Lotteries

[Dominicana_1965]

Who initially distributes the money? And how do you view the winners and lottery overall?

[akshay]

one winner,thousand looser
one person gains,thousands of persons loose

[Jazzratt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27, 2007 04:01 pm
Who initially distributes the money?
What do you mean? :huh: The people that put the money in are the ones who make up most of the prize (I think).


And how do you view the winners and lottery overall?

Lucky ****s, but I don't bear them that much ill will.

[Dr Mindbender]

this is one ive been wrestling with for a long time, i find it one of the uglier facets of capitalism because the whole premise depends on the desperation of the masses.

As for the winners, well ive mixed feelings. Not in a sense of jeolously per se, more in a class antagony sense since their newly found perchasing power effectively makes them beourgioise therefore part of the class enemy.

[Comrade Rage]

I play the lottery (Powerball) and the winnings come from the money people spend on tickets, from what I know.

If I won it, I'd donate most of it to Communist groups here, and RevLeft probably.

[Lenin II]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27, 2007 04:24 pm
one winner,thousand looser
one person gains,thousands of persons loose
Very symbolic for capitalism in general, I think.

[seisen]

But take notice who usually plays the lottery, it's the poor people playing it in hopes of winning.

[Coggeh]

If the lottery was nationally run would that be a good thing ? seeing as all the money went to funding the state .. and instead of creating some bourgeoise .. i dunno .. give them a round teh world trip :P ... just a minor thought .

But yes their generally an anti-working class function which shows fundamentally what capitalism is, a big game of chance .

[Floyce White]

California Lottery has a 50% takeout. That means the winners receive only half of the total money wagered. The other half is kept by the state.

An infinitesimally small proportion of lottery winners win big jackpots. Most winners get tiny prizes such as $5. Very often, winners of tiny prizes use the winnings to buy more lottery tickets. With every recirculation of the original bet money, the portion going to winners decreases geometrically: 25%, 12.5%, 6.25%, and so on. Except for the tiny number of big winners, the lottery is a 100% loss. Lottery is like a very slow slot machine. Eventually it eats up whatever you put in.

Lottery is a game that has no "value." That is, the risk is always greater than the reward. Bingo and all casino games have no value. Poker tournaments are a pyramid scheme.

Horse racing is one type of gambling in which value can appear. However, race fixing, insider betting, and computer arbitrage scoops up most of the value.

Gambling is a specialized form of work. To be a gambler, you need money to bet with. Professional gambling requires seed money--a "stake" or "nut." Money is the gamblers' tool. Not really different from workers who use money to buy tools and equipment, cars to get to work, etc.

BTW, I've heard of comrades who won big and donated huge sums. You may also know that the CPUSA newspaper Daily Worker had the best horse-racing column in New York City back in the '30s. Some people bought the Daily Worker on the way to the track. A few comrades who could not get hired at their usual occupations--became professional gamblers and horse-racing analysts.

Gambling is just as anti-working-class as any other form of exchange. Workers who gamble--win or lose--are not any more or less "anti-worker" than workers who put savings in banks or pay into old-age pension funds. The false hope industries become a greater part of the economy during worldwide economic depressions such as the current one (since about 1990). Speculation of all types becomes a greater part of the economy when production stagnates.