Comments on: A great high gas price indicator

By: appfunds

appfunds — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:47:08 +0000

Lotteries are very popular in hard times.

People will cut spending on soda, but desperately look for ways of making extra money.

Great times for crooks are coming.

By: archetypical

archetypical — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:12:16 +0000

I can see the rationale, but I don’t support it. People who are willing to throw money away on the lotto tickets consistently aren’t the ones who are watching their financial bottom line. They only notice that their fill-up price is higher and that must be the source of all their woes, it couldn’t be their spending habits.

By: Greener Pastures

Greener Pastures — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:52:18 +0000

Interesting theory, but I think the opposite will be true. People will look for escapes. I bet movie attendance goes up, too.

By: tc

tc — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:11:37 +0000

I buy lottery tickets once in a while. I can do the math, I know it’s a horrible bet, but I like to dream.

My logic is it’s becoming cheaper to play the lottery. When gas was $2/gallon a fill up cost $30. I’d buy two tickets for $2. I was adding about a 6.7% tax to my gas purchase.

Now that gas is $4/gallon, it costs $60 to fill up. Lottery tickets still cost $2, only 3.3% of the purchase.

Lottery isn’t about being a good bet, it’s about buying a dream of winning. There’s some hope of a payback on that $2. The $60 for gas is never coming back.

By: Shorty

Shorty — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:22:39 +0000

Lottery tickets are not “entertainment”, they’re an “investment”.

Seriously, I agree with Maria. People may become more desparate for money to counter high gas prices that they’ll foolishly pay for even more lottery tickets.

By: Maria - Frugal Homesteading

Maria - Frugal Homesteading — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:49:12 +0000

I think lottery sales may increase, but snack and soda sales will decrease.

the more desperate people are, the more likely to grab for straws … and buy lotto tickets.

By: myles

myles — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:54:05 +0000

A lottery is just a tax on people that can’t do math. High gas prices wont make them any smarter.

By: Parth

Parth — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:42:52 +0000

Well, i don’t think this is true at all. Lottery is an addiction. The poor use public transportation and so you can rule them out of the equation. Lower Middle class workers spend the most on lottery tickets and either take public transport or have a car. But either way these are the big spenders of lottery tickets, and if a majority are taking public transport than this will not be a good indication of high gas prices. In case u were wondering where I’m getting my info from, my dad owns a convenience store and I work their once a week.