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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that it's deeply immoral for Lottery to sell a £10 scratchcard

95 replies

Nuphonewhodis · 20/02/2019 15:54

I've been popping in to my new local corner shop the past few days, and many of those times i've seen the same few people buying the £10 scratchcard. Now I know that appearances can be deceiving and all but these people clearly seem like they're struggling money wise - tatty and holed clothing, very thin coats etc.

Loads of people spend money on the Lottery who can easily afford it, but surely there are lots of people in real financial straits who see playing the Lottery as their chance out of this. A £2 ticket is fair enough, but £10 is loads of money! It seems exploitative and in some ways like it's manipulating already vulnerable people to part with significant amounts of money, especially if they buy it weekly which some of the people in my local seem to.

AIBU?

OP posts:
Intohellbutstayingstrong · 20/02/2019 16:17

A tax on the stupid

StinkyCandle · 20/02/2019 16:19

I think it's incredibly patronising to think 'the poor" need to be guided in their spending.

Next step is to demand that "the poor" gets their benefits in food vouchers to ensure they spend them the acceptable way.

or to restrict the shopping of an obese person... and so on.

Birdsgottafly · 20/02/2019 16:21

I live in a deprived area, that I grew up in.

I am and are surrounded by lower income people.

Tbh, if it wasn't scratch cards it would be something else.

The Men tend to buy scratch cards, the Women overeat. Because we all need a 'buzz' in our lives.

Us poor people don't need protecting from ourselves and to dare suggest that we do, is bloody patronising.

Should there have been gambling regulations, or rather should they have been expanded (2005), I don't think they should have.

But the will was there, people wanted them, so it boils down to how much control our Government should have over us.

I don't want them to be able to tell us what we should and shouldn't be doing.

I would like the in-program advertising of the likes of foxy bingo, stopped, though.

PalmTree101 · 20/02/2019 16:21

How do we feel about fixed odd betting terminals in bookie shops being stake restricted to £2 then?

Fair enough to curb the evils of gambling addiction, or should people be able to choose to put as much cash as they want into them?

WilkoBrandCleaner · 20/02/2019 16:22

I think it's incredibly patronising to think 'the poor" need to be guided in their spending.

I think everyone does. Hence the Advertising Authority and Trading Standards.

Birdsgottafly · 20/02/2019 16:22

"A tax on the stupid"

Just scratch cards, or all gambling?

Original poster
Nuphonewhodis · 20/02/2019 16:23

Is it really patronising to dislike it when I see large corporations preying on often vulnerable people?

For the record, I am also uncomfortable with junk food being ladled with addictive substances and made extremely cheap.

OP posts:
Birdsgottafly · 20/02/2019 16:25

"Is it really patronising to dislike it when I see large corporations preying on often vulnerable people?"

But someone isn't vulnerable just because they are poor, fuck off with that.

PalmTree101 · 20/02/2019 16:25

am I the only one who's uncomfortable that, at the other end, the best way that a big group of Canadian teachers could think of to invest in for their pension fund was a lottery in the UK?

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll I'm not sure if you are being funny or not but OTPP is a huge and sophisticated institutional investor and they own a shit-ton of stuff in the UK from critical infrastructure to energy to real estate

StinkyCandle · 20/02/2019 16:26

last time someone thought "the poor" was incapable of being left to their own device, we ended up with workhouses to ensure they had a roof and food.

Original poster
Nuphonewhodis · 20/02/2019 16:28

I said 'some' poor people are vulnerable. Are we seriously denying that poverty doesn't make some people more vulnerable?

OP posts:
Original poster
Nuphonewhodis · 20/02/2019 16:29

Does make some people more vulnerable *

OP posts:
SilverySurfer · 20/02/2019 16:29

Unless they are standing at the counter with a gun aimed at their head, it's totally their business and absolutely none of yours.

WorraLiberty · 20/02/2019 16:29

Is it really patronising to dislike it when I see large corporations preying on often vulnerable people?

But your problem seems to lie with the £10 scratchcard

And as a few have pointed out, that makes no sense really because they'd just continue to buy 2 £5 cards or 5 £2 cards.

And they're not daft either. They know the chances of winning big are very remote.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 20/02/2019 16:32

People are spending £10 on a single scratch card. They must have more money that sense and Ebeneezer Scrouge put together.
I certainly couldn't afford to be scattering tenners around for a bloody scratch card, even if I did have an addiction.

WorraLiberty · 20/02/2019 16:32

Some things people get addicted to (poor or not)...

Scratchcards
Weekly lottery
Horse racing
Junk food
Sugar
Caffeine
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Chocolate

Sadly, addiction is part of life and if you banned £10 scratchcards, they'd probably spend it on other addictive things.

Janedoe5000 · 20/02/2019 16:32

I agree with you OP. Considering every other thread on here has a mental health angle to it, saying "but nobody forces them to play the lottery" just isn't good enough.

Yes, it's very exploitative.

Crunchymum · 20/02/2019 16:34

You spend an awful lot of time at the corner shop OP? Confused

x2boys · 20/02/2019 16:34

People have to take responsibility for their own actions, people are not vulnerable because they are poor ,some people are vulnerable and also poor but it's not the same thing and how would you decide who was too poor and vulnerable to make their own decisions

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 20/02/2019 16:34

I've never understood one.
"Oh its a vice. I'll find the money. I've got to. How if its not there

Lovemusic33 · 20/02/2019 16:36

I agree OP, I know people are saying “no one has to buy one” but a vunrable person might take the gamble. It is prices higher as there is a higher chance of winning, I’m guessing a much higher chance than winning the lottery? If someone is already a gambler I can see it being tempting. There are a lot of vunrable people who would take the risk and put themselves in financial difficulty.

LaurieFairyCake · 20/02/2019 16:37

Yes, it's a tax on the poor

Yes it's disgusting they are on sale when the vast majority of people buying them are on the lowest incomes

I used to buy lottery tickets when I was poor, wouldn't dream of buying them now

I'd rather we focused our efforts on lifting people out of poverty rather than selling them the idea 'it could be YOU'.

Original poster
Nuphonewhodis · 20/02/2019 16:38

Yes @worra but aside from alcohol, a single unit of chocolate, caffeine etc will not cost you £10.

To suggest that people would just buy 5 £2 scratchcards implies that they are intentionally allocating £10 a week or whatever to spend on scratchcards. For some that may be true but there must be people who just go into the shops and are drawn towards the £10 one because of a perceived higher chance of winning.

I'm also not necessarily suggesting that buying scratchcards is an addiction, although of course for some it will be. I think that to some it can often be the only option which they can see as getting them out of poverty, because societal and systemic issues mean that many people are trapped within the poverty cycle.

OP posts:
Janedoe5000 · 20/02/2019 16:38

Take a trip over to the Gamcare forums and see how all gambling effects lives. It's a pandemic.

And the amount of profit the gambling industry makes is offensive. Remember: they aren't making profits because people are winning.

Funny how everyone's a mental health champion but when it comes to gamblers those guys can rot.

LollyHolly24 · 20/02/2019 16:46

So you want to live in a nanny state then Hmm yes quite obviously YABU. People choose to buy them, if they can't really afford them but can't resist that isn't my problem and everyone shouldn't be penalised as a result. Same with anything really!?