I play the lottery, and no, I’m not bad at math.
Realisticaly, I’m going to spend that $1 on a candy bar that I’ll enjoy for two minutes, or a Mega Millions ticket that gives me 3 days of great daydream material.
But the people who buy $20, $30, $50 of scratch cards at a time? That’s not playing for fun, that’s playing to win, which is really just a gambling addiction. The ones who buy 10 or 20 tickets at a time when the Powerball gets high because they think it gives them better odds? Yeah, those people are bad at math.
The way I see it, when I’m in Atlantic City on business and have time to kill, I can afford to blow $X at the casino if means I can enjoy myself- where X= the amount of money it would cost me to go to a movie, have a couple beers at the hotel bar, pick up a magazine, or whatever else I’d be doing to amuse myself for an equal amount of time. Likewise, I feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth from the buck I spend on a lottery ticket once a week, just because it gives me something to fantasize about while I drift off to sleep.
Not that I don’t want to win, mind you, it’s kind of the whole point- but gambling is like booze or porn or whatever else: It’s fine to want it, but when you start to need it, it’s time to step back and look at yourself.
