You bet your life
Jim Thompson
By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
When I was around 21 or 22 years old, a lottery was made legal in the state of Maryland. It was novel, at least for it to be legal. The Mafia had run numbers games everywhere for decades. Same thing.
Today, there are state government run lotteries everywhere. Here in Georgia, the state run lottery is used to pay post high school tuition in state universities for qualifying students. Basically, we are taking the poorest people’s money and educating the brainiest. I guess there are worse things we could do with it.
For indeed, lotteries appeal to the poorest and least educated among us. The odds of winning are so bad that the individual bettor would be just as well off throwing their money out the window.
If you haven’t taken and understood an advanced course in probability and statistics, you can’t begin to understand how bad the odds are for the individual bettor. And the individual bettor is often the one who is the most desperate player.
My business slogan which I like to use as a conversation starter is “spinnin’" the invoice printer.” It goes like this: if you can’t spin your invoice printer fast enough, you can’t stay in business, for the only legitimate way to receive money is through an invoice.
This may be a real paper invoice, an electronic invoice, or, at church, the collection plate. Every business must produce legitimate invoices in order to stay in business. If you work for a business, make sure there is a direct line from you to the invoice printer, otherwise, the next time business is soft, there is a chance you will find yourself on the outside looking in.
In betting, you do not produce an invoice, you honor (pay) the invoice (the lottery ticket) presented to you.
See the difference?
Last fall, Laura and I took a charming cruise from Quebec City to Boston, circling the southeastern provinces of Canada with stops along the way. When on a cruise ship, I always ask for a tour behind the public portions of the ship. Sometimes I get one, sometimes I don’t. This time I did.
We were on the bridge, getting a personal tour from the first officer. I ask him the ways they spin their invoice printer and make a profit. He went through the usual list, fares, special meals, shore excursions, and so forth.
I then ask if they made a profit every day – port to port. He admitted they make a profit every day except the days they stop in ports.
Why?
He told me the days they were in ports, the casino is closed. Operating the casino is where the profit is.
Well, we know where their invoice printer is, don’t we?
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.
discretionary cash
If someone spends $75 every 2 weeks on lottery tickets, scratch-offs, etc... That's $1,950 a year. About a year ago, I opened a savings account, and I put $75 in it every two weeks. I didn't throw it out a window and I didn't line the pockets of some government scheme. My old neighbor told me long ago, "If I won a million dollars in the lottery, I'd farm until it's all gone." ...
As a side note Jim, In the 1990's, the U.S. Navy tried to schedule as many port visits as possible for their deployed ships. When the crew and embarked Marines are ashore and the ship is docked pier side, then there's less fuel being used (both ships' fuel and aviation JP-5) and less hash being slung on the mess decks. Me being me, when I was assigned to Shore Patrol, we were to turn in our food receipts to the disbursing office. NCO's on duty walking the beat in some foreign country were reimbursed for their meals. I kept the receipt from a snack that I would incur. Then maybe, I'd swing through an eatery, see some familiar faces, and I'd ask my buddies to give me one of their receipts. Or glean a random receipt off the top of the refuse in a waste can. I'm sorry. I'm the reason this Country is $36 trillion in debt. I was just a 21-year-old Corporal of Marines netting a $1,000 a month basic pay while deployed.