Tough economy?  Some cut back on lottery tickets, wagering

Jun 15, 2008, 1:39 pm (15 comments)

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As gas pump prices and grocery store bills rise, customer service representative Rita Herron has been paying attention to where her money goes, and that means decreasing from 10 to two lottery tickets a week.

"I pay more for gas, and so I have less money left for tickets," Herron said. "Everything is going up."

Throughout the country, 20 lotteries, including California, have reported flat or declining sales, according to data from La Fleur's Magazine, a lottery trade publication, and state lottery officials. A decrease in lottery profits means California schools could receive $94 million less than originally anticipated for the coming school year, according to the California State Lottery Commission.

While the commission has no exact figures, press secretary Al Lundeen said the economy is one of several contributing factors to the decrease in lottery sales.

"Typically, lottery sales have to do with discretionary income, so common sense would say when there is less discretionary income, there will be decreased sales," he said.

Local store owner Gurcharan Dhillon said he does not think there is a link between higher gas prices and lottery sales because people who buy high volumes of gas at his ampm mini market rarely play the lottery.

"The people buying $100, $80, $60 (of gas), they hardly buy lotto tickets," he said. "Typically, people who buy lotto tickets are buying $15, $20 of gas."

However, Palms Sub Bourbon Liquors Mini-Mart employees have noticed a decline in lottery sales and have also cut back on their personal ticket purchases.

"We used to have people coming in and buying the expensive $3, $5 tickets, but now they are just buying $1 tickets here, $1 tickets there," employee Audel Ramirez said.

The state lottery commission's main focus to boost sales is on removing restrictions preventing higher jackpots, Lundeen said.

"Is it going to be a remedy for the poor economy? Naturally, we understand that it won't be the full answer, but other states have shown when there is a higher payout, more people play," he said.

When it comes to the education shortfall, each school gets paid directly from the lottery fund, which is administered by the State Controller's Office, Department of Education fiscal services administrator Peter Foggiato said.

"Our guidance is for schools to budget it as one-time money," he said.

There is no replacement if the lottery funds decrease, so each school will have to deal with it on an individual basis, Foggiato said.

"The state can't use lottery funds for a shortfall in the state's budget, so it does not work the opposite way," he said.

The Kern High School District will receive about $400,000 less this year than originally anticipated, said Paul Bealessio, director of budgets for the district.

"In a year where all sources of revenue are going down, it is hard to lose this too," he said. "Just more bad news."

Bealessio expects to lose about $200,000 from the district's general fund and another $200,000 of restricted funds that go toward instructional material. The district will make up the money through a combination of cutbacks and using restricted funds carried over from other years.

Other gambling options are also feeling the impact of the economy. The Sports Pavilion at Kern County Fairgrounds has seen a slight decrease in satellite betting from last year.

"Almost every business is having a little slide-off," satellite supervisor Dian Tootle said. "It's not drastic, but we've had a decrease."

The Pavilion is doing better than other satellite betting tracks in the state, Tootle said, and had more than doubled its previous attendance for the Belmont.

"Some of our customers are not coming in, but our regulars haven't been complaining much about the economy," Tootle said.

In four months, Donna Plunkett and Alvin DeShields have visited the racetrack twice, which is less than usual.

"We have to save for other things," DeShields said.

But some people are still willing to take a gamble in the hopes of winning big. Cory Brown still buys $5 to $20 worth of tickets a day.

"Because of the crisis, you hope to hit it big," Brown said. "It's funny. It's ironic. You spend more money just to spend more money... You figure you will make more money real quick, like, so you are buying lottery tickets."

Bakersfield Californian

Comments

RJOh's avatarRJOh

The economy works just the opposite on my lottery tickets buying. 

I was never a fan of the scratch-off because odds of 1/1000K doesn't mean much if you aren't shopping at the retailers that have the roll of tickets with the big winners where with lotto games the odds are the same for every player regardless of where they shop. 

I've alway budgeted my lottery spending by what I was giving up to buy a ticket.  Use to be I gave up a gallon of gas to buy one lottery ticket and now I can buy four tickets when I give up a gallon of gas.  Comparative speaking, $1 lottery tickets are an even better bargain as gas prices goes up and winning a million dollars still sounds nice regardless of gas prices.  When Powerball jackpots get high I don't travel out of state to buy tickets, I stay home and save my gas money until MegaMillions jackpots are up again and spend that money on MM tickets locally.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Like anything else, it depends on one's personal situation.  If you use your children's lunch money to buy lottery tickets, then you have a serious problem.  If you can afford to blow $10 or $20 without hurting anyone, then it's nobody's business what you do with your money.   I do agree that, during tough times, a lot of people figure "What the heck" and will spend more than they should.  However, if you don't have the money for gas to get to work, it would be crazy to spend more on the lottery.

mylollipop's avatarmylollipop

Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Jun 15, 2008

Like anything else, it depends on one's personal situation.  If you use your children's lunch money to buy lottery tickets, then you have a serious problem.  If you can afford to blow $10 or $20 without hurting anyone, then it's nobody's business what you do with your money.   I do agree that, during tough times, a lot of people figure "What the heck" and will spend more than they should.  However, if you don't have the money for gas to get to work, it would be crazy to spend more on the lottery.

I Agree! I would certainly NOT strain my cramped budget to play the lottery.  Poor investment indeed.  What about the gas to get to work, money to pay for the increase in food, and everything else????  Obviously lotto sales will go down.  I beleive most, who are not addicted gamblers, play lottery with discretionary income.

maine23's avatarmaine23

They should have a gas/lotto promo...good luck on this 1 right.....lol

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Jun 15, 2008

The economy works just the opposite on my lottery tickets buying. 

I was never a fan of the scratch-off because odds of 1/1000K doesn't mean much if you aren't shopping at the retailers that have the roll of tickets with the big winners where with lotto games the odds are the same for every player regardless of where they shop. 

I've alway budgeted my lottery spending by what I was giving up to buy a ticket.  Use to be I gave up a gallon of gas to buy one lottery ticket and now I can buy four tickets when I give up a gallon of gas.  Comparative speaking, $1 lottery tickets are an even better bargain as gas prices goes up and winning a million dollars still sounds nice regardless of gas prices.  When Powerball jackpots get high I don't travel out of state to buy tickets, I stay home and save my gas money until MegaMillions jackpots are up again and spend that money on MM tickets locally.

I Agree!

Some people will not plan on taking those 1000 mile round trip vacations because of the price of gas and might play an extra buck or two on the lottery for a chance of winning enough so they can still take that vacation. Attendance at county fairs are usually up when the economy is down and with the price of gas being high, more people will probably do their summer things closer to home.

MaddMike51

What I spend on PB & MM will only buy me a gallon and a half of gasoline.A gallon and a half of gasoline won't take me very far while a lucky lottery ticket has the potential to take me anywhere in the world that I may want to go.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

I know I am one of those who has had to cut back on the amount I play. Food, gas, bills, etc. come ahead of playing the lottery. I have money set aside for playing and I still play, but it is less then the amount I used to play with.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Quote: Originally posted by maine23 on Jun 15, 2008

They should have a gas/lotto promo...good luck on this 1 right.....lol

I'm pretty sure Washington has one. 

 

Here it is:

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004478639_webgaslottery15.html

Prob988

The recent run on powerball is running about $2,000,000 below the average (over 5 draws) for powerball.

On the other hand, some of the more recent runs of Megamillions were running above average.

It's hard to say what the exact cause is though.

Personally I play according to a formula I've developed based on expectation value (for the cash) prize, which is the ratio of the potential payout to the odds.

Since Megamillions has longer odds, I tend to play it only after the prize as advertised by annuity is over 50 million, and only marginally then.

I will play powerball now, but not a lot of tickets.

I live very close to the PA/NJ border so gas is not a real big issue with me for buying tickets.

BaristaExpress's avatarBaristaExpress

The price of gas has nothing to do with my playing the lottery! I'm going to pay whatever the price for a gallon of gas if I'm going to drive a car.... it's that plain and simple! And so are the rest of you, so stop with the BS about what you have to do in-order to play the lottery because of the price of a gallon of gasoline!

I'll always drive my car 30 miles one-way to get MM tickets (jackpot has to be 100 million cash option) then I'm going to do it! And I've always made that trip no matter what the price of a gallon of gas has been over the last 8 yrs. that I have been making that trip! I will always make that drive when it's that high and I don't care if gas is $10.00 a gallon! I will NOT be a prisoner to my house just because of the price of a gallon of gas! You know why? because we humans always find a way, no matter what if we really want to do something we want to do!

Besides the old saying "Don't spend more than you can afford to lose", applies to the lottery and not just for going to the casinos! Gambling is just that "GAMBLING" no matter how you slice it! 

LckyLary

Since April I've been playing much less, only one play per draw just so I can still have a chance to win and look forward to the drawings. It turns out to be more fun to have only 1 number or set in each game because if I lose it's not as big a deal. The payouts on the daily games are still the same, but the big games' jackpots increase more slowly. Even so I still see frequent winners of PB and MM. People still play. I haven't won much lately but for the last few months it was still better than when I have an off month with normal play. The cutbacks are not because "I have to choose between gas and Lottery" but because in this economy teetering on Recession it's just not smart to spend too much on anything.

The extra $1+ per gallon this year vs. last, represents 2 daily number plays per gallon, or one extra MM. The money is coming from somewhere as there is still plenty of traffic and the first things to go are usually Lottery or other entertainment.

If the Lotteries want to improve sales they need to improve odds. Stop adding balls, stop going computerized, and make so that more tickets win small prizes. Usually people winning $2 will immediately replay it so they would have not much to lose by increasing those. And it's very difficult to beat the 2:1 ratio where every $1 you play returns 50c unless you can have an algorithm that matches twice as often as a QP.

maine23's avatarmaine23

Goes to show I have good ideas...I didnt know they were even having gas/lotto promo....Hopefully Texas will consider it....Ill be waitin at the pump with my sleepers on....lol

murdoog

Quote: Originally posted by Prob988 on Jun 15, 2008

The recent run on powerball is running about $2,000,000 below the average (over 5 draws) for powerball.

On the other hand, some of the more recent runs of Megamillions were running above average.

It's hard to say what the exact cause is though.

Personally I play according to a formula I've developed based on expectation value (for the cash) prize, which is the ratio of the potential payout to the odds.

Since Megamillions has longer odds, I tend to play it only after the prize as advertised by annuity is over 50 million, and only marginally then.

I will play powerball now, but not a lot of tickets.

I live very close to the PA/NJ border so gas is not a real big issue with me for buying tickets.

I've got a formula too. I budget one day's take home pay plus winnings for the year.

The formula is then

(money left in budget/drawings left)*(prize/100 million)

So as with  you, an increase in the jackpot can increase the amount I play, but it's also affected by how much I've spent so far and how much longer I have to make my lottery budget last.

I don't know if this is a perfect formula, but it keeps me from going broke buying lottery tickets. :)

kokocat

wrong!

Lotto*Love's avatarLotto*Love

I've never spent much on any kind of lottery. Mainly because I know I can't afford it. God bless the one who can feed the scratch machine a $20, or slaps down $20 a week for lotto tickets.  I figure if I'm meant to win the JP, I'll do so with my $5 or less bets.  I have played $10 twice though..when MM went over 300m..So I can't say I've cut back since I hardly bet anything.  But I was thinking about a way to bet a few dollars more on my tickets.  I'm not usually a coupon cutter, but with cliping, I can save $ on groceries..or where some are located, gas....and use the $ I saved on a few more tickets. I mean, if you didn't use coupons, you'd be spending the full amount anyway.  My last shopping trip, I saved $11.00.  Thats 11 more chances on my MM.  Or $11.00 more gas in your tank....whatever floats your boat.Big Smile

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