"Could you please be more specific?"
I highlighted the portion of rdgrnr's remarks I agreed with and since there is no disagreement or debate, there is no reason to be more specific. Are you bored because not very many members respond to your posts and want me to debate why I agreed?
Are you planning on asking all the members who wish someone a "happy birthday" or "congrats to the winner" to be more specific?
"The tax assessed on winning payoffs depends on the tax bracket the winners"
The remarks I replied to weren't about Federal income taxes, but that didn't stop you from another boring off topic lecture about something I never said. And you still can't figure out why many members have you blocked, ignored, and/or don't respond to your posts?
"The 50% "stupid tax" refers to the fact that in nearly ALL state lotteries, only 50% of the gross ticket sales are returned as prizes to the winners."
I'd like to see the actual figure showing that even close to 50% of all ticket sales are returned to winners in any state lottery. In the fiscal year ending June 2012, the PA lottery paid out 60.92% of their total sales in prizes, Texas paid 64.8% in prizes and Tennessee paid 67.2%.
"You have to be pretty clueless not to see that this represents a 50% loss for all players, in aggregate."
It's none of my business how much you or all the other players lose (or win). It's really simple, if I bet $3 on a Pick 3 straight number and win, they pay me $1800 and if I lose, I'm out 3 bucks. And believe it or not, the lottery will still pay me $1800 even it means an aggregate loss to the lottery on that drawing.
The Internet is really big and I'm sure somewhere, someone is out there who is interested in how 50,000 mythical pick-3 players purchasing a $1 straight QP in every one of the next 50,000 drawings will do. Good luck finding them!