This has to be one of the most over-used and unoriginal phrases.
The lottery is a tax on the stupid… or the lottery idiot tax.
Or my personal favorite variation… the lottery is a tax on the mathematically challenged.
This is comments page 1. Read the full post here:-
The Lottery Is a Tax on the Stupid & Mathematically Challenged – YAWN!
Francis // Jul 11, 2011 at 5:12 am
Thanks for addressing this tiresome comment.
I see people wasting more money on useless junk everyday, when at least lottery dollars go towards paying for hospitals, schools, and roads.
Jonathan // Jul 11, 2011 at 5:14 am
I hear this argument from time to time, and it makes me cringe every time. Thanks for pointing out how silly it is. Playing the lottery is a bit of fun – and if you win big, well, that’s bonus isn’t it.
Paul // Jul 11, 2011 at 8:32 am
Hi Lottery Guy.
Here in canada we don’t pay taxes on our winnings, but you probably knew that.
Harvey // Jul 11, 2011 at 9:11 am
My late sister, mum and Aunt did indeed play the lottery (as a group), so I think you’ll appreciate this funny take on that tiresome old comment.
My sister drove to California, passing through
Las Vegas. When she told me about it, I asked
if she had stopped there to gamble.
“I don’t gamble”, she told me.
“What about 6/49?” I reminded her.
To which she cracked, “that’s not gambling,
that’s stupid!”
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Tino // Jul 11, 2011 at 3:15 pm
The best part of your story is the “dream” you get for a dollar. Every week, when I buy my ticket, I get to dream about everything that I’d be able to do with the money if I won. I dream about it, even though I know I won’t likely win it. Without that dollar purchase, there is no dreaming. You really do get a lot out of that one dollar spent.
Larry // Jul 11, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Great stuff. The lottery has also been called a ‘voluntary tax’. Keep giving great insights. Thanks.
Bertie // Jul 12, 2011 at 2:42 am
Well stupid it maybe for hoping to win the lottery but I have a mathematical formula for winning prizes, and a set of rules that help plans follow the formula. I’m not releasing it because its too complicated so people will call me stupid for thinking there is such a formula.
It turns the lottery into more of a science because the more entries you use the more complicated it gets. The win is relative to: ‘Entries used’ x ‘Times played’ divided by the ‘odds of whichever prize you want to win’.
LG // Jul 12, 2011 at 7:55 pm
No, you have a bunch of complex sounding stuff that actually does nothing to improve your chances of winning. If what you claimed were even slightly possible, there would be large numbers of very rich math geniuses out there. There isn’t.
Julian Burrows // Jul 12, 2011 at 11:45 am
I agree, although I wouldn’t want to spend any time in the same room with the idiots who won millions then blew it, not unless I was allowed to kill them slowly with my fists.
LG // Jul 12, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Don’t let the hype get you though – the number of ‘winners who lose it all’ is absolutely tiny compare to those who perfectly happy in their new wealth.
As we all love a bad news story and our media is driven by negativity, it’s the ‘lottery winners gone bad’ stories that make the headlines. We’re a strange breed.
Thrifty // Jul 12, 2011 at 1:35 pm
I feel that I will win a lottery jackpot someday (otherwise I wouldn’t play). I think I’m a smart person for risking $1 to have a chance to win millions of dollars.
All I need is 1 lottery ticket and a dream. Then I just wait to be in the right place at the right time to win a lottery jackpot.
Pat // Jul 12, 2011 at 2:02 pm
There’s a lot of people that don’t play the lottery for stupidity, but because they hope to win at least a good sum of money. The really stupid things are to purchase online systems / methods that are just scams and that do not really work. There are also a lot of people who succeed in winning, sooner or later, for luck or because they used a system that really works over many months or years.