Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The lottery: fuck it

Have you ever noticed that the only people you ever see wasting their money on the lotto is usually really poor people? Plus how many times have you been at a checkout counter waiting to buy like a beef jerkey and a four-pack of Stag, but first you have to wait for someone to buy ten scratch-offs, do them right there, cash in the $4 they won, buy four more, do them right there, cash in the $3 they won, buy three more, do them right there, cash in the $1 they won, buy one more, do it right there, cash in the $1 they won, buy one more, do it right there, bust, fish in their pockets for another dollar of change, buy one more, do it right there, cash in the $2 they won, buy two more, do them right there, cash in the $1 they won, buy one more, bust, fish in their pockets but come up short of a dollar, look around to see if anyone in line looks like they might give them a quarter, then see how everyone is impatient (either to buy their beef jerkey and Stag or to go cash in the $3 they won on scratch-offs) and finally shuffle off after taking like a full minute to count and recount their change and put it back in their pocket?

Wait I started out pissed but now I am just sad because I accidentally remembered the scratch-off buyer's essential humanity, damnit. But still, fuck the lottery.

4 comments:

billy joel said...

that sentence did proust proud.

Pancake Master said...

The LAH-tery. Whaddayagonna do?

Matthew Frederick said...

My Statistics for Poli Sci professor in college called the lottery a tax on the statistically illiterate.

It's gotta be one of the most regressive taxes ever invented. The poorer you are, the more likely you are to play ... a lot.

Unknown said...

The Oregon Lottery is nothing but a tax on the poor. The state of oregon makes millions of dollars a day on video poker. Where is all the money from video poker going? OR lottery video poker is a scam! It does nothing but hurt small towns and communities. Let's get rid of it! Yeah right, that will never happen, it makes too much money.....