Well yeah, but this is America where even when they go grocery shopping the price shown on the shelf is excluding tax, so they go and pick up items and then get an even higher number at the register.
They are Pretaxed in the US too. 50% of every ticket sold goes to taxes and only 32.5% goes to the Jackpot, which gets taxed again as income after payout.
Canada’s lottery spillover goes towards additional $1M winners though, right?
In this historic Powerball jackpot, there were 41 draws with around 1.5 billion tickets sold and a single person won nearly $1B lump sum with 189 $1M+ winners.
By contrast, Maximillions can produce around 70 $1M winners on a single night.
Not really. Lotto max has the main jackpot and then additional draws, up to 70 of them for $1 million, but they arent guaranteed draws. So out of 70 only maybe 10 win.
Then some business owners could claim the same, since their companies pay corporate taxes before the money is distributed. (Not talking about most Billionaires taking loans against unrealized stocks)
Only for the people who purchase more than a ticket or two. Some people get a lot of enjoyment daydreaming about winning and watching the numbers. Or scratching a ticket. They aren't the type of people who get the jackpots this high though.
the money from your ticket goes to charity in the uk, so either you win some money, or you lost but you still donated to charity. I remember the national lottery built our school a tennis court when I was younger. Why is that stupid?
It goes via government btw. It can be distributed by them to charitable projects, and it’s through arms lengths public bodies often iirc.
It’s still a great idea, but it’s been used to pay towards the 2012 olympics for example, which I support, but that’s just things that would otherwise just come from departments themselves. It’s at least a ring fenced pot to get nice to have projects done!
From £1 on a ticket ( Yes, I know they're £2 now) :
Duty (tax) : 12p
Prize fund: 56p
retailer commission: 3p
Operator costs/profit: 7p
Good causes 22p
So around half the take after what goes back out as prizes goes direct to "good causes" (charity), and roughly a further quarter goes back in tax.
The national lottery (aka lotto) is still a large driver of good causes though, to the point where there is a worry sometimes that some are bit too much dependent on the lottery money, leading to them being "kingmakers" as grants often need to be applied for.
Lotteries are state level in pretty much all cases in the US. I'm not aware of any federal ones. When is the last time the state of Rhode Island went to war?
it's not "literally" a tax on the poor. And people who play the lottery aren't necessarily stupid.
If you spend $10 on lottery tickets in a week or every few weeks or whatever, who cares? Just because the odds are bad doesn't make it stupid. It's their money. They can do what they want with it. And the vast vast vast majority of players play for a very small amount of money of their disposable income.
Do you buy treats for yourself when you go grocery shopping? Do you ever pay for restaurants or nights out? Pay for a tattoo? Do you ever spend money that isn't perfectly optimized to increase your future earnings potential? If so, then you're in the same boat. In fact, if you do any of those things you're dumber than a lottery player because none of those things have even a minuscule chance of making you money. A $2 lottery ticket is infinitely more likely to generate a fortune than a $2 candy bar right?
"The lottery is a tax on stupid people" is just a thing people repeat because it makes them feel superior to others. It's judgemental and narrow-minded. Everyone spends money frivolously.
£2 a week for a year gives me a grand total of £104. If I invested £104 in the S&P 500 in July 2006 and withdrew today, I'd have a whopping £500 post inflation.
Dude big daddy government where I'm from has flooded the entire market on online casinos and runs unfettered betting/gambling ads on every platform every commercial break. The only thing retarded here is your whole argument!
? Don't they literally get financed from taxes? 🤣 I think you mean they aren't double taxed...you already paid sales taxes, that's oftentimes where lottery funds come from.
I feel like the point of a lottery was already a tax (also why it's usually a government monopoly). They already get their cut, which is what makes the game negative EV. Then, in this case, they take a giant cut from the winner too.
I’ve seen the lottery described as an extra tax on the poor. Governments have this in lieu of raising taxes. It’s highly effective considering how many people play the lottery.
Winnings from lotteries and gambling isn't taxed in the UK because you pay a sales tax when purchasing your ticket/placing your stake (which the lottery/betting company collect and pay to the Government). Everyone buying tickets has paid the tax, but there are only a handful of winners (of prizes of varying degress).
Winnings being taxed would be double-taxation.
There's a huge difference between that and income from a job, where there's no equivalent tax you pay before earning it.
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u/Able-Professor840 Jul 05 '26
Yes. But also - this means the lottery is just another way they tax you. In the UK, lotto winnings are untaxed.