Five, eighteen, twenty-two, thirty-three, thirty-nine and forty-four are six of the sixty numbers Americans choose from daily when playing the Powerball. “Lottery is defined as a gambling game or method of raising money, as for some public chartable purpose, in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes (dictionary.com).” The lottery takes money from thousands of American every year. Last year alone, more than 65 billion dollars was spent in lottery ticket sales. For the forty-four states and the District of Columbus it affords many opportunities for statewide improvements to be made. The lottery is investment for every state because it ensures ample funds that can be used to support their citizens.
Many people are not in favor of the lottery because they have valid concerns. Some believe the lottery leads to gambling problems for its participants. Most people who play are on welfare or poor and uneducated. The students are really not benefiting from the money their parents spend on the lottery tickets. Others believe it is hurting the economy and taking away funds that could be put elsewhere such as groceries and clothing. However, they may fail to realize the perks to those who win big or even small.
Statewide projects are funded with lottery money. For instance, schools can be updated with all the latest and greatest technology because the state has the funds to distribute to them. The state of Oregon allocates 57% of its profits to funding education. The state of Florida has put more than 3.9 billion dollars since 2010 in renovation and new construction of schools. Essentially, citizens are improving their state’s education system, which affect their child and thousands of others. The...
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...who do not win and choose to play continuously. For this reason states are implementing ways to help them improve their situation.
Chances of winning can be 1 in 150 million but one has to overlook that. Lottery is beneficial to the winners as well as those who do not win. The lottery helps relieve states of increasing taxes. People with children are help because their children receive a better education through high school, which leads to more scholarship opportunities. Some states allocate money to stop gambling, which has increased development because of the lottery. More people in the job market, more teachers in the education system, and more roadway construction increases profits for the economy. If a person shall oppose they can make the decision not to play. The lottery should be instituted because it increases funding that benefits citizens of the state.
A weakness in Jiménez’s essay stands out in the first sentence when she begins her essay with, “State-run lotteries are now so common – thirty-nine states and Washington, D.C., operate lotteries – the states will probably never get out of the lottery business” (118). By including that in the beginning of her essay, Jiménez implies that her audience is not the state government, instead it is intended for the common citizen. Therefore, we can conclude that the main purpose of the essay is not stopping the lottery, because that would not be reasonable; instead it is to make people aware that the states are taking advantage of them in the lottery business.
Gambling is a controversial topic that causes many arguments for and against making a wager for any reason. The lottery has been a welcomed form of gambling in Texas since 1992, it is one of the biggest legalized forms of gambling in Texas. Although many citizens question, should all forms of gambling be legalized as a means to support public education? It should not be legalized because, expanding gambling to generate funds for education could negatively impact the social welfare of individuals and families. Also legalizing all forms of gambling could increase gambling addiction, and exploit the economically disadvantaged.
Has the lottery helped education as promised? There has been evidence in the Bible and ancient Rome texts that lotteries can be traced all the way back to Europe in the 15th century (Willmann 1). After that the lotteries made their way across the Atlantic from England to the United States.The first American lottery was established in Puerto Rico in 1934. This was followed by the New Hampshire lottery in 1964.The entire history of the lottery includes the debate over whether or not it is ethical.Lotteries are not only unethical but also ineffective ways to raise state revenues for education.
The following two paragraphs are a summary of Gloria Jimenez's essay Against the Odds and Against the Common Good. States should neither allow nor encourage state-run lotteries. There are five major arguments that people use to defend lotteries. One is that most lotteries are run honestly, but if gambling is harmful to society it is irrelevant to argue if they are honest or not. The second is that lotteries create jobs, but there are only a small handful of jobs that would be eliminated if lotteries were put out of business. Another argument that would support keeping lotteries is that, other than gambling addicts, people freely choose to buy lottery tickets. This is true, however, there are misleading advertisements that may cause people to buy tickets under false pretenses.
“Why We Keep Playing the Lottery”, by freelance journalist Adam Piore takes a very in depth look as to what drives millions of Americans to continually play the lottery when their chances of winning are virtually non-existent. He believes that because the odds of winning the lottery are so small that Americans lose the ability to conceptualize how unlikely it is that they are going to win, and therefore the risk of playing has less to do with the outcome, and more to do with hope that they are feeling when they decide to play. It 's essentially, "a game where reason and logic are rendered obsolete, and hope and dreams are on sale." (Piore 700) He also states that many Americans would rather play the lottery thinking ,"boy, I could win $100 million" (705) as opposed to thinking about all of the money they could lose over time.
Compare and Contrast! Well, you use it on a daily right? The stories “The Lottery” and “The Landlady” are two stories that you can compare and contrast. Some examples of comparisons are that both of the stories use violence, and that they both end with a plot twist no one was expecting. One example of a contrast in both of these stories is that they use their imagery differently. How are these stories alike and how are they different?
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery" is all about how an old tradition as the lottery exceeds our expectations. First by giving us the readers the believe that the price of the lottery would be something great. Making us questioning the results and why to do this with no explanation at the end. Teaching us how traditions are that don’t make sense are killing because Society is clinging to this traditions and practices.
In 1948 the New Yorker Magazine published a short story written by Shirley Jackson entitled “The Lottery.” This story begins June 27th, a clear and sunny day at ten o’clock in the morning. Clear and sunny could be indicative of a happy cheerful story; however, as this story progresses there are no discoveries of a happy ending at all. “The Lottery” is a tale of a horrible death, in which a small farming society considered to be a necessary sacrifice for the good of their crops. Tessie Hutchinson was stoned to death without remorse, because she was the “winner” of the town’s lottery. In “The Lottery” Jackson uses an interesting and unique approach to demonstrate the attributes of a male dominated society; as well as weave in religious symbolism along with the ultimate sacrifice of life.
The theme in “The Lottery” is violence and cruelty. Violence and cruelty is a major theme because there is a lot of violence and cruelty in the world. The Lottery has been read as addressing such issues as the public's fascination with salacious and scandalizing journalism, McCarthyism, and the complicity of the general public in the victimization of minority groups, epitomized by the Holocaust of World War II. The Holocaust was very cruel and violent cause other people didn’t like certain people so they just kill them and their children and still now we have violence and cruelty with wars and people that hate each other.
Even if the state pays a lot of money, that still doesn’t mean that the schools are well funded. In Hawaii, there is only one school district, and the state pays for nearly all of that district’s funding. Only 2% comes from property tax, and the rest comes out of income tax. But think about the industry in Hawaii- farming and tourism, t...
“The Lottery” was quite disturbing to read. It is an very unusual story that has an ending that will have you baffled. You will want to reread certain parts to see if there is anything thing that you could have missed. The title of the short story is also misleading. In most cases the lottery is a good thing. People don’t win punishment and lotteries don’t hurt them. But in this story it does just that. The author did a great job of telling how anyone and everyone can follow tradition blindly. It is dangerous not to have a mind of your own and to just follow the crowd even if you don’t understand on agree on why something is happening.
Shirley Jackson was a criticized female writer that wrote about US’s scramble for conformity and finding comfort in the past or old traditions. When Jackson published this specific short story, she got very negative feedback and even death threats. In the fictionial short story, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson, a drawing takes place during the summer annually in a small town in New England. In this particular work, the lottery has been a tradition for over seventy years and has been celebrated by the townspeople every year. In detail, Richard H. Williams explains in his “A Critique of the Sampling Plan Used in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery””, he explains the process of how the lottery works. “The sampling plan consists of two
“The Lottery” is a story which shows the complexity and capability of human behavior. Something immoral, like stoning a person to death once a year, is a normal occurrence. The main character, Tessie Hutchinson, is the victim of the lottery. Tessie is a character with a number of seemingly good characteristics, yet her surrounding culture rejects these characteristics. The majority of the people in the village has opposite attitudes and beliefs in comparison to Tessie’s. These attitudes and beliefs reflect her personal desires which quickly struggle against the culture’s expectations. Tessie is unlike the other villagers; she is initially indifferent to the lottery indicating her desires are unrelated to the lottery. Upon winning the lottery, Tessie changes and her personal desires to survive and reject the lottery emerge in her selfishness and outspoken personality. These struggles against the village’s expectations are shown through the culture’s emphasis on tradition and small town ties.
The way the characters present themselves in the beginning of the story puts an optimistic view on the lottery. After all, lotteries are generally associated with an increase of wealth and prosperity. The outcome of the scenario seems promising. The town’s people gather with zeal. One character, Mrs. Hutchinson, rushes to make it to the lottery on time. This reassures the reader that the lottery is a must-see event. Another character, Old Man Warner, states that the other towns were crazy for giving up the lottery. With this being said, obviously something good was to come out of the contest. The reader does not suspect the tragedy that lies in the end of the story.
The lottery is something everyone wants to win no matter what the prize. People buy their tickets and await their fates. Some people win the lottery and many more lose. Losing the lottery causes something inside of us to die, but it is almost impossible to quit playing. The gambling becomes an addiction. The reason why people are constantly drawn to these lotteries is because deep down, the people who play them are convinced they can win.