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this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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Don’t buy scratch tickets.
In Norway the profits are used to fund local football clubs for kids and such. It does not need to be exploitative and bad.
I was in line at a convenience store the other day, when the person in front of me bought a dozen or so scratch tickets. Normally, I wouldn't have gave it a second thought, people gamble. But what made it stand out to me was that the person made the cashier just immediately scratch the QR code square and scan the ticket. Like, the person didn't even touch the tickets. Just handed over the money, and made the cashier do the work. Not only that, but the cashier didn't even bat an eye; as this seemed like a normal occurrence to them. And the person in front of me didn't win anything, they just walked away with nothing.
So not only was it extremely sad to see this person, who is clearly addicted to gambling, waste their money. But, seeing how the industry has made it so easy and fast for someone to piss their money away was quite disgusting. These people don't even play the game on the cards now. They just scratch off the code and scan it. Just sad all around.
Yeah they are always a loss overall but since we didn't buy other gifts this year it was just to have a little chance at winning.
Sometimes it's the dreams that are worth the price.
We call them a "stupid tax" but infrequently buying them is pretty harmless. I don't mind group lotto either it can be fun to buy in and run the numbers out over a course of a few months. There's some charity lottos I've done before.
Why not? They're fun and benefit numerous good causes, such as services for elderly citizens and low-cost prescription medication programs. No one of stable mind really thinks they'll get rich, but it's nice to win a few bucks here and there.
Even though some of the money goes to good causes, taking advantage of people who are addicted to gambling is not cool.
Now, that's not to say that every single person who has ever bought a scratch ticket is an addict, but the whole thing is designed to take advantage of those who are not in their right mind.
I’m so happy to be in a wealthy community with very few gambling addicts these days.
I sold lottery tickets in a very very poor community and I swear they’d blow everything they had and then try to bum the clerk to keep going.
The difference is absurd too. I would sell 3-4k (that’s low too) in lottery tickets every day in a poor community. In a wealthy community I rarely sell 100 dollars in tickets in a day.
I know a man who would be living like a king if he wasn’t addicted. He retired from a pretty high position in the military and then the post office. Every time he gets his money he spends the first 4 days of the month spending at least 4k on tickets. His wife makes him keep just enough to live in their tiny beat up house and take care of the terribly mentally ill adult children (all in their 40s).
Gambling addiction is so crazy to me, I could never tell if anyone was addicted though at the counter. I used to work at a pharmacy with a lotto machine so that probably determined customers a bit. The older retired ladies coming in with their pouches was kind of charming and they weren't very big spenders overall, they seemed to just enjoy organizing and managing it all.
Slot machines in casinos really affect me in a depressing way though, seeing rows of people just pressing buttons over and over while they stare at the machine I find disturbing.
I’m in Virginia and about 6 months ago I had some guys pop on here trying to get me to install those slot machines. They told me how much money the store could bring in, blah blah blah. I told them I’d rather die than sit here with people drooling and throwing their lives away. I’d feel like shit for every penny it brought in. Funny thing is, not long after they came in with the big pitch, the machines were outlawed haha. They were trying to do a quick dump before the law changed, the assholes.
Fortunately my uncle (the owner) is very religious and principled about such things.
He sells the tickets, but he has little things in place these days that keep the hardcore gambler away. No purchases on credit or debit cards, standing and scratching is considered loitering.