Are you a lottery dupe?

[mercalia]

I dont buy the scratch cards never thought much about it but this article blows the lid from how many are duped into parting with their cash when they have no chance of winning ( the big one )

"Lottery allowed to carry on selling scratchcards even when all jackpots have been won"

seems to me the lettery machines should tell you what your chances are, how many of the top prices are gone?

I wonder what proportion of their takings are such duped purchases?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/feb/10/national-lottery-scratchcards-prizes?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=263560&subid=7646217&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I buy a lottery ticket but on line before its drawn.

Scratch cards can be fiddled so unless they are free I never buy them as they pass through someones hands and thus are open to corruption.

Gone off Lotto and now just do Euromillions which is where my meagre but most returns come from.
One a week is all I do and harmless fun................my chance is just like any other buying a ticket.

[661-Pete]

Not my scene at all, so I suppose I don't really care..... well OK perhaps I do care, when I hear about compulsive gamblers and the utter degradation they have to suffer.

I believe that many of these scratchcards win an instant small payout from the till at point-of-sale, this won't be affected by the non-availability of any jackpot. At least that's what my son (who did a spell working the till at an off-licence) tells me. And that many punters come in, buy one scratch card, scratch it there and then, and if they win, they then blow all their winnings on more scratchcards. This goes on until they've lost everything....

Actually, thinking about it, this sounds a reasonable gambling system - if you have the self-control to know when to quit. Perhaps some of the more 'sensible' players do just this. As long as you never stake more than your initial outlay plus any winnings you've gained, and as long as you quit immediately after (or preferably before) a loss, you'll never be down more than your original stake.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work for problem gamblers. They probably 'double down' after losing. And then lose again.... and again....

[Audax67]

Often thought about buying a ticket but never have. Funny thing is that, at the end of the year, all the money I saved on not buying tickets doesn't magically turn up in my pocket.

[Bonefishblues]

Hi,
I buy a lottery ticket but on line before its drawn.

Scratch cards can be fiddled so unless they are free I never buy them as they pass through someones hands and thus are open to corruption.

Gone off Lotto and now just do Euromillions which is where my meagre but most returns come from.
One a week is all I do and harmless fun................my chance is just like any other buying a ticket.

How, out of interest?

[thirdcrank]

I think this form of voluntary taxation is great, although I do have misgivings about the disproportionate number of poorer people who are lured into it by slick marketing etc.

In the almost impossible event of me winning even a small prize, I'll make my fortune by describing how I did it without ever having bought a ticket.

[661-Pete]

Scratch cards can be fiddled so unless they are free I never buy them as they pass through someones hands and thus are open to corruption.

How, out of interest?

I suspect someone somewhere has come up with a gadget that enables you to 'see through' the opaque panel.

If so, I don't want to know....

[softlips]

I buy a ticket occasionally, maybe 2-3 times a year. I see people buying them week in week out who look like they cannot afford to be wasting money on them.

[yakdiver]

I buy them religiously £8 every week

[kwackers]

I bought 4 right at the start, won the first 3 (including a 4 number one - £45 iirc) then lost on the 4th and stopped.

That said if anywhere I work does the lottery then I pitch in, mainly because I don't fancy coming in on a Monday as the only employee...

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

Hi,
I buy a lottery ticket but on line before its drawn.

Scratch cards can be fiddled so unless they are free I never buy them as they pass through someones hands and thus are open to corruption.

Gone off Lotto and now just do Euromillions which is where my meagre but most returns come from.
One a week is all I do and harmless fun................my chance is just like any other buying a ticket.

How, out of interest?

Well it makes no difference if you change your numbers every week or just stay with the same, odd's are the same for any one ticket you buy in the same draw, but two tickets with different combination double your chance of a win.

Yes its gambling.
And its luck to win anything as odds are thin, even if odds are good does not mean in practice you will ever win.

P.S. Sorry you are talking scratch cards.
At one time when you bought cards to sell for a charity do etc the winning cards were given separately...................
Like I said anything that is handled by some one is open to corruption.

[661-Pete]

Surely someone out there shares my aversion to gambling?

No?

[[XAP]Bob]

Surely someone out there shares my aversion to gambling?

No?

I’ll bet it’s more than just you and I.

[Bonefishblues]

I don't gamble, but have worked in the industry. I left after a number of years in part because of the influence of FOBT machines on the Bookmakers' profit mix, and the issues it was starting to cause for shop workers.

However, I have no issue with gambling per se, and it's interesting to see the industry's very different treatment by politicians and press when compared, for instance, with the pub trade. The local pub is at the centre of the community, whereas the betting shop is a parasite, for instance. BTW, statistically speaking, alcohol is a far far more addictive and socially destructive force than gambling. Go figure...

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

Surely someone out there shares my aversion to gambling?

No?

I’ll bet it’s more than just you and I.

In perspective can you give it up, if no its a problem.
Have you ever made a bet with your mates that you could do something, I have many times, but only once took the money, only a fiver but I won, thats also gambling?