Jackson Jambalaya

Sin Money

Cha-ching, new company/gument cars, offices redecorated, "trade" shows and conferences to attend in exotic locations, fat raises...

Happy times are here again...

I have a hard time believing the state made $570,000 straight up on first day sales. That seems super inflated in a state that wont spend money eating out or patronizing local establishments.

A man in the delta years ago lost all of his money in a card game. Being after hours, he went to the store he managed and brought the money back to renter the card game which, he promptly lost. He reported a theft the next morning from the store. He went to jail. Get ready when this lottery gets cranked up, because it is coming.

Can someone link the qualifications for a 'business' to be approved to participate? I keep thinking about all the seedy 'convenience stores' with bars on the door and windows that smell of bananas and have three day old chicken under a hot lamp.

Are liquor stores eligible? What about Catholic Churches? And for the holier than thou poster at 10:13, what about your raffles and taking a chance on a shotgun with the proceeds going to crippled children? Or does God have a selective-indignation attitude when it comes to your 'sin' of games of chance?

Of all the worthwhile projects Alyce Clark could have supported she will go down in state history as the person most responsible for establishing a system in the state that separates money from those that can least afford it. Thanks Alyce for looking after your peoples.

I keep seeing that in addition to the scratch- offs, we are going to have Mega Millions and Powerball. Are we also going to have other games with drawings, such as Pick 3, Pick 4, etc. With daily drawings? It seems odd that I've seen no mention of what is a lottery staple in other states.

@10:27 - Per MLC, first day sales were $2.5 million. With 1,200 retailers, that amounts to average sales of $2,083 each - or about $138 in ticket sales per hour per store. That seems high to me too.

This is as bogus as Tate not knowing about his new frontage road.

As aunt Esther said to Fred,a fool and his money shall soon be parted.And you are a old fish eyed fool.

@10:13- Just stop, already. The “gambling is sin” argument is judgmental and socially weak. Based on your thinking, any “risk” to increase the amount of money held is gambling. If you partake in the stock market, contribute to a 401k, or invest in material items hoping their value increases in the future, you are gambling. None of it is guaranteed to increase in value and could result in losses. None of it is pleasing to God. I’m not saying gambling is not a sin, or that it’s okay, I’m saying that people who call gamblers sinners, while risking their income in other ways, are no better and ALSO a gambler. Glass houses, much?

Some of you have no concept about how fast money can roll in. I think daily dollar sales of some establishments would blow your mind. On the first day of heavily-advertised ticket sales, it is absolutely possible to see these numbers. (It’s like comparing Black Friday to a “normal” sales day.) It will likely slow down to the pace you are imagining, but not for a little while. There are swarms of Mississippians who have been traveling to LA for years for their fix. On the flip side, it’s silly for the politicians to be touting the first day (or week) numbers. These numbers are like a novelty/fad and will lessen once the shiny wears off. I don’t believe anything politicians say until I see results. Fix some roads and THEN you can brag!!

Where's all the bitching to close the casinos on Reservations and on the coast?

I'm about to SIN so hard!!!

The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.

1:11 - casinos are different, they have hotels, food and shows, so it's not a pure sin like the lottery (or something).

@ 10;40:

The raffles for the shotgun to benefit crippled children that you reference do not require anyone else to LOSE ANYTHING for you to WIN. The winner is not taking anything from anyone.

@12:48
Likewise, investing in the stock market is investing in something/someone that is actually producing some product, service, etc. Here again, the winner is not taking anything from anyone else.

By comparison, the State Lottery is a process that MUST GENERATE LOSERS, and lots of them, for anyone else to win. The winner does indeed take from the loser.

And as for the "socially weak" remark - being socially weak is what's gotten us to the point that our elected leaders believe a Lottery is any part of a responsible solution to our current infrastructure problems.

" I have a hard time believing the state made $570,000 straight up on first day sales."

I easily believe it.

Even this morning, (D-Day plus one) . . . I was delayed at a reputable fuel/convince store
on I-55 down in McComb for ten minutes . . . as some chick in front of me bought about $50 worth of the scratch offs.

For the naysayers, at least the welfare money is now being recycled back into our coffers rather than our border states.

the best poor tax imaginable...

When I win, I’m gonna give everyone that post their opinions on here a shit load of money. Can not buy happiness, so just buy things that make you happy or just give it away. Good luck to all of us. Hope I win for y’all’s sake.

3:18
I agree 100%, what is really the downside? Why not pick up extra revenue from those who usually are only a "cost" to the State coffers. I have never heard of someone losing all their money playing the lottery as is with a casino!!

@10:13....so what if it is sin money. It still spends the same!!

Besides "sin" is fun and it is my business, not yours or your hypocritical pew buddy.

"The raffles for the shotgun to benefit crippled children that you reference do not require anyone else to LOSE ANYTHING for you to WIN. The winner is not taking anything from anyone."

What a stupid analogy! If I buy a scratch off I'm not taking anything from anyone either. Your 'crippled children shotgun raffle' is illegal in the state of Mississippi.

If I win the shotgun, all those who didn't win the shotgun pissed away their money and, I guess, will deprive their children of food and wind up in hell. But, since it's all 'for the children', I guess God is OK with it.

@2:47- I bet those struggling with low wages and horrible working conditions within many corporations would argue you that those stock winners do INDEED take from a losers.

What’s socially weak is the government tricking folks into another source of revenue (without calling it a tax.) Make it fun and they will pay/play!!! On the flip side, how do you propose correcting the infrastructure?

I hope that the MLC brings the Cash4Life lotto to Mississippi. It draws every single day of the week. First place Jackpot is $1000 a day and the second place Jackpot is $1000 a week for LIFE!
They have that lotto in TN. It is a multistate lotto like Powerball and Mega Millions. But it isn't available in every state.

A colonial lottery funded the continental army. Later lotteries also funded the governments of the fledgling states. Corruption soured the USA to the lottery for more than century. The lottery is as American as the AR15, hamburgers. And apple pie!

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/early-american-lottery-ticket-colonial

10:56 you are right on!

"The raffles for the shotgun to benefit crippled children that you reference do not require anyone else to LOSE ANYTHING for you to WIN. The winner is not taking anything from anyone."

Your ignorance is showing. Any (non-state regulated) lottery in this state is illegal, no matter who runs it or what the proceeds go to or what the prize is.

For me to win the shotgun, everybody else must 'not win'. That means they lost their gamble. But they convinced themselves their gambled dollar or five went for a good cause so it's not really a gamble or something like that.

If, however, if the holy pew sitters want to shun gambling, next time somebody approaches you to buy a lottery ticket for a shotgun or an autographed football, just say, "I don't do games of chance, but here's twenty dollars for your cause." And don't take the raffle ticket. You can tell your Sunday School class about it too.

2:47 clearly doesn’t understand the stock market or raffles.

In a raffle, every person that doesn’t win the prize is the Loser. There is but one winner. Just because you don’t like the ultimate winner “ in this case, the lottery corporation “ doesn’t mean the scenario is any different. Maybe I didn’t want little Johnnie’s team to go play in that tournament, but they did anyways and raffled something to do it.

The stock market is the most sophisticated form of legalized gambling there is. In every trade, someone is winning and someone is losing. If you buy a stock and it goes down, you lost, if it goes up you win. Can’t be any more simple than that.

In regards to the very first post, just because one dude doesn’t have better judgment than to gamble away his life in a drunken stupor, doesn’t mean it should be outlawed for everyone else. That is a dangerously totalitarian view. Don’t make rules for everyone due to one person.

The lottery has horrible odds of winning, but it gives everyone the ability to daydream for a few bucks. If some lunatic wants to squander everything on it, doesn’t mean you take all the rest of our abilities to daydream. Now get the hell off my lawn.

There is a simple solution to this debate, if you choose to participate in playing the lottery buy your tickets and go for it. If you choose not to play don’t buy a ticket. Problem solved, but meanwhile quit trying to tell everyone else that they are wrong to do what they choose. I bought 10 $2.00 tickets Monday, didn’t win any money on them but I did win 2 free tickets, (didn’t win with them either)! My money, my choice and none of your business!