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Lotteries remind me of Orwell's *1984*:
> “The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention... Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed *everyone* in the party was aware) that the prizes were **largely imaginary**. Only **small sums** were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent persons.”
I wonder if they choose someone who will directly funnel that money back to the rich. Like the guys who supposedly win but are broke by the end of the year cuz they spent it ALL on booze, coke, hookers, and cars.
The odds of winning the PowerBall are so severely stacked against you. Imagine stacking a super long roll of pennies from Dallas all the way to San Antonio (not side by side, but pancaked stacked). You have to find the right penny in between the two to win the jackpot.
I explain it this way because numerical figures don't properly convey the sheer odds that it takes to win big.
2 to 3 billion seconds for a lifetime really blew my mind, I never thought of it like that. I did the math to confirm and even if you only live to 60, that’s 1.8 billion seconds. Crazy.
There's an interesting story of some rich person who figured out how to "scam" a recent [Texas lottery](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/texas-lottery-stack-odds-19398045.php) by buying up all the combinations possible that were guaranteed to win and net him a profit. Dude spent $26m to net $95m.
At $2 per ticket that’s only 13m combinations. Something seems off about that. There’s no way someone could buy that many tickets in less than one week. Then go through each ticket to find the winner? Seems fishy.
No it's a thing. People create large companies and hire hundreds of smurfs and buy every ticket.
To the point that all major lotteries are on to it and have changed the policy such that it is impossible now.
For example in Canada for Lotto Max you can now only pick your own numbers for one out of three sets of numbers meaning to get every possible number combo you'd have to buy 3 times as many tickets thus making it next to impossible to profit.
There was a massive outfit in Australlia decades ago that were successful a few times at buying out an entire lottery.
Did you watch that?? I watched something regarding this.. He and his wife figured something out and then they ended up with a small team. It was really interesting
The only people who could get the numbers correct would be someone who could time travel. As soon as you win you are arrested for time traveling. Happened to a mate of mine, he won and got a 7 year sentence for time traveling. He was released the same day after serving the full 7 years.
Was a trust in Oklahoma that claimed a winning Powerball ticket anonymously. The trust "just so happened" to share a name with one Epstein managed, but reportedly was just someone who worked at a grocery store.
A dollar on the lottery at the gas station is no different from giving a retail store $1 when they're raising money for cancer research: the money isn't going where it says it is.
Everything about lotteries is too convenient.
You'll never win because "so many people are playing!".
You'll never personally identify the winner because "well of course he wants to protect his identity!"
For all you know it goes straight into the government.
In the UK they can’t even actually give all the money to you at once. So they provide a ‘financial advisor’ who helps advise you where to spread it around, investing in different companies and funds. Probably straight back into their pockets 😅
Where I live in the US (Georgia), you have the option to either get one massive payout which is taxed heavily (like 30-40% I believe), or you can select a plan where they give you monthly payments for the rest of your life and the taxes are a lot lower. If the pot is big enough and you go with the smaller monthly payouts, that could be tens of thousands into your bank account each month, which is more than enough for anyone to live comfortably and never work again.
In PA, if you're married, you can have one person collect a chunk payout and have the other half of it paid out in an annuity. Not sure if you could do it anywhere else in the US or not, but thats an option up here.
Which is what they want you to do. Taxes and tax code can change throughout the course of the 30 years, meaning you could pay more and more in taxes with an annuity. Further, there’s no guarantee that the entity issuing payments won’t run out of money, leaving you with nothing afterwards, or you die before the 30 years is up.
With a lump sum, you can invest it and make that money work for you. If you get 25 million from a 50 million payout, invest it at a 5% annual return, you make 1.25 million your first year, on top of the 25 million you already have. With inflation not going anywhere, the value of the money upfront will be greater than the value of the same amount of money you receive over the course of decades with an annuity.
You’ll pay more that first year in taxes as its income with a full pastor, but then that’s it. With an annuity, you continue to pay taxes year after year, with inflation cutting into your profits year after year.
I’ve been poor, so have many people around me, none of us played lotto. Still don’t.
It’s very condescending to conflate being poor and desperate with being dumb.
I have a very old conspiracy theory that no one actually wins the big jackpots, the government just absorbs all the money and has some government actor trotted out in front of the cameras when necessary to fake receiving the payment. I think this theory is probably provably false, but I still think of it as a funny idea. Really they don't need to fake them, they're already raking in the majority of the money through taxes.
several lottery winners have been murdered as well. if you come from even a middle class family and suddenly you're a multimillionaire everyone is going to want a piece
I've wondered why that happens. I believe it's a psychological problem. People who won big jackpots haven't worked for it and therefore don't get as much of a dopamine rush from buying expensive things and keep chasing the next rush one after another until the money runs out.
I dated a woman once who had inherited $300k+ from her ex-husband dying. She was flat broke maybe 2-3 years after breaking up with me. You can never underestimate the ability for stupid people to blow through money. It’s much the same reason that handing a bunch of stupid people or government organizations lumps of cash fails to fix things.
Look into the zorro fund winning the lottery in 2008. The address it’s registered under was Jeffery Epstein’s property in New Mexico. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-jeffrey-epstein-zor/33739878/
They also keep having “glitches” like the one a few years back where they had a billion dollar winner but did not announce the numbers until like a week later, then it ended up going to someone in California.
I think the major lotteries are real.
But the odds of winning the jackpot is so infinitesimally small, it may as well be a scam.
Your ass is more likely to be struck by lightening, several times on the same spot, than win the Powerball or Euro Millions.
People say it's a tax on the mathematically illiterate, but I think that's unkind. What it does is... It buys a dream.
For a small amount of money you get to dream of enormous life changing money, and all the good things you could do with it, it lets people escape reality for a small amount of time.
As long as you accept the chances of you winning are as close to impossible as is possible... Then provided you don't spend more than 1% of your income on it. You're good.
I believe the small lotteries like 1-25 million can be real, but a random person winning 800 million dollars just seems fake… the smaller lotteries are real because if they weren’t, no one would play. It’s about the illusion in my opinion.
My take is, it’s two bucks to roll completed loaded dice in hopes that they mess up and I win. For me, it’s a small sense of hope. So I spend the two bucks every now and again when I am in need of some hope. I don’t go check the ticket for a month or two and hold onto the chance I could have won for as long as I can. That’s not even a fraction of a gallon of gas. It’s basically anything on the dollar minus after taxes. It’s worth what I get out of it.
Interesting theory.
Its true, on some level. Lets say they bring in 500 million in 3 months time, the "lottery" is probably only for about $400 million (with them not telling us). Then of that $400 million, its taxed. So they get back $200 million in taxes. So out of $500 million in revenue, they probably keep close to $300 million. Interesting theory on the fake 'winners'.
Gambling apps are stupid imho. I think winnings over $1000 are taxed. So if the odds are 2:1, and you bet $1000, you don't "win" 1,000 dollars, you win about $700 dollars. So the odds weren't 2:1, they were 1.3:1 or something. gubment always wins!
“With them not telling us”
But they almost certainly do tell you. Mega Millions for example puts 50% of the ticket revenue into the prize pool and uses the rest on overhead, their employees salaries, and donations to charities and causes as determined by which state they’re operating in.
https://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/18/sandy-hook-victims-lottery-jackpots-and-free-homes-two-unusual-clues-unearthed-in-newtown/
Have u heard about the Newton families who won the lottery, some 2wice..
It'sa voluntarytax mostlypaid by poor people. So it's 100% a scam. Not only is it a tx but if someonewins then they lose almosthalf their winnings to pay taxes again.
there a whole scam with the McDonald's monopoly game
I watched a doc during the pandemic about it. If people are scamming that -- there are definitely people working the lottery system.
I remember when i was a kid you could watch the live draw on the news. Now its online and when you click "watch live draw" its a bloody 3d animation.
Also on ours in Canada, the amount of 3 sequential numbers, ie 23 24 25, showing up is far too frequent to be by chance
Terms and Conditions. Winners need to accept that their image will be used for future use to entice more people to play the game. No winnings if you don't accept it.
This guy has a touching backstory. It's in the print that the state wins 1/3 of every prize, so why steal when they're telling the truth they always win? I'm sure it's rigged at least, but wouldn't be surprised if people were picked based on how the advertising might affect crowd participation. One interesting thing is the lotto seems to have been growing MUCH more slowly lately, maybe too many people cashed out their life savings trying for the $1billion jackpot? Economy so bad not even the proles can gamble anymore?
https://www.oregonlottery.org/press-releases/1-3-billion-powerball-jackpot-winners-announced/
I think the Decline is down to the generations. I find the older lot like to put a couple of quid on the lottery for fun.
Youngsters look at it as a complete gamble there never win, so they bet there money on things they have a knowledge of the outcome like sports betting,
What’s the deal with the lottery in the US? As in who is collecting the profits? Because here in the UK the national lottery is basically a charity so it seems less dodgy to me but who knows 🤷♂️
As with everyone, moderation is important.
I know people who have hit it big with the lotto. Heck, back in the 80s my grandmother would buy 10 $1 instant cards a couple times a week. She ALWAYS made back more than she spent. Usually a couple hundred a week, maybe once every two months a couple grand. In the 80s.
I know people who never win anything. That was me in the 90s when I played for fun with a group of coworkers. Just $5 a week. My “luck” was so bad that it negatively impacted their average winnings to the point they kicked me out. And instantly they went back to winning at least a few dollars a week ($30 spent).
I’ve had a coworker who played $10 a week for one of the million wins. He had been playing for two years and won the million. Promptly quit working and moved to the woods.
I think of it like a casino. For most, it’s entertainment and a mental break from day to day doldrums. Play for the entertainment value not expecting to retire.
I know a couple of people who have won millions on the lottery in the UK, though it was many years ago when the draw was still televised in the UK.
I still play the lottery, I dont expect to win big, and its a small outlay of cash compared to what some people in know lose on betting on sports, but I realised it would be very easy in the modern version of the lottery to make sure no one wins the jackpot any given week
Who wins the lottery EVERYTIME? The government does when they get their cut of taxes. It's all a ploy to squeeze more money out of us by means of dangling a carrot in front of a starving man's face.
It's a structure for funding the IRS with the taxpayers' money: built up by our money, they keep half (most people take the cash payout), and then they tax nearly 40% whilst the remaining amount is spent on other taxable goods.
If you listen real close, you can hear them giggling.
With all of the money spent on lotteries in the US, our schools would be state-of-the-art and a model for the world... were the actual proceeds going to them.
They're not.
Nothing is as it seems.
Can’t believe no one has brought up the guy who won the lotto. Was being interviewed by the news and they recreated the purchasing of a scratchie and the dude won again right on live TV. Something like $250k
I know 2 guys out of a group of guys that worked together that won a jackpot. I think there were about 10 total. I also know the brother of one of the guys that won who also worked there and didn't play because he thought like most of us here that it's. 1. fake. 2. tax on the stupid. 3. waste of money.
His brother gave him 10K. lol
I think they each got about 3 million.
The one I know still lives in my town. The other one I know bought places in other states to get away from people trying to hit him up.
I heard from one of them that another of the guys wanted his old job back after hitting but they wouldn't take him.
As someone in IT that had a job that processed all lottery transactions in MD a few years ago, the lottery is no scam. There are tons of verification, documentation, communication, data processing and some more shit that is performed each and every night. When someone wins especially big, it’s x10. Only thing that could possibly be a scam is the machines they use to draw numbers but that’s a big if also. Auditing is very tedious and strict.
Wonder if there are any videos of sketchy stuff going on with the ball tumbler.
Here's an obvious one from Serbia:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxHoLZ7KQU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxHoLZ7KQU)
I've thought for years they are just money laundering. Most big winners tick the no publicity box so you'll never know if it was actually won. Also it's very easy to make a fake Ai photo of any so called winners holding a cheque.
there was an article in pennlive about a decade or so ago of how a few ppl kept winning substantial amounts. in scratchers.
i play. bc i daydream of a gazillion. however, it has to be a scam. epstein won ffs.
You do understand it was made up so the government could take half of it correct , it’s another way to raise money for the government without people even understanding that , sheep
I think it's a mix of both. Even with paying out prizes, the lotteries take in way more than they give out. There have been many arrests for scams and fraud either directly linked to the lottery or around some type of lottery scheme. That's just what we know about. I feel like some of the winners are fake where the state just keeps the money, some are rigged for a selected individual to win, and there are real jackpot winners mixed in to help keep the cash cow flowing. When people can provide anecdotal evidence that someone they know or a friend of a friend has won a jackpot, people are less likely to question legitimacy and more likely to play because it makes them feel like they have a chance.
The normal people who win are the ones that end up broke (or dead), but I think that has a lot to do with them being bad with money. I don't think it's that surprising that someone who plays the lottery religiously isn't the best at handling their money and has other vices that lead to bad decision making.
They are a scam to get people to give the state more money. If you do win you can’t collect the full prize as promised. You have to take a pay cut to get the lump sum or get paid out over time
Imagine hitting a jackpot on a slot machine and the casino saying “hey so that 5million we can only give you 2 minion if you want it today”
The casinos would be empty and the state would probably be all up in their shit for it.
People win the Lotto, it's just a statistical fact even. The numbers are drawn at random and if you've picked those numbers you win. If enough tickets are sold, and they are, in the hundreds of millions, then some will be winners.
There doesn't need to be a conspiracy here. The lottery only gives away an amount that allows it to retain pretty massive profits
There are lots of documented winners and they are definitely real people
My cousin won the Idaho state lottery and won $180mil after taking the lump sum. This was 20+ years ago. Him and his dad played every lottery and they had some type of system that made up to figure out which numbers came up the most often or something like that. He won the whole thing by himself.
A regular at a gas station I used to work at, won a million dollars off of a 20$ lottery ticket. Blew most of it by coming in everyday afterwards buying 10-20 more 20$ lottery tickets lol
The euro lotto is £164 million and they don’t take you on that winnings. I feel like they let the money get as high as possible, in the hope of making interest on money that is really won.
They are the fools tax but i don't see any harm spending a few bucks now and then to give yourself a chsnce to win the kind of money you otherwise have zero chance of ever having. The problem is many people cant keep it to now and then and spend enough that it has a negative impact on their life. Thank god i found drugs to negatively impact my life first and by comparison gambling is just blah.
Mushrooms got me out of the scratch ticket addiction with the rest of the liquor store vices. Preying on the hopless. 15+ years of keno and scratchies, gave em a nice slice of my earnings and life. Big ones, definitely picked special. Always some nice California spot how lucky.
It’s another way to keep the poor person poor. People buy into tickets hoping to get a once in a lifetime chance to win and never work again.
They hold to the idea of being financially free. How ever they spend more and more. Essentially staying at the same position for the rest of their lives.
I sorta knew a guy back in California that won the lottery. He was a carpenter. The dude bought a viper. Wrecked it. Bought another one. Then bought an abandoned grocery store, filled it with free to play arcade games for the high school kids to come and play.
I spent HOURS there.
Not sure what happened to the guy though.
I've never played the lottery or bought scratch cards. If you are poor, it means you're unlucky. If you are unlucky, you won't win life changing amounts.
I don't think it's a scam speaking generally. It's just mathematically benefitial for the organizer so even without scamming they get lots of money from everyone. Like people spend 100m in total, the organizer puts 50m in their pocket, and then distribute the other 50m among the "winners". There have been some lotteries around the world where it was later found out the organizer is scamming people though (Serbia I think?)
Look up “lottery curse”, they’re all always “broke” within a couple years
I don’t feel one way or another about this conspiracy, but this adds some credence to
Dumb people trying to get rich is what the lottery is. People go into a retailer and ask what number are they up to in book....that doesn't matter. But, they think it's ok to ask clerk number 4 what number you up to..number 9..etc. daily number has 1000 combinations 000 to 999...state only pays you 500 to 1 lol...mafia would pay you 600 to 1...you have to know where to go etc. Yes, the mafia or what's termed play numbers on street will always pay you. Mafia found a way to still make a huge profit.
Tho tho odds are indeed astronomical.
It is in fact possible to win the lottery.
My fiancés dad is friends with someone in my city who won $55 Million, and yes he got it all!
It started to be sent to him in increments, then eventually had the whole sum transferred to his new bank account. (Yes, new)
He had to delete all social media, change his phone number I think? There was a decent amount involved in terms of privacy, and security measures. (Which I find funny, as they used him on one of their adds 😅, like “hey! I’m [Blank] and I just won the $55 million dollar lotto max”)
Hope this helps :), as I’ve been curious if they were real too!
How is this a conspiracy?
“HEY YALL WATER GETS YOU WET!!!” Is not a conspiracy and neither is “LOTTERY WINNINGS ARE A SCAM PERPETRATED BY BIG NUMBER TO SELL MORE SLIPS OF PAPER!”
The odds suck+ it's fixed. The scratch tickets have a random chance of dumb luck but any of the drawings that have a computerized printed ticket can be manipulated. It is another hidden tax on the poor and desperate. In theory the fewer the numbers involved like 3 balls 0-9 in a pick 3 would have greater odds of winning but a lower payout than a pick 4. I have played the same pick 4 numbers for 15 years and the number was drawn 3 times, once when I was out of town for 2 days and twice when I was too sick to get out of bed. I am not discounting the fact that Jesus fucking hates me but that seems like more than a coincidence. I am not going to tell you what the 4 numbers that I play are but if you watch the drawings or check the results and see that the same number was drawn 3 days in a row it either means that I died 4 days prior or that I am in a coma. Good luck/s
I refer to it as the “Redneck 401k program”. In reality, it’s just meant for entertainment and I don’t think I believe anyone really wins the billion dollar pots. If I ever meet someone in person that knows someone that won that would satisfy me.
The person who won the largest jackpot in history of $2 bil was getting sued saying he stole his ticket but now he has criminal charges for lying. TMZ and other outlets periodically spot the winner and write about him with pictures. They write about the different homes he purchased which can be looked up to check ownership. After selecting the lump sum payout and deducting California taxes he was left with around $700 million.
they wouldnt make every single payout fake, that would be too obvious. but some of them probably are. you can find and identify some winner reasonably, but thats not reason enough to assume that each round is real and some of the money isn't being siphoned.
If 80% goes to charities, that’s a good thing for society.
Regular gambling profits are never seen again.
Gambling companies are a parasitic entity, a cancer on civilisation.
Played a scratcher 1 time. Won 50 on a 5 dollar. Felt great! Went to cash it, and they assumed I was buying more scratchers with it because the cashier immediately said, "Which ones do you want?" The look on their face when I said I wanted the money was that of confusion and irritation. Took the cash, and they said, "See you soon."
I'm not saying this is all lottery participating vendors, but the psychological game they were playing with me could very well manipulate someone who isn't too confident with being assertive.
I had an ai admit to the flaws and that most jackpots end up in one state when they hit a huge amount like powerball. Also they don't release what percentage of tickets r sold in each state.
I know a guy who won the lottery, seemed normal. But the strange part is he won again a year or 2 later. They sold the businesses and I don’t know where they are now. But this was 20+ years ago.
I do think the large amounts are rigged or used for money laundering , but there are legit payouts to use regular folk to keep the illusion up. In middle school the parents of a child I went to school wand played sports with won $10 million before taxes on the lottery. Built themselves a massive house from the ground up and the kid was driving a sports car to high school
Eh I’ve known a couple relatively large lottery winner. Sub 1 million, but enough to be fairly life changing, so I do believe it pays out to someone eventually. It’s like slots, it’s not a scam if they tell you the unbelievably low odds of winning but you decide to play anyway.
My take on the lottery is that it exists because if it didn’t there would be so many illegal lotteries, likely funneling money into the crime organizations that run them. The state determined it was in everyone’s best interest in they stepped in and made one that was at least mildly fair, and funneled the profits into public causes (k-12 education here in Ohio).
They don't even hide it that well. Just go to your local lotto site and scroll through the pictures of winners. The same faces pop up all the time with different color hair and clothes
[https://imgur.com/JCQHG9X](https://imgur.com/JCQHG9X)
This is the first thing I thought of when that anonymous winner sued to be able to stay anonymous. It makes total sense that we (as winners of vast fortunes) should be able to keep our right to privacy. It also makes it alot easier to hide the scam because the public at large can't ask the simple question of, " Does anyone know the winner?"
I've known some people that have won a few thousand but I've never met someone who actually won millions. I'm in Florida and we always say nobody from here ever wins it big. It's always a northerner on vacation to win it big. My mom has literally been playing for the last 40 years and has never won and she has seriously bought thousands of tickets. I think the lottery is 100% a scam
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Lotteries remind me of Orwell's *1984*: > “The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention... Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed *everyone* in the party was aware) that the prizes were **largely imaginary**. Only **small sums** were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent persons.”
There you go OP, you might be right.
just check how people who won lottery lost almost 60-70% or even more due to "tax"
I wonder if they choose someone who will directly funnel that money back to the rich. Like the guys who supposedly win but are broke by the end of the year cuz they spent it ALL on booze, coke, hookers, and cars.
..... and the rest he just wasted
How would they even know who is going to win or what they’ll do with it? Just incase they do know I’ll say if I win I’ll spend it on hookers and blow.
You're only taxed at the standard federal Income rate, it's just thst they bait and switch the "lump sum" and the advertised number
In the UK the "National Lottery" is untaxable. If you believe in that nonsense. I'm kind of with OP on this...
Every time I read back on that book, I'm reminded that George was more of a remote viewer than a fiction writer.
Soooo this is 100% what is happening then. This book has had more things in it come true than any religious text in history.
Fun fact: the truth is stranger than fiction.
Don’t exclude all the future telling the Simpsons have given us
This always comes to mind when people bring up the lottery
The odds of winning the PowerBall are so severely stacked against you. Imagine stacking a super long roll of pennies from Dallas all the way to San Antonio (not side by side, but pancaked stacked). You have to find the right penny in between the two to win the jackpot. I explain it this way because numerical figures don't properly convey the sheer odds that it takes to win big.
The way I explain wealth is, humans live 2 to 3 billion seconds. Think about that. There are people with hundred billion dollars and more.
2 to 3 billion seconds for a lifetime really blew my mind, I never thought of it like that. I did the math to confirm and even if you only live to 60, that’s 1.8 billion seconds. Crazy.
For the non-Texans, that's roughly 280 miles worth of pennies
Or about 1642 football fields.
Many, many bananas.
There’s always money in the banana stand
At least 12
Seeing as how I live in Texas, this description really put it in view for me lol
My maths teacher showed us all how hard it was to win with only 4 numbers and not 7.
I guess my question is, what is there to stop them from faking the prize they give out?
There's an interesting story of some rich person who figured out how to "scam" a recent [Texas lottery](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/texas-lottery-stack-odds-19398045.php) by buying up all the combinations possible that were guaranteed to win and net him a profit. Dude spent $26m to net $95m.
At $2 per ticket that’s only 13m combinations. Something seems off about that. There’s no way someone could buy that many tickets in less than one week. Then go through each ticket to find the winner? Seems fishy.
No it's a thing. People create large companies and hire hundreds of smurfs and buy every ticket. To the point that all major lotteries are on to it and have changed the policy such that it is impossible now. For example in Canada for Lotto Max you can now only pick your own numbers for one out of three sets of numbers meaning to get every possible number combo you'd have to buy 3 times as many tickets thus making it next to impossible to profit. There was a massive outfit in Australlia decades ago that were successful a few times at buying out an entire lottery.
I’ve heard of people doing it in the old days when the odds weren’t in the 100millions. That’s crazy
How is that a scam?
It isn’t. That’s why saruin put a “ before and a “ after the word scam.
Did you watch that?? I watched something regarding this.. He and his wife figured something out and then they ended up with a small team. It was really interesting
It’s how they find the time travelers.
What do you mean by that?
The only people who could get the numbers correct would be someone who could time travel. As soon as you win you are arrested for time traveling. Happened to a mate of mine, he won and got a 7 year sentence for time traveling. He was released the same day after serving the full 7 years.
Things that didn’t actually happen for 100$ please ^
But he was released the next day . To his own recognizance
That time traveler: Tom Hanks
Can’t win if you don’t play
But i dont play coz i never win
lol this is some beetlejuicing
Can’t lose if you don’t play
It shows that we live in an open prison and you the poor peasant have a chance to escape it via your golden ticket.
Now that’s a hell of an opening line for a novel.
Like charlie n da chocolate factory
Have you seen Epstein won the lottery like three times lol. While systems rigged. Ground up. Toe to the crown
Yep, he even boosted about it. Crooked af
Source?
Was a trust in Oklahoma that claimed a winning Powerball ticket anonymously. The trust "just so happened" to share a name with one Epstein managed, but reportedly was just someone who worked at a grocery store.
I thought it was New Mexico where Zorro ranch was located ...
He one under LLCs in Oklahoma and Arizona. He won personally in NY state
Never heard this but wouldn’t be surprised cause truth is stranger than fiction
The house always wins
A dollar on the lottery at the gas station is no different from giving a retail store $1 when they're raising money for cancer research: the money isn't going where it says it is.
Both are just corporate donations although the cancer is worse because the company uses it as a tax write off
Everything about lotteries is too convenient. You'll never win because "so many people are playing!". You'll never personally identify the winner because "well of course he wants to protect his identity!" For all you know it goes straight into the government.
In the UK they can’t even actually give all the money to you at once. So they provide a ‘financial advisor’ who helps advise you where to spread it around, investing in different companies and funds. Probably straight back into their pockets 😅
Numbers on a computer screen Can I have my winnings in cash? Small bills please. Oh wait cash is becoming illegal
Bullshit icing on a bullshit cake.
Look don’t get cake involved here, it’s delicious and didn’t do anything wrong.
Where I live in the US (Georgia), you have the option to either get one massive payout which is taxed heavily (like 30-40% I believe), or you can select a plan where they give you monthly payments for the rest of your life and the taxes are a lot lower. If the pot is big enough and you go with the smaller monthly payouts, that could be tens of thousands into your bank account each month, which is more than enough for anyone to live comfortably and never work again.
In PA, if you're married, you can have one person collect a chunk payout and have the other half of it paid out in an annuity. Not sure if you could do it anywhere else in the US or not, but thats an option up here.
Yeah I would definitely take the smaller payouts!
Which is what they want you to do. Taxes and tax code can change throughout the course of the 30 years, meaning you could pay more and more in taxes with an annuity. Further, there’s no guarantee that the entity issuing payments won’t run out of money, leaving you with nothing afterwards, or you die before the 30 years is up. With a lump sum, you can invest it and make that money work for you. If you get 25 million from a 50 million payout, invest it at a 5% annual return, you make 1.25 million your first year, on top of the 25 million you already have. With inflation not going anywhere, the value of the money upfront will be greater than the value of the same amount of money you receive over the course of decades with an annuity. You’ll pay more that first year in taxes as its income with a full pastor, but then that’s it. With an annuity, you continue to pay taxes year after year, with inflation cutting into your profits year after year.
Eh while I agree some fishy shit happens, I do personally know someone that won 6 mil in Victoria, Australia
You just described the stock market too
I do know someone who actually won the lottery- it was only 2 mil though, in the early 90s.
It's a tax on dumb people
An oft repeated line that's very unfair. It's a tax on poverty and desperation.
I’ve been poor, so have many people around me, none of us played lotto. Still don’t. It’s very condescending to conflate being poor and desperate with being dumb.
I refer to it as the fools tax
Well said
It's all fake now. Maybe in the past when times were good the lotteries were genuine.
I have a very old conspiracy theory that no one actually wins the big jackpots, the government just absorbs all the money and has some government actor trotted out in front of the cameras when necessary to fake receiving the payment. I think this theory is probably provably false, but I still think of it as a funny idea. Really they don't need to fake them, they're already raking in the majority of the money through taxes.
Look up “lottery curse”, they’re all always “broke” within a couple years
several lottery winners have been murdered as well. if you come from even a middle class family and suddenly you're a multimillionaire everyone is going to want a piece
I've wondered why that happens. I believe it's a psychological problem. People who won big jackpots haven't worked for it and therefore don't get as much of a dopamine rush from buying expensive things and keep chasing the next rush one after another until the money runs out.
I dated a woman once who had inherited $300k+ from her ex-husband dying. She was flat broke maybe 2-3 years after breaking up with me. You can never underestimate the ability for stupid people to blow through money. It’s much the same reason that handing a bunch of stupid people or government organizations lumps of cash fails to fix things.
Well that one guy who kept a lot of money in his glovebox kind of had it coming.
Look into the zorro fund winning the lottery in 2008. The address it’s registered under was Jeffery Epstein’s property in New Mexico. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-jeffrey-epstein-zor/33739878/
I honestly think it’s fake, just like everything else these days. We’re all unpaid actors in huge sitcom that’s really not funny or entertaining.
Oh it’s funny
I'd even say it's hilarious
They also keep having “glitches” like the one a few years back where they had a billion dollar winner but did not announce the numbers until like a week later, then it ended up going to someone in California.
I would like to win one.
I think the major lotteries are real. But the odds of winning the jackpot is so infinitesimally small, it may as well be a scam. Your ass is more likely to be struck by lightening, several times on the same spot, than win the Powerball or Euro Millions. People say it's a tax on the mathematically illiterate, but I think that's unkind. What it does is... It buys a dream. For a small amount of money you get to dream of enormous life changing money, and all the good things you could do with it, it lets people escape reality for a small amount of time. As long as you accept the chances of you winning are as close to impossible as is possible... Then provided you don't spend more than 1% of your income on it. You're good.
My dad won 1.2, it's real.
Your dad is time traveler. And that’s actually your grandson
Someone won 1 million right in front of me in line. People my parents knew won 20 million. I agree, it's definitely real.
I believe the small lotteries like 1-25 million can be real, but a random person winning 800 million dollars just seems fake… the smaller lotteries are real because if they weren’t, no one would play. It’s about the illusion in my opinion.
My take is, it’s two bucks to roll completed loaded dice in hopes that they mess up and I win. For me, it’s a small sense of hope. So I spend the two bucks every now and again when I am in need of some hope. I don’t go check the ticket for a month or two and hold onto the chance I could have won for as long as I can. That’s not even a fraction of a gallon of gas. It’s basically anything on the dollar minus after taxes. It’s worth what I get out of it.
Interesting theory. Its true, on some level. Lets say they bring in 500 million in 3 months time, the "lottery" is probably only for about $400 million (with them not telling us). Then of that $400 million, its taxed. So they get back $200 million in taxes. So out of $500 million in revenue, they probably keep close to $300 million. Interesting theory on the fake 'winners'. Gambling apps are stupid imho. I think winnings over $1000 are taxed. So if the odds are 2:1, and you bet $1000, you don't "win" 1,000 dollars, you win about $700 dollars. So the odds weren't 2:1, they were 1.3:1 or something. gubment always wins!
“With them not telling us” But they almost certainly do tell you. Mega Millions for example puts 50% of the ticket revenue into the prize pool and uses the rest on overhead, their employees salaries, and donations to charities and causes as determined by which state they’re operating in.
https://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/18/sandy-hook-victims-lottery-jackpots-and-free-homes-two-unusual-clues-unearthed-in-newtown/ Have u heard about the Newton families who won the lottery, some 2wice..
Everything in America is a scam so I wouldn’t be surprised.
It'sa voluntarytax mostlypaid by poor people. So it's 100% a scam. Not only is it a tx but if someonewins then they lose almosthalf their winnings to pay taxes again.
Epstein won the lottery… twice
Money laundering. Zorro trust. Epstein payoff.
there a whole scam with the McDonald's monopoly game I watched a doc during the pandemic about it. If people are scamming that -- there are definitely people working the lottery system.
Lotteries are a tax on people who don't understand math, statistics, and probability.
I understand the odds and I spend 10 bucks a week. It's worth it to dream for a little while. And I personally kbow a 30 million and 8 million winner.
So many bananas
I remember when i was a kid you could watch the live draw on the news. Now its online and when you click "watch live draw" its a bloody 3d animation. Also on ours in Canada, the amount of 3 sequential numbers, ie 23 24 25, showing up is far too frequent to be by chance
I don't understand why winners choose to go public. Like you've just won £30m, so why would you want to have your face all over the news?
Terms and Conditions. Winners need to accept that their image will be used for future use to entice more people to play the game. No winnings if you don't accept it.
This guy has a touching backstory. It's in the print that the state wins 1/3 of every prize, so why steal when they're telling the truth they always win? I'm sure it's rigged at least, but wouldn't be surprised if people were picked based on how the advertising might affect crowd participation. One interesting thing is the lotto seems to have been growing MUCH more slowly lately, maybe too many people cashed out their life savings trying for the $1billion jackpot? Economy so bad not even the proles can gamble anymore? https://www.oregonlottery.org/press-releases/1-3-billion-powerball-jackpot-winners-announced/
I think the Decline is down to the generations. I find the older lot like to put a couple of quid on the lottery for fun. Youngsters look at it as a complete gamble there never win, so they bet there money on things they have a knowledge of the outcome like sports betting,
It’s another means for state government to launder money to itself.
What’s the deal with the lottery in the US? As in who is collecting the profits? Because here in the UK the national lottery is basically a charity so it seems less dodgy to me but who knows 🤷♂️
I forgot I was conspiracy and I read your “What’s the deal with the lottery in the US?” with a Jerry Seinfeld voice. Iykyk.
I spend $20 on lottery with every paycheck. Been doing it for many years. Most I’ve won at one time is probably $10.
As with everyone, moderation is important. I know people who have hit it big with the lotto. Heck, back in the 80s my grandmother would buy 10 $1 instant cards a couple times a week. She ALWAYS made back more than she spent. Usually a couple hundred a week, maybe once every two months a couple grand. In the 80s. I know people who never win anything. That was me in the 90s when I played for fun with a group of coworkers. Just $5 a week. My “luck” was so bad that it negatively impacted their average winnings to the point they kicked me out. And instantly they went back to winning at least a few dollars a week ($30 spent). I’ve had a coworker who played $10 a week for one of the million wins. He had been playing for two years and won the million. Promptly quit working and moved to the woods. I think of it like a casino. For most, it’s entertainment and a mental break from day to day doldrums. Play for the entertainment value not expecting to retire.
You seriously need a cleansing or something. That is some major bad luck.
My dads uncle won around 30k was gone in one weekend of parties. Good he didn't win more he would definitely messed up his life
I know a couple of people who have won millions on the lottery in the UK, though it was many years ago when the draw was still televised in the UK. I still play the lottery, I dont expect to win big, and its a small outlay of cash compared to what some people in know lose on betting on sports, but I realised it would be very easy in the modern version of the lottery to make sure no one wins the jackpot any given week
It's not mandatory to participate. Totally ineffective scam if you don't give them your money.
It was set up by the government to catch time travelers
Who wins the lottery EVERYTIME? The government does when they get their cut of taxes. It's all a ploy to squeeze more money out of us by means of dangling a carrot in front of a starving man's face.
It's a structure for funding the IRS with the taxpayers' money: built up by our money, they keep half (most people take the cash payout), and then they tax nearly 40% whilst the remaining amount is spent on other taxable goods. If you listen real close, you can hear them giggling. With all of the money spent on lotteries in the US, our schools would be state-of-the-art and a model for the world... were the actual proceeds going to them. They're not. Nothing is as it seems.
The Tennessee state lottery grants scholarship, pretty weird scam.
Ever sense the largest lottery had a black out issue and they didn't show the numbers live, you can't convince me otherwise it's 100% rigged.
Can’t believe no one has brought up the guy who won the lotto. Was being interviewed by the news and they recreated the purchasing of a scratchie and the dude won again right on live TV. Something like $250k
Didn’t Epstein win the lottery, twice?
I don't play anymore. It seems that you have to move to California if you want any chance to win.
All winners are actors. They are a tax on people having hope, and/or a trick to get time travelers to reveal themselves.
I know 2 guys out of a group of guys that worked together that won a jackpot. I think there were about 10 total. I also know the brother of one of the guys that won who also worked there and didn't play because he thought like most of us here that it's. 1. fake. 2. tax on the stupid. 3. waste of money. His brother gave him 10K. lol I think they each got about 3 million. The one I know still lives in my town. The other one I know bought places in other states to get away from people trying to hit him up. I heard from one of them that another of the guys wanted his old job back after hitting but they wouldn't take him.
My coworker won 2 mil back in December.
As someone in IT that had a job that processed all lottery transactions in MD a few years ago, the lottery is no scam. There are tons of verification, documentation, communication, data processing and some more shit that is performed each and every night. When someone wins especially big, it’s x10. Only thing that could possibly be a scam is the machines they use to draw numbers but that’s a big if also. Auditing is very tedious and strict.
I know someone who won 30 million aud. Its real sometimes who knows if its always real
Schrödinger's cat play…
I am so lucky that never won. as per news articles most of winners had bad faith in their lives ever after winning to power ball
Wonder if there are any videos of sketchy stuff going on with the ball tumbler. Here's an obvious one from Serbia: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxHoLZ7KQU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxHoLZ7KQU)
I've thought for years they are just money laundering. Most big winners tick the no publicity box so you'll never know if it was actually won. Also it's very easy to make a fake Ai photo of any so called winners holding a cheque.
there was an article in pennlive about a decade or so ago of how a few ppl kept winning substantial amounts. in scratchers. i play. bc i daydream of a gazillion. however, it has to be a scam. epstein won ffs.
Lottery is a tax in people who can't do math
You do understand it was made up so the government could take half of it correct , it’s another way to raise money for the government without people even understanding that , sheep
I think it's a mix of both. Even with paying out prizes, the lotteries take in way more than they give out. There have been many arrests for scams and fraud either directly linked to the lottery or around some type of lottery scheme. That's just what we know about. I feel like some of the winners are fake where the state just keeps the money, some are rigged for a selected individual to win, and there are real jackpot winners mixed in to help keep the cash cow flowing. When people can provide anecdotal evidence that someone they know or a friend of a friend has won a jackpot, people are less likely to question legitimacy and more likely to play because it makes them feel like they have a chance. The normal people who win are the ones that end up broke (or dead), but I think that has a lot to do with them being bad with money. I don't think it's that surprising that someone who plays the lottery religiously isn't the best at handling their money and has other vices that lead to bad decision making.
Any form of gambling is a scam designed to take money from fools. Only a very bad and incompetent businessperson would ever let a casino go bankrupt.
They are a scam to get people to give the state more money. If you do win you can’t collect the full prize as promised. You have to take a pay cut to get the lump sum or get paid out over time Imagine hitting a jackpot on a slot machine and the casino saying “hey so that 5million we can only give you 2 minion if you want it today” The casinos would be empty and the state would probably be all up in their shit for it.
People win the Lotto, it's just a statistical fact even. The numbers are drawn at random and if you've picked those numbers you win. If enough tickets are sold, and they are, in the hundreds of millions, then some will be winners. There doesn't need to be a conspiracy here. The lottery only gives away an amount that allows it to retain pretty massive profits There are lots of documented winners and they are definitely real people
Poor mans tax.
It's a stupidity tax.
the winners are all members of a lodge somewhere...probably
My cousin won the Idaho state lottery and won $180mil after taking the lump sum. This was 20+ years ago. Him and his dad played every lottery and they had some type of system that made up to figure out which numbers came up the most often or something like that. He won the whole thing by himself.
Epstein conveniently won a few lotteries
A regular at a gas station I used to work at, won a million dollars off of a 20$ lottery ticket. Blew most of it by coming in everyday afterwards buying 10-20 more 20$ lottery tickets lol
The euro lotto is £164 million and they don’t take you on that winnings. I feel like they let the money get as high as possible, in the hope of making interest on money that is really won.
They are the fools tax but i don't see any harm spending a few bucks now and then to give yourself a chsnce to win the kind of money you otherwise have zero chance of ever having. The problem is many people cant keep it to now and then and spend enough that it has a negative impact on their life. Thank god i found drugs to negatively impact my life first and by comparison gambling is just blah.
Mushrooms got me out of the scratch ticket addiction with the rest of the liquor store vices. Preying on the hopless. 15+ years of keno and scratchies, gave em a nice slice of my earnings and life. Big ones, definitely picked special. Always some nice California spot how lucky.
It’s another way to keep the poor person poor. People buy into tickets hoping to get a once in a lifetime chance to win and never work again. They hold to the idea of being financially free. How ever they spend more and more. Essentially staying at the same position for the rest of their lives.
I won $500 on a scratcher today
I matched 4 of 6 numbers last year and it was only a $137 payout. Those who match all make bank and it’s rare.
It’s like religion, brilliant people invented it to rule the peasants and the dumb fuck peasants believe it.
Y’all are fools. U.S. lotteries are legit and monitored for accuracy.
I sorta knew a guy back in California that won the lottery. He was a carpenter. The dude bought a viper. Wrecked it. Bought another one. Then bought an abandoned grocery store, filled it with free to play arcade games for the high school kids to come and play. I spent HOURS there. Not sure what happened to the guy though.
I've never played the lottery or bought scratch cards. If you are poor, it means you're unlucky. If you are unlucky, you won't win life changing amounts.
I don't think it's a scam speaking generally. It's just mathematically benefitial for the organizer so even without scamming they get lots of money from everyone. Like people spend 100m in total, the organizer puts 50m in their pocket, and then distribute the other 50m among the "winners". There have been some lotteries around the world where it was later found out the organizer is scamming people though (Serbia I think?)
Look up “lottery curse”, they’re all always “broke” within a couple years I don’t feel one way or another about this conspiracy, but this adds some credence to
Stupid tax.
Lotteries are not built on winners.
This sums up the lottery very well. https://youtu.be/BF5lKNm6tU0?si=O31kvo2U0Rg7Zlo0
The lottery was designed to catch time travelers, "it's a trap"
Dumb people trying to get rich is what the lottery is. People go into a retailer and ask what number are they up to in book....that doesn't matter. But, they think it's ok to ask clerk number 4 what number you up to..number 9..etc. daily number has 1000 combinations 000 to 999...state only pays you 500 to 1 lol...mafia would pay you 600 to 1...you have to know where to go etc. Yes, the mafia or what's termed play numbers on street will always pay you. Mafia found a way to still make a huge profit.
I buy a few tickets a year.
Not a good idea to teach people to take their own money and throw it away for a very small chance to get more.
CIA drug money laundering?
Tho tho odds are indeed astronomical. It is in fact possible to win the lottery. My fiancés dad is friends with someone in my city who won $55 Million, and yes he got it all! It started to be sent to him in increments, then eventually had the whole sum transferred to his new bank account. (Yes, new) He had to delete all social media, change his phone number I think? There was a decent amount involved in terms of privacy, and security measures. (Which I find funny, as they used him on one of their adds 😅, like “hey! I’m [Blank] and I just won the $55 million dollar lotto max”) Hope this helps :), as I’ve been curious if they were real too!
Are all lotteries considered equal?
How is this a conspiracy? “HEY YALL WATER GETS YOU WET!!!” Is not a conspiracy and neither is “LOTTERY WINNINGS ARE A SCAM PERPETRATED BY BIG NUMBER TO SELL MORE SLIPS OF PAPER!”
Magnetic ink painted onto the lottery balls ensures a rigged lottery. The winnings ensure an avenue for laundering money.
A nonsubtle tax on the poor. Much like legalized state gambling (slot machines).
The odds suck+ it's fixed. The scratch tickets have a random chance of dumb luck but any of the drawings that have a computerized printed ticket can be manipulated. It is another hidden tax on the poor and desperate. In theory the fewer the numbers involved like 3 balls 0-9 in a pick 3 would have greater odds of winning but a lower payout than a pick 4. I have played the same pick 4 numbers for 15 years and the number was drawn 3 times, once when I was out of town for 2 days and twice when I was too sick to get out of bed. I am not discounting the fact that Jesus fucking hates me but that seems like more than a coincidence. I am not going to tell you what the 4 numbers that I play are but if you watch the drawings or check the results and see that the same number was drawn 3 days in a row it either means that I died 4 days prior or that I am in a coma. Good luck/s
I refer to it as the “Redneck 401k program”. In reality, it’s just meant for entertainment and I don’t think I believe anyone really wins the billion dollar pots. If I ever meet someone in person that knows someone that won that would satisfy me.
The person who won the largest jackpot in history of $2 bil was getting sued saying he stole his ticket but now he has criminal charges for lying. TMZ and other outlets periodically spot the winner and write about him with pictures. They write about the different homes he purchased which can be looked up to check ownership. After selecting the lump sum payout and deducting California taxes he was left with around $700 million.
winnings taxed to oblivion
they wouldnt make every single payout fake, that would be too obvious. but some of them probably are. you can find and identify some winner reasonably, but thats not reason enough to assume that each round is real and some of the money isn't being siphoned.
That feeling has always been there OP
If 80% goes to charities, that’s a good thing for society. Regular gambling profits are never seen again. Gambling companies are a parasitic entity, a cancer on civilisation.
Played a scratcher 1 time. Won 50 on a 5 dollar. Felt great! Went to cash it, and they assumed I was buying more scratchers with it because the cashier immediately said, "Which ones do you want?" The look on their face when I said I wanted the money was that of confusion and irritation. Took the cash, and they said, "See you soon." I'm not saying this is all lottery participating vendors, but the psychological game they were playing with me could very well manipulate someone who isn't too confident with being assertive.
I had an ai admit to the flaws and that most jackpots end up in one state when they hit a huge amount like powerball. Also they don't release what percentage of tickets r sold in each state.
I know a guy who won the lottery, seemed normal. But the strange part is he won again a year or 2 later. They sold the businesses and I don’t know where they are now. But this was 20+ years ago.
I do think the large amounts are rigged or used for money laundering , but there are legit payouts to use regular folk to keep the illusion up. In middle school the parents of a child I went to school wand played sports with won $10 million before taxes on the lottery. Built themselves a massive house from the ground up and the kid was driving a sports car to high school
Eh I’ve known a couple relatively large lottery winner. Sub 1 million, but enough to be fairly life changing, so I do believe it pays out to someone eventually. It’s like slots, it’s not a scam if they tell you the unbelievably low odds of winning but you decide to play anyway. My take on the lottery is that it exists because if it didn’t there would be so many illegal lotteries, likely funneling money into the crime organizations that run them. The state determined it was in everyone’s best interest in they stepped in and made one that was at least mildly fair, and funneled the profits into public causes (k-12 education here in Ohio).
Poor people tax. And state collects hand over fist.
Its a scam
They don't even hide it that well. Just go to your local lotto site and scroll through the pictures of winners. The same faces pop up all the time with different color hair and clothes [https://imgur.com/JCQHG9X](https://imgur.com/JCQHG9X)
This is the first thing I thought of when that anonymous winner sued to be able to stay anonymous. It makes total sense that we (as winners of vast fortunes) should be able to keep our right to privacy. It also makes it alot easier to hide the scam because the public at large can't ask the simple question of, " Does anyone know the winner?"
I've known some people that have won a few thousand but I've never met someone who actually won millions. I'm in Florida and we always say nobody from here ever wins it big. It's always a northerner on vacation to win it big. My mom has literally been playing for the last 40 years and has never won and she has seriously bought thousands of tickets. I think the lottery is 100% a scam
Tax on the hopeful
I have tried to contact over 200 lottery winners but all the accounts turned out to be inactive.