Lottery Savings AccountPrev TopicNext Topic

• dallascowboyfan

  

  Oklahoma
  United States
  Member #82,389
  November 12, 2009
  6,374 Posts
  Offline
  Mar 7, 2011, 8:20 am

  ▲▼

  Interesting.........
• Raven62

  

  25

  New Jersey
  United States
  Member #17,842
  June 28, 2005
  180,983 Posts
  Offline
  Mar 7, 2011, 5:37 pm

  ▲▼

  Lottery savings Accounts give you a chance to win cash prizes instead of earning regular interest on your savings. When you put your money into a Lottery Savings Account, you're paid less interest than holders of standard savings accounts. The unpaid interest is accumulated and given as a lottery prize, usually once a month, to one of the lottery savings account holders. And that can be big money! In the U.S., Lottery Savings Accounts are only legal in Michigan: Most states that run lotteries prohibit anyone else from running a lottery for payouts, even banks.
  
  Michigan is the last place you'd expect to find more people saving money these days. One-third of the residents live below the poverty line, and everyone sees the blight of vacant homes, abandoned furniture and dumped tires. It seems like a ridiculous place to launch an experiment to turn nonsavers into regular savers.
  
  Bank deposits don't get people's hearts pumping, but scratch-off tickets do. The average American household snaps up about $500 annually in lottery tickets, whose appeal is especially strong among those with lower incomes. Some estimates suggest that more than 80 percent of lottery revenue comes from households making less than $50,000 a year -- the very people who have the hardest time saving. In fact, 38 percent of people earning less than $25,000 a year think the lottery is the most practical way they'll accumulate a few hundred thousand dollars in their lifetimes.
  
  To redirect that money, the credit unions explored how they could blend the excitement of the lottery with the certainty of socking away cash. After all, both are about pursuing aspirations. (One is just a much more fun way to do it.) In January 2009, the credit unions declared that for every $25 someone saved, the saver would earn an entry into a drawing for a $100,000 prize one year later. At the same time, they gave out monthly prizes of up to $100. The credit unions also hoped to attract new members and expand their deposit bases. So as part of the program, people could join a credit union and open an account to bid for the prize at the same time.
  
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/05/AR2010020501447.html

  A mind once stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions!
  
  Catch-22: A dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
  
  Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges: When the republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous.
  
  The best way to learn is to never stop being an Experiential Student!
• BobP

  

  Dump Water Florida
  United States
  Member #380
  June 5, 2002
  3,574 Posts
  Offline
  Mar 10, 2011, 3:00 am

  ▲▼

  
  Hmmmm, so some are willing to let the lottery hold their ten million dollar jackpot and pay it out over twenty years, but not to hold ten cents out of their ticket purchase because the lottery can't be trusted, interesting.
  
  BobP
• AuntiePat

  

  Just outside of Cleveland, OH
  United States
  Member #54,077
  August 3, 2007
  106 Posts
  Offline
  Mar 16, 2011, 8:29 am

  ▲▼
  In response to BobP

  Quote: Originally posted by BobP on Mar 10, 2011

  
  Hmmmm, so some are willing to let the lottery hold their ten million dollar jackpot and pay it out over twenty years, but not to hold ten cents out of their ticket purchase because the lottery can't be trusted, interesting.
  
  BobP

  Your statement is predicated on a jackpot winner taking a lump sum prize (although, as we all know, all amounts awarded--other than the big on--are lump sum awards)--I just know when I talk about winning lotteries--I'm talking about the jackpots, not the $300 I won last week and last month on my state's version of a pick 5 game.

   

  Before you make this type of a statement-perhaps you might need to conduct ANOTHER poll asking just how many respondents who would be so lucky to win a jackpot prize-- whether a national or state jackpot game--would take the payout and how many would prefer the lump sum prize.  While I can see some merits to this enforced savings (as well as some pitfalls), I DO agree with the previous poster who indicated that the government was far too involved with our lives and have--OVER ALL THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS-- shown immense irresponsibility with the power that they have.
• BobP

  

  Dump Water Florida
  United States
  Member #380
  June 5, 2002
  3,574 Posts
  Offline
  Mar 17, 2011, 6:21 am

  ▲▼
  In response to AuntiePat

  Quote: Originally posted by AuntiePat on Mar 16, 2011

  Your statement is predicated on a jackpot winner taking a lump sum prize (although, as we all know, all amounts awarded--other than the big on--are lump sum awards)--I just know when I talk about winning lotteries--I'm talking about the jackpots, not the $300 I won last week and last month on my state's version of a pick 5 game.

   

  Before you make this type of a statement-perhaps you might need to conduct ANOTHER poll asking just how many respondents who would be so lucky to win a jackpot prize-- whether a national or state jackpot game--would take the payout and how many would prefer the lump sum prize.  While I can see some merits to this enforced savings (as well as some pitfalls), I DO agree with the previous poster who indicated that the government was far too involved with our lives and have--OVER ALL THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS-- shown immense irresponsibility with the power that they have.

  
  The question of lump sum vs spread out payments has been asked and polled a number of times.  Not every state offers the option.
  
  As to whether your employer steals the pension fund or the federal government raids the social security trust fund we're never going to see that money again.   So far lottery winnings have been safe as have bank accounts even if it has taken some time to get the money back from closed banks which keeps me hopeful percentage banked portions of lottery ticket sales would be safe as anything else is these days. 
  
  Congradulations on your win, spend your money while it's still worth something.
  
  BobP