Fewer people playing the lottery these days

By adamg on Thu, 04/02/2020 - 10:19am

The Charlestown Patriot-Bridge reports state Lottery sales are down 30%, which could mean less aid to cities and towns in the coming fiscal year.

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lottery

Covid-19

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Comments

I was at a local market

By Matt Frank
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 10:29am

I was at a local market/butcher shop last week getting my veggies and proteins and they normally have lottery at the customer service desk. They shut down the machines and put signs up outside saying until this passes they will stay off.

I was a little shocked that they would cut off a money source like that... But they are taking their core mission very seriously. They had plastic barriers at registers before the big stores. They had signs limiting customers outside before the big stores etc.

Lottery is not essential and if it gets in the way of what is essential it deserves to be pushed aside.

All lottery and scratch

By Kinopio
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 3:56pm

All lottery and scratch tickets should be suspended. Saw a guy walk into a store just to buy scratch tickets today. That’s irresponsible on many levels. Would you be shocked to find out this guy was also a smoker?!

I'm not sure of the sociology of it...

By anon
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 4:47pm

...but scratchies and smoking seem to go hand in hand.

Yet here he is. An American.

By anon
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 5:50pm

Yet here he is. An American. Living in America. Enjoying his freedoms you’re so willing to strip away because you don’t like what he does. Who the fuck are you to pass judgement or to say what is or what isn’t “right” for someone else?

Should I be cueing the stirring patriotic music?

By lbb
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 10:08am

Just what we need, a polemic about the cherished free-dums of smokes and scratch tickets (which, whether you believe it or not, certainly can have negative consequences for others).

Hail to the Chief

By Don't Panic
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 10:30pm

Would be appropriate. After all Any American can become President. Even smokers and gamblers.

Did he own a car though.....?

By Pete Nice
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 7:14pm

That would be the deal breaker.

I guess my question is

By Waquiot
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 10:43pm

What are you doing hanging out at convenience stores?

Getting coffee

By Ron Newman
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 4:02am

In my neighborhood, Dunkin, Starbucks, Diesel, Revival, Nine Bar Espresso, and Au Bon Pain have all closed. 7-Eleven is not the only remaining choice, but it's one of very few left.

This is a good time to get brewing at home

By Tim Mc.
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 2:55pm

Maybe you can use a surgical mask as a coffee filter. ;-)

That's where the food is

By Don't Panic
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 10:31pm

In my neighborhood.

[Clutches pearls reflexively.

By Milwaukee Mike
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 12:22pm

[Clutches pearls reflexively.]

Lottery is not going to give

By Gradg
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 11:05am

Lottery is not going to give out winning million dollar jackpot tickets in these lethal coronavirus dark economic times in all of history.

On-Line Lottery?

By BBH
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 11:07am

Perhaps it's time for Massachusetts to allow on-line lottery ticket purchases.

We are just far behind

By bostondriver
Fri, 04/03/2020 - 6:53pm

the thigh tech states of Maine and New Hampshire.

> which could mean less aid to cities and towns

By Turalura Lipschitz
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 1:00pm

and almost certainly means more money in the pockets of some of those who need it the most.

(I'm not anti-lottery -- it lets people dream, and that not so bad -- but it's far from a progressive way to funnel money to cities and towns.)

For "let people dream" to

By Refugee
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 4:25pm

For "let people dream" to work, the lottery should only include the Mega/Powerball games (no Keno, no scratch tickets) and limit sales to exactly one ticket per person. Anything beyond that doesn't contribute to the "dream".

Going grocery shopping these

By bannedinboston
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 1:04pm

Going grocery shopping these days is lottery enough.

The lottery is not a priority

By anon
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 1:31pm

The unfortunate people who are a slave to that thing would do better to use their money for more constructive purposes. I wish the state would come up with some other kind of voluntary tax instead of the lottery.

I'd love to play keno at my

By anon
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 2:02pm

I'd love to play keno at my house but you have to go to a store to buy tickets. Also you can only play 30 games into the future. If I could play online I'd happily do so but also understand why you can't. That being said you can now buy lottery Season tickets with a credit card online so why not keno?