i just saw a tv ad for the illinois lottery

[Bert Notorius]

the funny part is, il is so broke they quit paying lottery winners.

 

[Que]

Well, so is Social Security and no one is talking about shutting that Ponzi scheme down, either.

As long as they keep taking in money they can't be broke, right? Because the greater good.

 

[Bert Notorius]

last time I checked it's not a federal law that you have to play the lottery.

 

[Que]

last time I checked it's not a federal law that you have to play the lottery.

A Ponzi Scheme mandated by law is less onerous than a voluntary Ponzi Scheme? Not sure I follow.

 

[Bert Notorius]

if a private business operated in this fashion, the feds would shut it down in a heartbeat.

 

[Bert Notorius]

A Ponzi Scheme mandated by law is less onerous than a voluntary Ponzi Scheme? Not sure I follow.

the lottery isn't a Ponzi scheme.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Maybe Illinois can get lucky and win the Indiana state lottery.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

Take an I.O.U. ?

(Wait behind all of the others, who want to get paid.)


Cannot get water or blood from a stone.

Pumpkin shortage ?


"Once we ship the remainder of the 2015 harvest, we'll have no more Libby's pumpkin to sell until harvest 2016," a rep told the AP.

One University of Illinois professor recommends not waiting to see how the shortage shakes out ahead of Thanksgiving weekend:

"I would not wait until Nov. 20," University of Illinois professor Mohammad Babadoost said. "I'd buy it whenever it comes to the store."


http://chicagoist.com/2015/10/06/state_pumpkin_shortage_threatens_ev.php

 

[Que]

the lottery isn't a Ponzi scheme.

A properly managed and funded one where they set aside the prize money from current sales isn't. Illinois just became one. They are using current suckers, I mean investors (new lottery ticket buyers) to pay off the previous investors (lottery winners holding IOUs.)

That is the very definition of a Ponzi Scheme. Like all such schemes this one will collapse if they have no new investors. This one is technically already in collapse if they cannot pay last weeks winner with this weeks revenue.

if a private business operated in this fashion, the feds would shut it down in a heartbeat.

Correct. And the reason they would shut it down is because Ponzi schemes are illegal.

 

[Bert Notorius]

A properly managed and funded one where they set aside the prize money from current sales isn't. Illinois just became one. They are using current suckers, I mean investors (new lottery ticket buyers) to pay off the previous investors (lottery winners holding IOUs.)

That is the very definition of a Ponzi Scheme. Like all such schemes this one will collapse if they have no new investors. This one is technically already in collapse if they cannot pay last weeks winner with this weeks revenue.



Correct. And the reason they would shut it down is because Ponzi schemes are illegal.

the lottery isn't a ponzi scheme. it's a lot of things but not that. now if you want to talk about unfunded il pension funds, i'll listen to that argument.

 

[Que]

the lottery isn't a ponzi scheme. it's a lot of things but not that. now if you want to talk about unfunded il pension funds, i'll listen to that argument.

Unfunded pensions are also Ponzi Schemes and illegal unless it is a government entity.

As far as the lottery is or isn't a ponzi scheme when it now obviously is the very definition of a Ponzi scheme?

You say potahtoe, I say you're wrong. ~shrug~

 

[Bert Notorius]

lottery sales are dropping.

 

[Que]

lottery sales are dropping.

Maybe instead of "You can't win, if you don't play" their new motto will be, "We can't sell, if we don't pay."

Wait! I know, I know. I have the PERFECT solution.

Just pass a retroactive tax of 96% on all lottery winnings, and use the proceeds of that tax to pay future lottery winners!

 

[Porkwarrior]

My opinion of people from Illinois just went up a notch.

Lotteries have always been a scam for the mathematically challenged, and/or the end of hope.

 

[neci]

the lotteries are a donation to education - at least here - are they not?

 

[Que]

the lotteries are a donation to education - at least here - are they not?

...and dependent on mass innumeracy to function.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q7cWPLEXd5Q/VeD4zpZP_iI/AAAAAAABECA/i5P2e94wJrc/s640/33t_richard_cerezo_lottery_ll_130516_wblog.jpg

 

[someoneyouknow]

My opinion of people from Illinois just went up a notch.

Lotteries have always been a scam for the mathematically challenged, and/or the end of hope.

The Revolutionary War was partially funded by lotteries.

 

[someoneyouknow]

the lotteries are a donation to education - at least here - are they not?

In PA the money goes to help senior citizens.

Though I do have a question. People have won the lottery in Illinois. They are not being paid. When Illinois gets its act together, will these people get interest on top of what they are already owed? After all, had they been given the money they had won it would have been invested and growing.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

perfect example as to what happens when the obama kind get in power. state is bankrupt, union is murdering tax payers with their illegal ponzi scam

 

[Que]

The Revolutionary War was partially funded by lotteries.

As was the mafia.

The lottery is a highly regressive tax funded by those least able to spend the few dollars they waste on it.

A buddy of mine convinced me that I should play each week with one and only one dollar. I don't though, which has yielded me $1,300 in the ensuing 25 years since his argument convinced me that a dollar per game is a reasonable entertainment value.

His argument is that the anticipation of the minute possibility of changing your entire life for one mere dollar is worth a dollar of idle musing each week and the possibility that maybe the first number picked is one of yours.

It is however not worth $2. The extra dollar does not add to your probability of winning in any meaningful way since your probability of winning in both cases approaches the limit of nil. Twice nil is still nil.

 

[contrifan32]

"excise tax for stupidity"

 

[Que]

"excise tax for stupidity"

It is, but given that the poor tend to be in the portion of the population below the median for intelligence it seems rather predatory for society to actively promote it and or government which proscribes such games run by others to give it the imprimatur of legitimacy.

Illegal numbers games have better odds of winning.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

the lotteries are a donation to education - at least here - are they not?

Yes, and no. Most people think of it as additional spending on education, but the money it brings in is subtracted from education and spent on other things, like in Illinois, public-sector union pensions...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

"excise tax for stupidity"

Indeed.