cost of a few bucks on a bet!
Elizabeth,
#12
I have a couple of friends who go every year. They couldn’t go this year, so their friends sent them a big box of goodies, cups, cupholders, napkins, etc. so they could have a party here in Houston. It is fun to hear them describe what it is like and the celebrities they meet. He said when it was over, you could watch the jets (mostly private, but obviously commercial as well) fly out one after the other!
Why gamble with money you could use for better causes (food, utilities, gasoline, etc.)? You have to be a fool to do it - no matter who you are.
#14 Way cool Neo! Went to the horse races here once, won a $3. bet to show, almost had a heart attack, thought I had won a fortune until I collected the $9. winnings. (But it was FUN!) I just love to watch those beautiful horses run!
Elizabeth
What a great race this year. Street Sense, won after being next to last! What a comeback!
I love horse racing, but I have learned not to bet on the dogs! They don’t even have jockeys! WTH?
HAL ate my comment, Elizabeth! So here I go again. The Derby had a great race today. Street Sense won a come from behind victory that was just incredible!
I have been to the Ky. derby. Went to WKU, Bowlign Green. A friend had all us girls up to her Mom’s for the weekend. The parties on friday night were outstanding….. the bars werent carding lol ( 1968 ). We were in the infield with all the other college kids……. so getting to see a race was a matter of positioning, but what fun it was and the mint juleps were great! All those years ago and still a great memory
Anyone saw the film, “Seabiscuit?” If not, rent it and read the book. It is fascinating! Seabiscuit will always be my hero horse!
AM
#18
You are so fortunate! My friends sit in the Jockey Club! Haven’t a clue what/where that is, but I would give anything to go! Maybe I’ll talk them into taking me along next year! I don’t take up much space!
NBC has a special on Barbaro at 7. I blubbered through it all but would not have missed it. His brother was born this spring, to the same dear owners. They won my heart; we who have helped our horses battle laminitis/founder share a unique bond.
It was not clear whether the colt is Barbaro’s full brother. Sure hope he is. But full siblings don’t necessarily get the same genes–it’s a roll of the dice each time. That’s what makes horse breeding so interesting.
I thought most people were against a “nanny state”. I don’t see the government forcing anyone to buy tickets - rich, poor, or middle-income. Maybe people should start taking responsibility for themselves. After all, the poor can also buy liquor, cigarettes, and poor nutritional-value food. Are we going to start policing these buying habits as well?
dcgirl
I think the point is should the state be profitting off the poor and yes the gubment already taxes cigarettes and liquor heavily, junk/fast food is next.
Me, I have no problem with everyone having to ante up for this ride.
I don’t think that it is only the “poor” that buy tickets. I know plenty of people, rich and middle-income that buy the tickets as well. Spend $1 or 2 to have a little “scratch-off” fun. If the poor are spending their grocery money, then there is nothing that you can do to fix ’stupid’.
#7 If the lottery is a tax on the poor we might want to add a few other things.
Beer
Spinners
Pick-Up trucks that have had so much “chrome” plastic put on you would think it was for a circus act.
Cigs
Latest and greatest cell phones
And the list goes on.
I can’t afford to waste my money on scratch offs or lottery tickets. Might as well set a dollar bill on fire and watch it burn, you’d get more excitement out of a buck that way.
It’s a tax on people who can’t count.
As one fellow said when he was asked what the odds were that he would win the jackpot…
“Fifty Fifty, either I win….or I lose”