You can trust your government can't you? Sometimes you can but not, apparently, when it comes to the management of lotto games. There is a terrific amount of associated with government run lotto's. Where to start? Lets look at the scratch and win lotto's. First of all they should be called scratch and lose because that's what normally happens. Some have large prizes up to $75,000 or $100,000 or even more. But have you ever wondered what they do when some lucky duck wins the big prize? Well they keep on selling tickets is what they do. Even with the full knowledge that the big prizes are all paid out and the statements that the ticket could win big are now all incorrect.
The advertising is horrible and the inference is always that YOU CAN WIN. Which is The math is there for all to see. Here is a payout on the 649 lotto (from wikipedia)
Number of Matches Win Odds of Winning 6/6 80.5% of the Pool's Fund 1 in 13,983,816 5/6 + Bonus 5.75% of the Pool's Fund 1 in 2,330,636 5/6 4.75% of the Pool's Fund 1 in 55,492 4/6 9% of the Pool's Fund 1 in 1,033 3/6 $10 prize 1 in 56.7 2/6 + Bonus $5 prize 1 in 81.2 - Any prize 1 in 32.3 Take a look at the $10 prize. Are you going to line up to buy a ticket when your chances of winning even a ten lousy bucks is about 1 in 57? Your chances of winning the grand prize are infinitesimal. But that's not how the lotto advertising has brain washed the average Canadian. Remember the average Canadian is abysmally poor in math. I don't like to use the word stupid but here it fits. (We have an entire page on Stupidity in Canada where we prove using the scientific method and an on-line poll that 25% of the population is stupid.) When the lottos first came out there were examples of really stupid people cashing in their life savings to buy enough tickets so they couldn't loose. They did. Stupids.
The logic is that "you can't win without a ticket" Its spoken with considerable smugness as if to suggest the talker knows of what he or she speaks. In fact it would be more accurate and honest to say " You can't win with a ticket." But that doesn't sell any tickets.
To put it in terms that the average person can understand if you purchased a lotto ticket once a week it would take you approximately 269,000 years to win given that your chances of winning the jackpot are approximately 1 in 13,983,816. Do they tell you that in the heavy advertising they cram down your throat? No they don't and in fact they infer that your chances are really really good! They lie like rugs. And they are getting away with it and YOU are paying.
Should you take a quick pick?
In Canada, 47.8 percent of all tickets sold were Quick Picks but only 20.8 percent of the winning tickets were Quick Picks. This means that 52.2 percent of jackpot winners did NOT use Quick Picks and they won 79.2 percent of the jackpots! These figures were based on a 12-month study made by the Canadian Lottery.
Sure take a quick pick - if you want to decrease the already slim probability that you will win anything.
Should you buy a government lotto ticket?
Your call. I have been buying them off and on for many years and have never won anything more than $10. My largest scratch ticket was $100 and the vendor that I bought it from said she never saw one win that much before! Government lotto's are basically a bad deal and a tax grab. They appeal to relatively stupid people who do not understand the basic math. They have become a Canadian institution and a way with putting up with work and the daily routine by offering the promise of riches and an escape into a better life. Millions of Canadians have built lottery participation into their day to day lives. Many actually have a child-like belief that they will win. In Canada millions of people believe you can get something for nothing. You can't. Lotteries are in fact... Although touted as a softer therefore less dangerous form of gambling in fact your chances of actually winning any money are even better with slot machines!
And speaking of taxes you should be able to write your lotto tickets off as a taxable expense because the greater portion of the ticket goes to taxes and worse you buy them with after tax income so you get taxed twice! How unfair is that!
If the money that was squandered on lotto's was instead used for family expenses or for wealth creation the country would be much better for it. Lotto's are a huge industry in Canada and lots of people make very good money managing the process. The top managers in the Lotto organization are true bullshit artists. But its all legal folks! Perfectly legal. The government runs it! And if you can't trust your government who can you trust? I think that there is an alternative. You can trust your brain and the rules of mathematics and common sense and pure logic.
On the topic of trust and your government we are running an online poll on how much Canadians trust Stephen Harper and it's not looking very good for the lad.
In closing this topic if you want simple entertainment and the money is surplus to your needs and you don't mind being manipulated and lied to then lottos in Canada are a wonderful idea. Otherwise ...they are pure bullshit!
But wait. How about "scratch tickets?" You know the ones you scratch! As an experiment I purchased several OLG "Pirates Treasure" tickets game # 1333. The graphics were quite impressive and on the top there was the notation in very large letters $75,000 and in smaller letters "Top Prize" The ticket sold for $3. Seemed like a plan. The ticket also said 'WIN UP TO FOUR TIMES" I lost. I lost again. I lost again. I lost one more time. Then I read the fine print on the reverse. "At the time of purchase some prizes including the top prizes may have already been claimed.." BULLSHIT FOLKS!!! So I checked the OLG website and SURE ENOUGH BOTH TOP PRIZES FOR THAT GAME HAD ALREADY BEEN CLAIMED. Other prizes may have been claimed to but they didn't provide that detail.
This is out and out theft. The morons responsible for this should be fired. They continued selling the tickets knowing full well the big prizes and who knows how many of the smaller ones had already been won. Now some of you won't understand this. Its somewhat like selling a vacation trip to Hawaii when you know all the seats on the plane are sold out and you don't offer refunds. And this isn't being done to you by some fly by night criminal group this one is being laid on you by the man himself. By your government. By some very well paid civil servants. In Canada we have some excellent civil servants. Ever need an ambulance? Ever need the help of a firefighter or the Police? They are excellent people. But we also have these dreadful people who work in the lottery department and rip off the public supposedly for the public good. Its nothing more complicated than legalized theft. The advertising is completely misleading and dishonest and the "game" is totally fixed. Its bullshit. Its "Pirates Treasure" all right!
Gee all this talk about tickets has got me fired up to go out and buy a $5 scratch ticket. Maybe I could win $250,000. Maybe pigs could fly!
Oh last point -the people who sell lotto tickets at the lotto counter are fine people working hard to earn an honest living. It's the rascals above them earning the big bucks that are the bandits here.
Pass this on to anyone that buys lotto tickets. It might save them a lot of money! They might buy you a coffee!! A free coffee is good! Better than a looser ticket eh!
Keep your tails up and remember what doesn't kill us makes us meaner! I think I have just enough time left to buy a lotto ticket! See ya!
August 31st 2009 Well well well the morons were fired! Ha! Ontario did the right thing and cleaned house at the OLG. Well done! And you read it first here. This is what we like to do here. Find the bullshit and suggest a better way and sometimes it actually works. If you sit back and do nothing evil wins.
Our party platform includes the cancellation of all government lotto's.All they are is a form of taxation and the funds could be more productively applied by our citizens.
LINKS
This site has nothing to do with gambling but will save you money on your energy needs so you can gamble more.
Canadian Social Research Links on Gambling in Canada -Stats Canada -very interesting information showing that the Government is now generating in excess of 14 billion dollars a year in revenue from gambling. What is not mentioned is that those are after tax dollars so there is an additional amount for taxes as purchasers need to use after tax dollars to purchase their tickets. Average gambling varies by province from $111 a year per person to over $750 a year per person in Alberta!!
CBC You Bet Your Life - The Fifth Estate - Excellent collection of research and information on gambling in Canada
The Hamilton Spectator Canada Hits the Jackpot on Gambling -good info on how large the industry is in Canada
CMAJ Expansion of Gambling in Canada Implications for Health and Social Policy
Casino Watch exposing the dark side of Gambling -This site will scare the pants off you. This is the real cost of gambling -the costs nobody in Government talks about when they sell you your lotto ticket.
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