I’m reminded by the rapper Nas’ address to African-Americans in regards to the ills plaguing our communities in which he states, “The buck that bought the bottle, could’ve struck the lotto.” I personally grew up devastatingly poor, often times going without food or having to get creative to satisfy my hunger. However, I do recall whenever my mother had an extra dollar to spare (which was rare) she would purchase lotto tickets, and then watch the news religiously that night waiting for the numbers to be revealed. Here is a study conducted on the fascination of families in poverty with the lotto.
"In the study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, participants who were made to feel subjectively poor bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets as a comparison group that was made to feel subjectively more affluent. The Carnegie Mellon findings point to poverty’s central role in people’s decisions to buy lottery tickets."
"The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape."
The article then goes on and reports a second study
"A second experiment reported in the paper found that indirectly reminding participants that, while different income groups face unequal outcomes in education, jobs and housing, everyone has equal chances of winning the lottery induced an increase in the number of lottery tickets purchased. The group given this reminder purchased 1.31 tickets, compared with 0.54 for the group not given such a reminder."
What do you all think? Despite being reminded of their social status and the economic inequality they face, lower-income people continue to buy lottery tickets. Therefore, it is evident that this reminder actually served as a stimulus (eliciting a response) to purchase more tickets.
As I recall my own childhood it makes me wonder why any human being would willingly participate and indulge in maladaptive behavior (bringing about stress; in this sense financial). All those tickets cost money and that surely adds up, which brings more stress upon a family’s finances.
Let me also state, just because I can recall my mother’s purchasing tickets and because of the results of the experiment does not mean that this experiment would hold completely true in real life. To go further, how would the experiment have faired differently if the lottery tickets weren’t as easily accessible. I wonder, would impoverished individuals travel extra lengths in order to purchase these tickets or does accessibility play a larger role? In other words, why purchase lotto tickets if you could go to the casino? Hence, this is a problem with research and experiments (we will discuss this in Chapter 1).
I'm not going to lie...I have often times thought to myself, "I should start playing the lotto," but I never bring myself to actually purchase a ticket.What are your thoughts?
20 comments:
Accessibility definitely plays a large part in this matter if you ask me. Casinos and other ways to obtain legitimate "fast money" are not always readily available, yet a chance to win a million dollars is available almost anywhere.
Less fortunate people are driven by the dream of living a luxurious life. Even though they know that chances are slim, they purchase tickets in hopes that one day their life of hardships and worries will be swept away.
I strongly agree with what Emmanuel said in large part to the "fast money" matter. It's not everyday you see a casino as you go to the grocery store. However, lotto tickets are available to buy almost anywhere you go. People in poverty constantly buy these lotto tickets in hopes of getting lucky and then are enabled to leave their unfortunate life for a more luxurious one. Regardless of the motivation (The prime reason may vary, such as one's kid(s), etc.) the less fortunate people more than likely are the one escape their afflictions.
I really agree with my fellow students because the lotto is in my opinion,just a way for people to cope with the fact that they my never be rich. Its like a pipe dream and it helps them through the day thinking I could when a million after work. One dollar for the chance to win millions i got my dollar right here.
I agree with emmanuel. I believe that less fortunate people are always telling themselves "if i had a million dollars i would buy me a big house, big tv, etc." They are stuck in that dream world of living big and worry free.
I know people that play the lotto every chance they get. they say to themselves "what's a few dollars when i could win a million?". they aren't thinking about how there is no point to it, they are just digging themselves deeper into poverty and making the rich people richer.
The lotto is a basic rip-off. You buy one ticket and be in a win loose ratio of 1 out of a lot. People who buy those tickets are not dumb at all. They have aspiration of going to a better place. Thats probably why Ms.Valdez's mother bought a ticket. She saw that there was a way to make it out and even though the chances of her making it were slim, she still tried to provide for her off-spring.
I don't ever see myself wasting my time and hard earned money (I had to beg my mom for that dollar) on playing the lotto. I say if you want to become rich do it the old fashioned way, work hard! I think it's ridiculous that people spend their whole lifetimes trying to win a game based on random numbers! It's all based on luck! There's no advantage unless you're psychic or something and if you are psychic use your gift for something better. That's what I find the most ridiculous. It's not like going on Millionaire or Jeporody(sp?). Those games actually require some sort of knowlege even though it's all trivial. So I say, if someone wants to spend their time and money on something that might supposedly get them rich quick, then do it on something where luck isn't the only factor to win.
Playing the lotto is a ridiculous thing to do. The odds are so high and stacked against you it's not funny. Also if I wanted to play the lotto, I wouldn't want the government having something to do with it. People never pay attention to the words on the lotto ticket that says "When you play, We all win." That means that you are getting taxed, not like the one on your paycheck where they only take out a few hundred dollars or in some cases thousands, they take tens of millions of dollars out. And you just won like 15 million bucks. People do want to win the lotto in hopes of never having to work one day but "When you play, We all win" also means that all the money people spend playing and didn't win the government is still winning even though you're not. But you can't stop or discourage people because they strongly believe that one day they can put an end to their misery. Some things are inevitable because someone is always going to do it. Casinos on the other hand are very addictive, they don't see that they are the cause for some people's excessive gambling and need for therapy. Ganbling cause some people's marriages to break up, or they can also cause some peole to make some bad decisions. For example, if you borrowed $10,000 to play at a casino and you lost all of that money and end owing some to the casino in the process, to pay back that money you might not have $10,000 in the bank now you're thinking about robbing a few people for their money and end up being arrested. All that can be tied back to gambling and casions.
I dont know...maybe desperation plays into buying tickets...the fact that you may have nothing else to go on; that one extra dollar may provoke a thought that you MIGHT actually have a chance and be lucky this one time. My parents have been buying tickets for years now, and we've won plenty of times, but I mean, we arent in situations like the one posed in the article, then again, we arent exactly as wealthy as john mccain or mike tyson...idk, maybe we just belive in some certain luck.
Accessibility plays a part in purchases of lotto tickets because people feel that they can spare two or three dollars on something that may get them out the hood and filthy rich (after taxes). but i think if tickets costs a dollar or dollars more it would be way less tickets bought.
The lotto is a ticket to paradise. The low income society are usually the ones taking chances. The possbility is slim to none. It is about competition achieving the impossible. The less forunate tends to the main target,because they are the desperate ones.l It is a mind game.
I agree with Emmanuel. However, even though the chances of winning [big] are slim to none, most people see it as a game they hope to eventually win.
I think that everyone should play the lotto because the lotto is a great chance to win a lot of money.For example if you win you could buy a new car, or pay off old bills, or buy a new house. all im saying is that you should spend a few bucks and you could make a lot.
from my behalf i have never played the lotto and never will..because 99% of the people who plays the lotto do not come out successful and when u don't become successful the first time you will think you will win the second time so u decide to play again..then after u lose the second time you will continue to do it because playing the lotto can become and addiction...
man i think the lotto is a jus a trick to make money... because all my life ppl around me have benn lpayin the lotto and never won... but then again they might make someone win once in awhile to make it look ligit
i dont beiliev in gambling so i wont say anything about this post, BUT I STILL GET A GRADE RIGHT???
There are many ways to obtain lots of money quick, but their is a really small chance you would win. I know many people who gamble, play the lotto to get million of dollar. They would alawys say "If only i had all that money." You would probably play once then when you do, you would get close and loose. Then you would want to try again and again.
lottery targets the low income society. The lotto gives them a sense of hope. It is about taking a chance. They are able live vicariously through the lotto.
The lotto is a basic rip-off. You buy one ticket and be in a win loose ratio of 1 out of a lot. People who buy those tickets are not dumb at all. They have aspiration of going to a better place. Thats probably why Ms.Valdez's mother bought a ticket. She saw that there was a way to make it out and even though the chances of her making it were slim, she still tried to provide for her off-spring.
(pinkpanther queen)
My thought on this matter are that due to the fact that lotto is sold on just about every corner you turn, accessibility plays a major role in the purchasing of lotto tickets by low-income families. It is almost impossible to escape the presence of the many chances to put all your financial problems behind you.
Everybody has the dream of getting out of poverty but they want to do it in a way that doesn't take much time. So instead of working hard and saving their money people may use their spare change or an extra dollar to buy a lottery ticket hoping to catch a break. When you think about it though the money used to buy lottery tickets could have been saved or kept for something that he/she could have really needed. I realized that in poor communities it is a ritual to buy lottery tickets. My mother actually puts money aside just to purchase lottery tickets. There's a one in a million chance of anyone actually winning the lottery.
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