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

[Nuphonewhodis]

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?

It’s a piss take really.

When they say the £10 cards give a better chance of winning, they mean a better chance of winning any prize, not of winning the jackpot. When you look at the odds of winning on the website, there’s a decent chance of winning a small prize, but as the prize amounts increase, the chances of winning them drop massively.

but where do you stop?

Apple, Primark, Nike, Deliveroo, Currys...
I could go on all day, the offer of crap people do not need and can't afford is everywhere. Some go for the scratchcards, others for the latest gadget they don't need -even the big issue seller down my office has an iphone!

Even Aldi advertising Christmas food is exploitative if you look at it that way.

I do sometimes wonder if gambling should be legal. I feel it's not really much of a step from conning people, it's basically earning money from a psychological trick, from human weakness - I know personally how tempting that feeling of false hope can be, especially when everything is is going badly.

But I suppose like alcohol/drugs etc people would still do it if it wasn't legal, so legalise and regulate is the strategy.

Is it moral for the royal family to wear outrageously expensive designer clothes when they are coming to see us plebs?

ODFOD. This is just snobbery dressed up as concern. Poor people aren’t capable of making decisions so they need to be coerced into the ‘correct’ behind by their betters.

The odds aren’t even minuscule, the odds of a win are about 50% on a £10 card. I get one a year at my birthday and have won several hundred pounds.

It's gambling with a 'happy face'. It beats me that we moan and moan about FoBTs , yet it's ok to sell £10 Lottery scratch cards!

I think some people aren't good at assessing probabilities and cost/ benefits, and lottery/ gambling companies take advantage of this.

Someone I know said "I play scratchcards, you make more than you spend with those", and genuinely believed that.

I think that as a society we should be looking out for those who may be vulnerable at the hands of coercive business practises.

I agree with you OP. I also think that being poor DOES make you vulnerable in many cases and I disagree that it's patronising to think that. If you are poor, you have no financial safety net. How is that not a vulnerability in life?

For the record, the FCA agree that poverty (or lack of savings) can mean that someone is a vulnerable customer www.fca.org.uk/publication/occasional-papers/occasional-paper-8-exec-summary.pdf

It's weird how many people want to live in a Nanny State when they're looking over the fence at others.

I don't imagine they'd fancy it much, if other people were looking back over the fence at them and the things they choose to do.

@worra would you prefer it if we all just stopped caring about each other and left everyone to it, no matter the situation?

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

The odds aren’t even minuscule, the odds of a win are about 50% on a £10 card. I get one a year at my birthday and have won several hundred pounds.

The odds are not in our favor to make money though! That is how lottery companies work, pay out less than they take in.

YABU. Don’t be so silly. They are choosing to buy them; most in similar situations don’t.

I actually agree. The national lottery are aware that a significant percentage of people buying scratch cards are In dire straits. 2 quid is a bit of fun. 10 quid not so much.
I also think that retailers should do their bit to dissuade people from blowing all their money on the stuff.

I tend to agree with you OP. We could argue morals and ethics all day, but at the end of it I am willing to bet those tickets will disproportionately be bought by people who are poor or addicted or both, and it will add to the unhappiness rather than the happiness of society.

The odds are bollocks though, as it's possible for all the prizes to be won before all cards are sold. So the chance of winning from some cards is zero.

@worra would you prefer it if we all just stopped caring about each other and left everyone to it, no matter the situation?

But surely caring means you're going to do something about it, or at least try?

Otherwise I can't help but think you're being a bit patronising to 'those poor people'.

At least the National Lottery invests millions into community projects, education, heritage etc.

Unlike alcohol and junk food sales.

I tend to agree with you OP. We could argue morals and ethics all day, but at the end of it I am willing to bet those tickets will disproportionately be bought by people who are poor or addicted or both, and it will add to the unhappiness rather than the happiness of society.

Yup. I think there are so many immoral things normalised under capitalism, it does seem genuinely shocking to some people that they could be questioned, but there you go.

Yup. I think there are so many immoral things normalised under capitalism

If you start applying "morals" then it's not capitalism is it ? It's some watered down version of socialism

They are likely gambling addicts if they’re buying expensive cards but look like that (not being judgemental you could be describing my mum) she buys the £10 cards but even if they’re out of stock/unavailable she’ll buy a stack of £5 or £1-£2 ones etc. It really doesn’t matter. If she’s determined to blow her last £20 (which she always does) she’ll
Do it regardless of how many cards she buys that adds up to that amount.

It might be immoral but I much rather leave in a state where adults are free to make their own mistakes than in a state where you are free to do as you are told!

Take a look at the number of bookies and age-restricted arcades in deprived areas. These are the places to find their best customers. There's far too much opportunity for people to blow their money, and online gambling is far too easy, even if you can set yourself limits. The lottery is less immoral imho as at least a proportion of the money goes to good causes.

I can't believe we banned slavery considering so many people liked doing it. Bloody Nanny State getting involved again.

I can't believe we banned slavery considering so many people liked doing it.

what does slavery have to do with anything on this thread?

what does slavery have to do with anything on this thread? confused

I think the point was that we already accept many legal restrictions (no slavery, tight gun control). It's just a matter of where we individually draw the line whether we find these repressive.