Confirmed: Lotteries are just taxes on people who can’t do math
posted at 4:51 pm on November 9, 2007 by Bryan
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The Cool Cash game – launched on Monday – was taken out of shops yesterday after some players failed to grasp whether or not they had won.
To qualify for a prize, users had to scratch away a window to reveal a temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card. As the game had a winter theme, the temperature was usually below freezing.
But the concept of comparing negative numbers proved too difficult for some. Camelot received dozens of complaints on the first day from players who could not understand how, for example, -5 is higher than -6.
It’s hard to count negatives on fingers and toes.
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Okay, normally I try not to be this sophomoric, but this pretty much derives it:
DUH…
MadisonConservative on November 9, 2007 at 4:52 PM
Well unless you have a butcher knife handy.
liberrocky on November 9, 2007 at 4:54 PM
And that only works once, really.
Kensington on November 9, 2007 at 4:57 PM
This is too easy. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel, albeit limey fish in a union jack barrel. :)
Mindcrime on November 9, 2007 at 4:58 PM
Well unless you have a butcher knife handy.
And that only works once, really.
And not even then if you have to figure the diff between -10 and -30.
bbz123 on November 9, 2007 at 4:59 PM
Man, when I did janitorial duty for a cafeteria it was mind-numbing listening to the workers argue about what #s they should play “39 hasn’t come up in a month!”, and all kinds of crazy strategies. Tried to talk rationally and logically to them about odds, and how one result does not affect another when the events are truly random. Didn’t get anywhere, obviously. Truly is a tax on the uneducated.
RW Wacko on November 9, 2007 at 5:00 PM
But I have a 100% chance of having a good time scratching a piece of paper.
gabriel sutherland on November 9, 2007 at 5:03 PM
Maybe they could go against gameplayers IQs, the negative numbers give would them an even chance.
clghitis on November 9, 2007 at 5:04 PM
It’s one thing to have to take the dumbness of your clientel into consideration to market a product. It’s another thing to admit that you were not smart enough to understand just how dumb your clientel actually is. I am sure there is a terminology for this. Unfortunately, I am not smart enough to know it.
Guest1.1 on November 9, 2007 at 5:07 PM
What? You mean -6 is GREATER than -5??? I think you’re all wrong. Buncha crazies. Sheesh.
robblefarian on November 9, 2007 at 5:09 PM
Well, the penalty fits the crime, eh?
Splashman on November 9, 2007 at 5:11 PM
I guess the complaints were from physicists who thought the negative temperatures were in Kelvins.
stonemeister on November 9, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Reminds me of that Friends episode where Monica admitted to not being able to tell time until she was 12.
“It’s hard for some people!!!”
mjk on November 9, 2007 at 5:14 PM
Although I think gambling in any form is amoral and insidious.
I think the lottery is the best thing since sliced bread.
I bet the government gets to recoup allot of the cash it lays out for entitlements. As any thinker will tell ya that dumb people tend to be broke ass losers and dumb people play the lottery.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “Hey, I know a smart person that plays the lottery”
But you’d be wrong or maybe your idea of smart is relative.
TheSitRep on November 9, 2007 at 5:16 PM
Actually, what’s confirmed is that the emphasis on being PC and “accepting” everyone, and learning liberal ideals has overtaken standard, simple math, etc. in our schools, leaving us with a developed world full of lazy idiots who only put down the Doritos and the bong long enough to paint a Mercedes logo on a poster board and go out and vandalize property in support of “peace”.
RightWinged on November 9, 2007 at 5:28 PM
The lottery is defenately a stupidity tax but even I will occasionaly fall for it. I will always join an office pool. An office pool is more stupidity insurance, than a tax, because even though I have no chance of winning, I refuse to be that A$$hole that didn’t chip in the dollar.
Shtetl G on November 9, 2007 at 5:31 PM
I bought a house in Texas from a guy who won $33 million in the Texas lottery, so I guess it can happen. Just not to me. I don’t play. I actually prayed about it once and I really believe I felt God chuckle! It was pretty cool.
Ordinary1 on November 9, 2007 at 5:33 PM
Damn you, I just got back from buying lotto tickets.
Dusty on November 9, 2007 at 5:38 PM
the lottery is the only tax that is given targeted at the poor.
lorien1973 on November 9, 2007 at 5:39 PM
That’s what they get for using metrics. If they used Fahrenheit temperatures, they could have had freezing temperatures without going negative thus not confusing the innumerate.
frankj on November 9, 2007 at 5:40 PM
Apparently the education system in the UK is on a par with ours.
infidel4life on November 9, 2007 at 5:43 PM
[stonemeister on November 9, 2007 at 5:13 PM]
Everyone knows there is no Kelvins in the UK, but there is a Far-in-Heights, I think.
Dusty on November 9, 2007 at 5:44 PM
I bet New York State Lottery would do that too. I picture the flag lottery, matching flags. Spitzer withdrawing it, because too many American flags on the ticket.
StuLongIsland on November 9, 2007 at 5:46 PM
Was it in Metric or Standard? Celcius or Farenheit?
Mazztek on November 9, 2007 at 5:49 PM
Mazztek, nahhhh, ya stole my line :) :) :) Ok, I still like you. Btw. you work very close from me.
Waiting for see-dub on this one :)
On topic – reaaaaaly dumb.
Entelechy on November 9, 2007 at 6:01 PM
{StuLongIsland on November 9, 2007 at 5:46 PM}
Thank god he’d pull it ’cause the jackpot card is 100 driver’s licenses for you and your friends.
Dusty on November 9, 2007 at 6:01 PM
So what? Some people advocate a “consumption” tax, that is completely voluntary, and has virtually no downsides (you can even get a “refund” if you win).
What is the problem? Except that if I ran a numbers scheme like any lottery I’d be thrown in jail for scamming people and if the government does it it is okay (and the actual benefit is never examined while administrators get increasing salaries and expense paid trips to other states/countries to examine their gaming activities)?
Neo on November 9, 2007 at 6:12 PM
What?? Math deficiencies in our
Young Liberal Training CampsPublic Schools???I’m SHOCKED!!!
Good News: Natural selection will weed these young Liberals out of the population next winter.
landlines on November 9, 2007 at 6:24 PM
.
Thats funny!
shooter on November 9, 2007 at 6:52 PM
I beg to differ… I submit that ALL sin taxes are taxes on the poor, since only the poor are affected harshly by them and especially when one considers the FACT that the poor constitute a much larger portion of drinkers, smokers and commuters than the wealthy.
The government is able to duck law-suits, invest in sink-hole projects, and outright rob the public with no consequence to themselves. That’s even creeping into the education system. Our public school teachers are getting away with more and more derelection of duty.
Government is a weed that just grows and grows… Choking the flowers according to their value and beauty. Liberals don’t seem to understand that the flowers of society are the only thing standing between them and becoming a desert. I’m going to start calling Liberals “weeds”…
Rugged Individual on November 9, 2007 at 6:59 PM
All that new math from over yonder in Europe is confusing!
SouthernGent on November 9, 2007 at 7:04 PM
You can’t very well expect me to figure this out when 32F = 0C = 273K ??? It’s all very confusing. I’ll take ten scratch offs please. And when I win, I’m gonna buy an Island where it never drops below 78F, 26C!
Ordinary1 on November 9, 2007 at 7:13 PM
They should have used imaginary numbers (i) introduced in pre-calc(?). Just think how much fun that would have been.
On a serious note, how do people balance their checkbooks if they don’t understand negative numbers. I need to use them twice a month for a few days before payday.
IrishEi on November 9, 2007 at 7:17 PM
I look at lotteries as voluntary taxes. Just because people are too stupid to do the math is no excuse.
Jay on November 9, 2007 at 7:24 PM
A similar kind of bad-at-math phenomenon is the making of change by cashiers. At McDonald’s or Wal-Mart your bill is 4.61 and you give them 20.11 and many will stare confusedly at the coins in their hand and then look up at you like you’re an idiot. Am always really nice about it but inside my eyes are rollin’.
inviolet on November 9, 2007 at 7:52 PM
I’ve always said Lotteries were really I.Q. tests where the more tickets you buy the lower your score was.
Rob Taylor on November 9, 2007 at 7:52 PM
Bingo is probably the other one. Unfortunately.
LOL!! love the “really”
inviolet on November 9, 2007 at 7:53 PM
Anyone see the little throwaway scene in the movie “The Island” where the hyper friend of Ewan McGregor had a crazy “alphabet-math” scheme to win the Island Lottery? I laughed my butt off.
inviolet on November 9, 2007 at 7:57 PM
I think we should get rid of taxes completely and just institute more lotteries to raise money for the government. May have to make the odds of winning a little better to attract a larger pool of players, but with a bit of tweaking you might be able to do it.
Snidely Whiplash on November 9, 2007 at 7:59 PM
The first confession book ever written about the Mafia was the Valachi Papers – The book describes how Bugsy Seigel invented the first numbers game – and why – WHY? They could not figure out any other way to get money from the poor N&*&^*^*%%s.
It always was a dumb tax that robs the poor!
iam7545 on November 9, 2007 at 8:04 PM
Nevermind that the next generation is going to be fatter than the current one….. They are also going to be far dumber. Then these idiots will join the ranks of teachers who are incapble of solving math problems without the “answer key” and so on. This is a cycle of ignorance that is apparently spreading to Europe. Of course, it will all be America’s fault but that’s another thing.
highhopes on November 9, 2007 at 8:09 PM
Brain freeze?
SPIFF1669 on November 9, 2007 at 8:13 PM
Im not saying that the others do not affect the poor. But, the vast majority of people who play the lottery are poor. Therefore it is primarily a tax on them.
Alcohol, etal is consumed by everyone across income gaps.
lorien1973 on November 9, 2007 at 8:19 PM
People don’t give a sh*t about probability.
They’re more than happy with the possiblity.
No matter how remote.
You know what “they” say.
“Somebody’s” gotta win.
Honey. It just ain’t gonna be you. And I’ll lay a hefty wager on that one.
MT
Mistahtibbs on November 9, 2007 at 8:56 PM
It’s well established that lotteries are a wonderful way to get the people who use all the social programs to ante up and pay their fair share of taxes. Lovely.
These Brits who can’t add need to get with the French who don’t know that the moon obits the earth.
Mojave Mark on November 9, 2007 at 9:47 PM
” ‘…from players who could not understand how, for example, -5 is higher than -6.‘
.
It’s hard to count negatives on fingers and toes.”
.
Well, that explains why the Brits keep electing Labour governments. A majority of them keep adding 2+2 and hope for a different answer. (Isn’t that the working definition of idiocy?)
DavePa on November 9, 2007 at 11:46 PM
As someone who never plays the lottery here in Thailand, I have to admit I do play some in the states. I wager about 0.1% of my income every few years on a lotto jackpot, if it hits over 100 mill. I figure, if it hits, it is a nice ROI.
Texas Nick 77 on November 10, 2007 at 6:14 AM
You guys don’t know anything about real math. This is real government math.
This is how taxes are explained. When they suggest a tax, say 9% and they finally pass the new tax at 7%…they saved you 2%, and they campaign that they have cut your taxes by 2%. Or they cut your taxes by 1%, and raise “FEES” by 3%, they run around saying they lowered taxes–even though it costs you 2% more to live in the state (hello Mitt), they claim they don’t raise taxes.
And you can see how they get away with this…math, simple math, is beyond most people.
2% of your Social Security invested privately will give you a better return then the other 98% taken by the government…and people don’t get it. 2% out performs 98%.
right2bright on November 10, 2007 at 9:23 AM
I agree with all that and it’s a great reminder. I would add that the media is complicit. If a politician was corrected by the media every time they tried to call spending less than originally planned a cut, or taxing less than originally planned a cut, they would be forced to stop using such Orwellian speech. We would all be better off for it.
Ordinary1 on November 10, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Sorry I still enjoy buying a lotto ticket early in the week and daydreaming about what I’d do with the winnings. I do wonder though why my dear spouse usually ends up buying Rat poison early in the week too. We don’t have Rats! Strange.
Buzzy on November 10, 2007 at 11:18 AM
I don’t see anything wrong with a buck spent on the Lotto here and there. Like I said earlier, I bought my house in Texas from a guy who won $33 million on a quick pick. It can happen. I feel sorry for the folks who spend $$ they can’t afford on the unrealistic hope that the lottery will pull them out of poverty.
A buck now and then = entertainment
Spending grocery $$ = sad
Ordinary1 on November 10, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Exactly right, Bryan.
Lottery = Stupid Tax.
Lawrence on November 10, 2007 at 3:54 PM
Once again, I beg to differ… Although I see your point, I believe the percentages are much closer than you assume. The middle-class are purchasing more lottery tickets, per person, than the poor. The wealthy drink and smoke much less than the not so wealthy. In the end, I believe it comes out as much more detrimental to the poor than the wealthy.
Sin taxes affect the poor much more than the wealthy and middle class, just on the basis of indulgence, but once we consider the percentage of a person’s income being wasted on that which he can’t afford, it becomes a form of persecution to tax things like tobacco, alcohol and fuel.
Rugged Individual on November 11, 2007 at 12:23 AM
The Lottery: Self-imposed tax on the stupid.
budorob on November 12, 2007 at 9:37 AM
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