Why the South Carolina Education Lottery is a Scam
The South Carolina Education Lottery—officially called the Palmetto Cash 5—is one of the newest lotteries in the United States and is part of the National Lottery, which includes most states in the Southeast region of the country.
Since its launch in 2011, it has awarded nearly $1 billion to players. But, don’t let that fool you—the South Carolina Education Lottery might be one of the most fraudulent lotteries you’ve never heard about. Let me explain why…
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SC lottery officials warn of scams as Mega Millions, and Powerball jackpots reach more than $1.5B
Lotteries are scams. We all know that. But we can’t help ourselves. They prey on our deepest, darkest desires and our greediest impulses, but when jackpots reach $1.5 billion, it’s hard to resist.
Well, officials in South Carolina are warning us about scams as Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots reach historic highs of more than $1.5 billion each. What exactly are these scams? The SC lottery officials note that scammers will send out fake emails claiming to be from the lottery in order to steal personal information and identity theft victims can also receive phone calls asking for payment information in order to claim their prize or some such nonsense.
The SC lottery says that any official communications with winners should come through the postal service and never over the phone.
They recommend signing up for e-mail notifications so you don’t miss your chance at being notified if you win! You won’t miss any of your spam either!
Don’t forget to register your tickets too!
Don’t let yourself fall victim to one of these scams! If there’s anything people love, it’s winning money–especially big bucks–and there’s no way you’re going to want to lose out just because someone tried to trick you. Be vigilant and stay alert while looking for the next time you might have a chance at playing the world’s most loved game: MEGA MILLIONS!
Makes sense. Sign me up.
The South Carolina Education Lottery Free-ticket Scam
The idea behind this scam is that the state education lottery sells free tickets and people who purchase one ticket and get lucky would claim their winnings.
But what they don’t mention is that those who buy tickets are also entered into the lottery on which they are supposed to be playing for free! That’s right, when you play, you’re not just playing for a chance at winning some money, but you’re also entering your name into the lottery pool in order to potentially win more prizes than if you didn’t have a ticket.
So if someone wins from the free-ticket pool, all of those in it share in their winnings, meaning that all of these people are likely losing more than if they just bought one normal ticket and played like everyone else does.
The odds are terrible
It’s been five years since the last lottery was held, and the odds of winning are worse than ever. The current odds of winning are one in 9,989,000. That’s right- there’s an almost two million to one chance that you will win. It costs $2 per ticket, so if you buy ten tickets then your odds go up by just 0.1%. With this kind of Powerball-type lottery, it wouldn’t be surprising if many people lost money over time as they keep buying tickets hoping for a win.
There is, however, another aspect of the game worth mentioning: If you’re playing against someone who has purchased more than 1 ticket and loses, they have to give all their tickets away. So while the odds may be astronomical on average, if you happen to know someone who purchased 20 tickets or more with no luck, then it could be worth going head-to-head with them.
It’s preying on the poor
The South Carolina Education Lottery preys on the poor. The lottery has been around since 2002 and was created to promote education in the state. The reality, however, is that the lottery primarily caters to low-income families who are desperate for education and will spend their last dollars on tickets. This means that by playing the lottery, they’re more likely to go into debt or end up homeless because of it.
The first problem with the game is its name – Education Lottery. What does this mean? It’s marketing itself as an opportunity for people to get an education in order to provide for themselves and their families when really it’s funding schools through other sources like taxes.
Another way the lottery is targeting low-income families is by only having drawings twice a week. They know these types of players will have to purchase multiple tickets each time in order to make any chance at winning, which increases the likelihood that they’ll keep coming back again and again.
The truth is, even if you do win money from this game you can’t actually use it for your education; instead, you’ll have to sign up for income-based repayment plans so that there’s no chance you’ll be able to pay back what you owe after your winnings come through. If someone doesn’t want one of these options then there’s no way for them to access any funds from their winnings until after 20 years.
The money doesn’t go where it’s supposed to
The money from the lottery doesn’t go where it’s supposed to. The money goes to support public education and college scholarships, but we need to be more specific about where that money is going. There are two possible ways for this money to be allocated–either at the state level or the local level. If it’s allocated at the state level, then there needs to be an explanation as to what exactly it will go towards.
If this allocation happens at the local level, then each school district should designate how they will use these funds which would provide more transparency and accountability. That way, teachers and schools can plan accordingly.
The fact that our education lottery does not clearly specify what the funds are designated for opens up a lot of questions about where the money is actually going and whether it’ll actually be used to benefit students as intended.
It’s addictive
The South Carolina Education Lottery is addictive. You can buy tickets for ten dollars a day and it’s so easy to do you might not even notice how much money you’re wasting. Just like gambling, it’s addictive because people get hooked on the thrill of winning, and when they lose they want to keep trying until they win again.
But if someone who’s addicted buys a ticket every day for three years and doesn’t win, then they’ve wasted almost $3000 and still have nothing to show for it. And that’s just one person; imagine how many people are throwing away their hard-earned money! In order to curb addiction, the government should set limits on how often people can buy lottery tickets or raise prices in order to deter those looking to be lucky but unlucky.
It’s a waste of time
The truth of the matter is that there are many ways that you can give to charities without having to waste your time or money on a South Carolina education lottery.
It’s true that a lot of people may not have heard about these other options, but it’s important for us to share them with you so that you can make an informed decision about your charitable giving. Some of the better options include volunteering at your local homeless shelter or soup kitchen. You could also consider donating clothes and other household items that you no longer need to those in need instead of paying for worthless scratch-off tickets.
By reading this post, I hope we’ve made our point clear: don’t gamble when it comes to charity because there are more effective ways to help out those in need!
Fake North Carolina Education Lottery
The North Carolina Education Lottery is designed to take money from North Carolina residents and give it to the state. That’s it. The lottery was not created to provide scholarships for children, nor was it created as an educational benefit. It’s just there so that they can make money off of hardworking North Carolinians who are struggling to get by.
If this seems unfair, keep in mind that while every dollar you put into the NC education lottery goes straight into their pockets – your state gets nothing! In fact, North Carolina gets screwed out of $28 million in taxes annually. And because there is no profit-sharing agreement with North Carolina, the citizens don’t see any benefits. So why should we care about another lottery scam?
So why should we care about another lottery scam?
I’m not one to say that people should stop playing the lottery, but it’s important to be aware of its history and see why there might be some skepticism. The lottery has been around for centuries and its earliest use was to pay for public projects. But as time went on, lotteries became more about making money for private interests.
In 1827, New York State established what was considered at the time as a model lottery law: revenues would go towards funding education. This made sense because in order to win you had to educate yourself on all of the numbers in play that day. Today, many states offer lotteries with profits going towards education or other public good like health care or infrastructure improvements.
However, when we look at what’s happening in South Carolina right now, we see a major disconnect between the original intention of lottery games and where the profits are actually being funneled into now.
In South Carolina (where they’re currently celebrating their first-ever $1 billion jackpot), 92% of revenue goes directly into prizes while only 8% goes to education programs. Sure this is still better than nothing…until we realize that if they keep selling winning tickets like they have so far, then no money will even go into the fund! So not only do players lose out when they don’t know how to research which lotteries are scams–the state loses too when people don’t buy tickets.