Gambling Madness

[RainboWBacoN420]

So, as if gambling didn't already make people crazy, if you live in the U.S., you've probably been hearing a lot of talk about the Powerball lottery jackpot reaching to about 1.5 billion dollars so far. And people have been losing all control, spending hundreds of their savings on a very, very, very slim chance to hit the jackpot. I work at a convenience store in the mall, so I witness people just putting down all their money on this. Not only that, but everyday there's always someone just taking the lottery way too seriously.
It's kind of sad actually, it's actually starting to get to me and I have no idea why. Do I feel bad for some of these people...?
Anyways, last Saturday, after the draw, so many people were angry about losing hundreds, and yet, I see the same exact people who were complaining, return to our store asking for double the amount they had spent.
Seems like people are losing their restraints and just gambling all their hard work away... 
I never believed in gambling addiction until I took up this job. I've worked here for about two years now, seen people spend a ridiculous amount on these lottery games. I've tried offering addiction help to some of the people who come here, but they're so in denial about it.
I know most of you guys are from the U.K., do they have lottery games like this there? How bad is the gambling madness? 

 

[jag51186]

I'm guilty...but seriously...imagine the fish tanks I could have for 1.5 billion dollars!!!!! I've only spent about 20 bucks on it though, so I wouldn't say I'm addicted. If you think this is bad, you should see people in casino's! I've only ever gone once, but I was amazed...watched a guy walk up to the roulette table and throw a 100 dollars down and lose it on one spin! Craziness!
 
I'm still shocked that no one won it when it was at 800 million or whatever it was.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

I'll admit, I went through a gambling phase when I first started my job. We sell the scratch off tickets, so I went a but crazy when I kept hitting $100 on the $10 tickets. But at least I had the sense to realize I was over doing it and toned it down a lot. 

 

[Fishmanic]

and if nobody hits the big one this week, next week maybe it will go to 2 billion dollars....

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm guilty...but seriously...imagine the fish tanks I could have for 1.5 billion dollars!!!!! I've only spent about 20 bucks on it though, so I wouldn't say I'm addicted. If you think this is bad, you should see people in casino's! I've only ever gone once, but I was amazed...watched a guy walk up to the roulette table and throw a 100 dollars down and lose it on one spin! Craziness!
 
I'm still shocked that no one won it when it was at 800 million or whatever it was.

More like $400M after taxes and everything else.

 

[jag51186]

 

I'm guilty...but seriously...imagine the fish tanks I could have for 1.5 billion dollars!!!!! I've only spent about 20 bucks on it though, so I wouldn't say I'm addicted. If you think this is bad, you should see people in casino's! I've only ever gone once, but I was amazed...watched a guy walk up to the roulette table and throw a 100 dollars down and lose it on one spin! Craziness!
 
I'm still shocked that no one won it when it was at 800 million or whatever it was.

More like $400M after taxes and everything else.
 

 
Nah, will still have somewhere in the 800 mil range! I can handle that!

 

[the_lock_man]

So, as if gambling didn't already make people crazy, if you live in the U.S., you've probably been hearing a lot of talk about the Powerball lottery jackpot reaching to about 1.5 billion dollars so far. And people have been losing all control, spending hundreds of their savings on a very, very, very slim chance to hit the jackpot. I work at a convenience store in the mall, so I witness people just putting down all their money on this. Not only that, but everyday there's always someone just taking the lottery way too seriously.
It's kind of sad actually, it's actually starting to get to me and I have no idea why. Do I feel bad for some of these people...?
Anyways, last Saturday, after the draw, so many people were angry about losing hundreds, and yet, I see the same exact people who were complaining, return to our store asking for double the amount they had spent.
Seems like people are losing their restraints and just gambling all their hard work away... 
I never believed in gambling addiction until I took up this job. I've worked here for about two years now, seen people spend a ridiculous amount on these lottery games. I've tried offering addiction help to some of the people who come here, but they're so in denial about it.
I know most of you guys are from the U.K., do they have lottery games like this there? How bad is the gambling madness? 

 
Coincidentally, we've just had our biggest jackpot ever in our National Lottery - in the run-up it was estimated to be around £54M, but with loads of people (myself included) buying additional tickets, it went up to around £64M. Ours is capped, so the draw after it hits £50M cannot be rolled-over. In that situation, it gets split between the winners of the next prize level down.
 
The Euromillions lottery, which, as the name suggests, is a Europe-wide lottery, is run by the same company (Camelot) who run the UK National Lottery. This regularly gets jackpots over £100M, like 2 or 3 times a year.
 
I used to regularly buy a couple of entries every week, then they started getting greedy, put in an additional Wednesday draw, so I stopped. They've recently changed it, put the price up to £2 per entry, and decreased the chances of winning the jackpot by adding additional numbers. I only play when there's a massive jackpot.

 

[Baccus]

In Australia we have Golden Casket and TATS Lotto (which I think are now run by the same company), in Queensland Gold Lotto earnings used to go directly into the public hospital system, but alas that has fallen by the wayside. Orginally Gold Lotto only used to be on Wednesday and Saturday Night, then they decided to introduce Tuesday Night lotto called OZ Lotto (it costs more to put on then the other games) and Powerball which is on a Thursday. I wouldnt be at all surprised if they where eyeing of a Monday and Friday night gambling game, but Friday night would cut into the punters on Football TAB, and then all the weekend horse racing betting money to be had.
I must admit I do put on different Lotto games, but generally only when its a big draw rather than every week spending $$$ on smaller possible wins. I can well understand the attraction of winning Lotto, simply so you can be debt free. But what a lot of winners dont realise until after they have won the big dollars, that the money wont make thier live any happier. Yes you might pay out your loans and not be getting demanding letters from banks and debit collectors. But you are now assailed by "friends" and long lost relatives that materialise out of the wood work all with their hard luck stories and wanting their cut. All of a sudden you need to manage your finances and possibly investments on a much grander scale then you ever had to deal with when drawing a weekly pay check. And to top it off you need to ensure that what ever money you won and how its invested that the dividends are taking care of any tax bills you might acrue.
I know of a family in a neighboring town that within 6 months had blown all of the jackpot they had won. They decided to buy all their immediate family members second hand cars, instead of if anything a more sensible act of buying new reliable cars. They also purchased houses in the town, which while old and historic is also slowly dying so not really viable investment houses.
I think the main thing to do is if entering gambling games, spend only what you can afford, and if you do hit the jackpot, have a plan and stick to it with regards to the winnings.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm guilty...but seriously...imagine the fish tanks I could have for 1.5 billion dollars!!!!! I've only spent about 20 bucks on it though, so I wouldn't say I'm addicted. If you think this is bad, you should see people in casino's! I've only ever gone once, but I was amazed...watched a guy walk up to the roulette table and throw a 100 dollars down and lose it on one spin! Craziness!
 
I'm still shocked that no one won it when it was at 800 million or whatever it was.

More like $400M after taxes and everything else.

 
Nah, will still have somewhere in the 800 mil range! I can handle that!

There are far more taxes associated with the lottery than you are likely aware of, especially if you take the lump sum rather than the 30 year payout.

 

[Akasha72]

I started playing Euromillions (the one the lock man mentioned) when all my housing problems began. I'm so desperate to get out of this grotty rented flat that I thought wasting £2 a week was worth the risk in the hope I could win enough to buy a home of my own choice and get out of renting.
 
I was one of those people who recently got drawn in to buying an extra ticket to the 'big one' last week and lost ... not one single number. Then I heard the following day that you have more chance of being struck by lightening than winning the jackpot.
 
Now I've got into the thinking that if I decide not to play one week that'll be the week that my numbers comes up! But that's what Camelot are banking on isn't it. So now I've decided I'll carry on playing Euromillions each week (I can afford to lose a couple of quid) but that is it. I'm not going to get drawn into playing these roll-over games. I only need enough to get me out of this hell hole I call a home I certainly don't need several million ... in fact I don't know anyone that does. Pure greed and nothing more

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Even after taxes, you'll still have more money than you could probably ever make in your entire life. lol
 
But yeah, I usually only buy tickets when the jackpot is a huge amount. Otherwise, I'll usually a buy a ticket for the smaller, daily games that go on. There's better chances to win those but for a much smaller jackpot (I ain't complaining for $5,000). 
 
 

and if nobody hits the big one this week, next week maybe it will go to 2 billion dollars....

Nah, I have a feeling someone's going to finally hit it tonight. I'll sure be playing, I wouldn't even mind the smaller prizes, a couple hundred can go a long way for me. 

 

[Baccus]

"Now I've got into the thinking that if I decide not to play one week that'll be the week that my numbers comes up!"
 
Is exactly what a lot of clubs around town use to draw in punters and keep them longer spending cash on booze and Pokie Machines (fruit machines for non Aussies), Keno and TAB which is generally Australia wide betting on horses and dogs. The clubs have members draws usually on a Friday and or Saturday night, if you win you have something like 3 minutes to present to the front desk, if no body shows they do another draw later in the night. Most times I think they do around 3-4 draws and the members draw amount keeps jackpotting. It is a vicious trap to fall into, that you need to be at the club on the VERY off chance that you MIGHT POSSIBLY win a couple of Thousand dollars while spending more than that eating tea, buying drinks, having a flutter on Keno and then filling in time playing the Pokies.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Even after taxes, you'll still have more money than you could probably ever make in your entire life. lol

 
The danger for folks who win the lottery is that they THINK that they won the entire amount... but that's not true.  And a lot of lottery winners end up worse off than before winning.  

 

[Ch4rlie]

 

Even after taxes, you'll still have more money than you could probably ever make in your entire life. lol

 
The danger for folks who win the lottery is that they THINK that they won the entire amount... but that's not true.  And a lot of lottery winners end up worse off than before winning.  
 

 
Sorry, I don't get this, you pay money to win a jackpot, but you don't get the entire amount
 
This must differ from the UK lottery jackpots which is tax free so you DO get the entire jackpot amount, how does this work in the US?
 
But I do agree with the sentiment that a lot of jackpot winneres end up being worse off before they won their respective jackpots. I have heard many crazy stories of folks spending millions on basically nothing and then going back on benefits afterwards :x
 
This actually about about a month or two ago when a couple won £50,000 and spent the lot on holidays and cars etc but nothing worthwhile and now they have applied for benefits again, this REALLY gets to me how folks can be so stupid.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

 

 


Even after taxes, you'll still have more money than you could probably ever make in your entire life. lol

 
The danger for folks who win the lottery is that they THINK that they won the entire amount... but that's not true.  And a lot of lottery winners end up worse off than before winning.  
 

 
Sorry, I don't get this, you pay money to win a jackpot, but you don't get the entire amount

 
This must differ from the UK lottery jackpots which is tax free so you DO get the entire jackpot amount, how does this work in the US?
 
But I do agree with the sentiment that a lot of jackpot winneres end up being worse off before they won their respective jackpots. I have heard many crazy stories of folks spending millions on basically nothing and then going back on benefits afterwards

 
This actually about about a month or two ago when a couple won £50,000 and spent the lot on holidays and cars etc but nothing worthwhile and now they have applied for benefits again, this REALLY gets to me how folks can be so stupid.
 


I think about one third of that jackpot amount goes to taxes, 
If I had won a large jackpot like that, I would donate a lot of that money, I think donating gives you a tax break, if I'm correct? 
I have heard the stories of those people spending all of it and then the next thing you know, they're broke. But I think there's a few options you can go about with your prize money. you can either take the money and pay taxes later or get all the taxes deducted before taking your winnings. They may do it differently now, especially for this particular game.