TheAgitator.com
States Cheat Lottery Players Out of Millions
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008USA Today reports that many states have continued selling scratch-off jackpot tickets long after the top prizes emblazoned all over the tickets have already been awarded. A law professor in Virginia is filing a class action suit claiming the state sold more than $20 million worth of such tickets per year for at least three years.
The states claim that the practice isn’t fraudulent because smaller prizes are still available, and because lottery players can check the back of tickets (after they’ve already bought them) and websites for disclaimers and lists of prizes already claimed. Despite that weak defense, several states, including Virginia, have since discontinued the practice.
Virginia, by the way, has killed two of its citizens in police actions aimed at protecting residents of the Old Dominion from losing their money while gambling privately. Because those shady black market bookies might take your money under false pretenses.
SHOCKER!!
I thought I was shocked that the states would get away with this for three years, but then I remembered that scratch-off lottery players aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.
The gov. outlaws numbers games and then creates its own racket. No potential for problems there.
I wonder if anyone has made any effort to identify scratch-off lotteries whose payouts have lagged behind statistical norms? While I doubt that any lottery would have enough losers early on to make the later tickets a winning proposition, it may be interesting to know if a certain game is approaching, say, 75% payout as compared with the usual 50%.
Did anyone see the story on British scratch ticket players a few months ago? The Brits offered a game where the number one scratched had to be lower than the one shown, and the theme of the game was temperature. So if the number shown was 2 and one scratched off -3 they won. But the negatives proved to be a problem for the inumerate section of the population. People were trying to claim prizes when they scratched -1 against -3.
See here:
http://ukcommentators.blogspot.com/2007/11/im-not-having-it.html
Money Quote:
“I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher - not lower - than -8 but I’m not having it. I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression - the card doesn’t say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8. Imagine how many people have been misled.”
I can understand that the cop who accidentally shot the unarmed “baited” gambler was not charged with murder. I can see that, because he was there doing his job that murder would be near impossible to prosecute, but manslaughter would be reasonably prosecuted, or so I would think.
I wonder though if he had been prosecuted in some way, would his fellow officers also be culpable, just as two bank robbers are when only one shoots a teller.
Personally, I have always thought of state lotteries as a scam. I think when you advertise a dollar amount for a jackpot, the actual jackpot should actually be the actual amount they actually claim it to be. In other words, when you win a 200 million dollar jackpot, they should be required to write you a check right now for $200 million minus any taxes (and I could argue against deducting the taxes, too).
If normal people ever tried to do some of the sleazy stuff government people do, they’d be locked up and no one would have even a tiny speck of sympathy for them.
If the fine print says it’s legit, it’s legit - odds of winning established before the first ticket is sold, estimated jackpots, the lot. Why are you so eager to overturn established contracts to protect people who buy without understanding?
I think the complaint is that the fine print is only available on the ticket, so you don’t see it until after you’ve spent the money. Also, I don’t believe the state should be given as much leeway as a private corporation when it comes to advertising. I think the state has a duty to be clear and forthright with its citizens because it is, in effect, an agent of the people.
#8
I would think it depends on how the ticket is advertised. There may be T.V. advertising. More probable, the large print on the front of the ticket markets a maximum payout. The fine print on the back may not count for much, especially if the State has never made an attempt to fairly disclose how awards are paid out and what kind of ramifications this has on your own purchase.
That’s why we have courts.
Last time I checked the idea of a lottery was to make money. What happens when the large prizes go right at the beginning of a game? There’s a reason that playing the lottery is called gambling. You don’t like it, don’t play.
#11
Really? Profit for the State was how lotteries were pitched? I seem to recall something about the money going to improve schools and other such investments for the future?
Anyone have any figures on how well that promise is being kept?