Thoughts on the lottery

[1coolhand]

We buy them every now and then. The hope program is going broke because of the people that run the lottery get paid outrageous salaries and by the time the politicians get their cut everyone loses. Oh and don't forget that tuition has gone sky high because every child is told they should go to college, when in the real world some people aren't college material. Supply and demand at its best. Think about it some of these kids go for a little while and just quit before they ever really get started.That's free hope money for the school. It doesn't get refunded back to the state. Sorry about the rant, but that's my opinion.

By the way, one of our friends one 12 million a couple of years ago.

 

[Petro_58]

I may have bought 5 scratch offs in the last 20 years.

6 for me.

 

[Zastava]

Take it no one has seen how much the lottery official make in salary and bonuses...unbelievable
http://www.atlantaunfiltered.com/2011/03/10/margaret-defrancisco-ga-lottery-ceo-496776/
The head of the Georgia Lottery made about a half-million dollars last year, but you wouldn’t know it if you checked salary data on the state auditor’s website.

DeFrancisco
​

Open.Georgia.gov shows Margaret DeFrancisco, president and CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corp., was paid $353,500 in salary in FY2010, plus $17,720 for travel. What it doesn’t tell you is that the lottery paid her an additional $143,276 bonus last year.
DeFrancisco also collected paychecks totaling $490,000 in FY2009 and $436,000 the year before that. But information provided to the auditor shows only a $286,000 salary in 2009 and nothing at all the year before that. (The auditor didn’t ask for that information until 2009).
None of the incentive pay awarded to lottery employees is reflected at Open.Georgia.Gov, a review of data for 2009 and 2010 shows. Those payments totaled $1.89 million in 2010 and nearly $15.4 million since 2005.

 

[Cat Herder]

The rate at which students leave the program at the first checkpoint is quite high, just as 1coolhand noted above. I was part of an informal discussion about ways to better manage the monies available through HOPE to our kids. There was a lot of finger pointing among the group, kinda like here on some threads, with potshots taken at inadequate K-12 preparation, a means test - capping income levels eligible for the scholarship, out of control costs at the colleges and universities...One of the suggestions I liked was to make the first year a loan. You get through your freshman year OK, you continue in the program. If your GPA does not meet the threshold, HOPE becomes a loan you have to repay. You quit school? Repay HOPE. There are ways one could incentivize students, or their parents, to make sure the little darlings graduate in four years, too. That's another symptom of inflation in college costs. 6th year students hanging around to watch another year of college football take seats away from other students and consequently more sections are required to teach them all. More sections = more faculty. Now, someone who's been around six years isn't on HOPE but they do contribute to the rising costs...

 

[mikeh25]

Seeing folks in the poorer sections of the ATL line up to buy lottery tickets used to piss me off.

Then I heard Bortz say something that completely changed my mind about it: Buying those lottery tickets are the only "taxes" some of those folks pay.

 

[junkgurl]

My husband is real lucky with scratch offs. He won $44K on a ticket that costed 2 bucks. However, ever since then, he buys them constantly because he believes it will happen again. I don't - but then again I didn't believe it would happen the first time. What can I say? lol

 

[1coolhand]

The rate at which students leave the program at the first checkpoint is quite high, just as 1coolhand noted above. I was part of an informal discussion about ways to better manage the monies available through HOPE to our kids. There was a lot of finger pointing among the group, kinda like here on some threads, with potshots taken at inadequate K-12 preparation, a means test - capping income levels eligible for the scholarship, out of control costs at the colleges and universities...One of the suggestions I liked was to make the first year a loan. You get through your freshman year OK, you continue in the program. If your GPA does not meet the threshold, HOPE becomes a loan you have to repay. You quit school? Repay HOPE. There are ways one could incentivize students, or their parents, to make sure the little darlings graduate in four years, too. That's another symptom of inflation in college costs. 6th year students hanging around to watch another year of college football take seats away from other students and consequently more sections are required to teach them all. More sections = more faculty. Now, someone who's been around six years isn't on HOPE but they do contribute to the rising costs...

Very good ideas!, but it won't get anywhere! Too much like right!
When I said "some people aren't college material". I know this because I am one of them. I hated school from the first day till the last day I was there.That being said, I have been to technical schools for the career I have chosen. I just always knew I wasn't going to college. We need more vocational schools,craft, and trade schools. Someone has to build the sky scrapers all these college students are going to be CEO in,lol. One day soon, guys like me will be able to name there price on building anything trade related.

 

[RIDDLE]

I won $1000 one day on a $20 dollar ticket. I probably spend on average $10-20 a week. It is really just throwing away money but you ain't going to win if you don't play.

 

[steve2039]

What's crazy about scratch offs and number picking is the amount lower class spend on it. I have seen people drop hundreds in one night on it.

Kind of ironic that the people who play the little hoping to hit big and put kids in school are usually paying someone else's kids higher education.

 

[Zastava]

how much did you blow before you won is the question.

I won $1000 one day on a $20 dollar ticket. I probably spend on average $10-20 a week. It is really just throwing away money but you ain't going to win if you don't play.