Now that Powerball is at $500 million, there is a frenzy to buy tickets. There was not when it was $250 million.
Question: What could anyone do with $500 million before taxes that he could not do with $250 million before taxes? The person with so little knowledge of statistics that he buys a lottery ticket cannot answer this logically.
There are manias that affect lots of people under certain conditions. It reveals a pathetic weakness. The mania of crowds never turns out well for the vast majority of those afflicted by it.
Powerball is a multi-jurisdiction nonprofit lottery run for the benefit of 33 political jurisdictions.
Any government that uses a lottery to gain revenue is morally perverse. It appeals to the hopes of ignorant people, usually poor people. Bookies do this, too, but no one respects a bookie. The politicians come in the name of a higher morality and higher goals. “Line up, dummies. We’re here to help you.”
My view: trust a bookie before you trust a politician. The odds are better. Also, he is more likely to pay up if he loses the bet.
Continue reading on reuters.com.
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Published on November 28, 2012. The original is here.
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