The Lottery Wars

The Lottery Wars PDF Author: Matthew Sweeney
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1608191079
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Despite the infinitesimal odds, more than half of Americans admit to occasionally playing the lottery. We wait on long lines and give up our coffee breaks. We scratch tickets, win, and spend the winnings on more scratch tickets. We play our "lucky" numbers, week in and week out. In a country where gambling is ostensibly illegal, this is a strange state of affairs. In colonial Jamestown, the first lottery was created despite conservative opposition to the vice of gambling. Now, 42 states sponsor lotteries despite complaints of liberals who see them as a regressive tax on the poor. Why do we all play this game that brings no rewards, and leaves us rifling through the garbage for the ticket we swear would be a winner if we could only find it? How has this game persisted, even flourished, in defiance of so much opposition? In this observant, intelligent book, Matthew Sweeney gives a history of the American lottery, stopping along the way to give us the bizarre--sometimes tragic--stories that it makes possible: the five-million-dollar miracle man who became a penniless preacher investing in a crackpot energy scheme; the senator whose untimely injury allowed the lottery to pass into law in his home state; and many others. Written with insight and wit, Dreaming in Numbers gives us the people and the stories that built a nationwide institution, for better or worse.

The Lottery Wars

The Lottery Wars PDF Author: Matthew Sweeney
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1608191079
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
Despite the infinitesimal odds, more than half of Americans admit to occasionally playing the lottery. We wait on long lines and give up our coffee breaks. We scratch tickets, win, and spend the winnings on more scratch tickets. We play our "lucky" numbers, week in and week out. In a country where gambling is ostensibly illegal, this is a strange state of affairs. In colonial Jamestown, the first lottery was created despite conservative opposition to the vice of gambling. Now, 42 states sponsor lotteries despite complaints of liberals who see them as a regressive tax on the poor. Why do we all play this game that brings no rewards, and leaves us rifling through the garbage for the ticket we swear would be a winner if we could only find it? How has this game persisted, even flourished, in defiance of so much opposition? In this observant, intelligent book, Matthew Sweeney gives a history of the American lottery, stopping along the way to give us the bizarre--sometimes tragic--stories that it makes possible: the five-million-dollar miracle man who became a penniless preacher investing in a crackpot energy scheme; the senator whose untimely injury allowed the lottery to pass into law in his home state; and many others. Written with insight and wit, Dreaming in Numbers gives us the people and the stories that built a nationwide institution, for better or worse.

Lottery Wars

Lottery Wars PDF Author: Randy Bobbitt
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739117385
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Between 1986 and 2005, nearly every state in the Southeast grappled with one or more proposals for a state-run lottery. The political battles and marketing campaigns leading up to the decisions generated considerable public debate and media attention. Pro-lottery and anti-lottery groups executed costly and labor-intensive campaigns aimed at generating the involvement of the media, politicians, and voters. Using a variety of case studies, Lottery Wars examines those debates and campaigns from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Using thousands of media articles and government documents, in addition to dozens of interviews with politicians, religious leaders, and journalists who covered the campaigns, Bobbitt brings up-to-date the research on state lotteries in the Southeast United States. Accessible and journalistic in style, Lottery Wars is an ideal supplement to any political communication course.

Random Destiny: How the Vietnam War Draft Lottery Shaped a Generation

Random Destiny: How the Vietnam War Draft Lottery Shaped a Generation PDF Author: Wesley Abney
Publisher: Vernon Press
ISBN: 1622736192
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
This book provides a concise but thorough summary of how the selective service system worked from 1965 through 1973, and also demonstrates how this selective process, during a highly unpopular war, steered major life choices of millions of young men seeking deferrals based on education, occupation, marital and family status, sexual orientation, and more. This book explains each category of deferral and its resulting “ripple effect” across society. Putting a human face on these sociological trends, the book also includes a number of brief personal anecdotes from men in each category, told from a remove of 40 years or more, when the lifelong effects of youthful decisions prompted by the draft have become evident. There are few books which address the military draft of the Vietnam years, most notably CHANCE AND CIRCUMSTANCE: The Draft, the War and the Vietnam Generation, by Baskir and Strauss (1978). This early study of draft-age men discusses how they were socially channeled by the selective service system. RANDOM DESTINY follows up on this premise and draws from numerous later studies of men in the lottery pool, to create the definitive portrait of the draft and its long-term personal and social effects. RANDOM DESTINY presents an in-depth explanation of the selective service system in its final years. It also provides a comprehensive yet personal portrait of how the draft and the lottery steered a generation of young lives into many different paths, from combat to conscientious objection, from teaching to prison, from the pulpit to the Canadian border, from public health to gay liberation. It is the only recent book which demonstrates how American military conscription, in the time of an unpopular war, profoundly influenced a generation and a society over the decades that followed.

Gangsters to Governors

Gangsters to Governors PDF Author: David Clary
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813584558
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Winner of the 2018 Current Events/Social Change Book Award from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner of the 2018 Bronze Current Events Book Award from the Independent Publisher Book Awards Generations ago, gambling in America was an illicit activity, dominated by gangsters like Benny Binion and Bugsy Siegel. Today, forty-eight out of fifty states permit some form of legal gambling, and America’s governors sit at the head of the gaming table. But have states become addicted to the revenue gambling can bring? And does the potential of increased revenue lead them to place risky bets on new casinos, lotteries, and online games? In Gangsters to Governors, journalist David Clary investigates the pros and cons of the shift toward state-run gambling. Unearthing the sordid history of America’s gaming underground, he demonstrates the problems with prohibiting gambling while revealing how today’s governors, all competing for a piece of the action, promise their citizens payouts that are rarely delivered. Clary introduces us to a rogue’s gallery of colorful characters, from John “Old Smoke” Morrissey, the Irish-born gangster who built Saratoga into a gambling haven in the nineteenth century, to Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who has furiously lobbied against online betting. By exploring the controversial histories of legal and illegal gambling in America, he offers a fresh perspective on current controversies, including bans on sports and online betting. Entertaining and thought-provoking, Gangsters to Governors considers the past, present, and future of our gambling nation. Author's website (http://www.davidclaryauthor.com)

Debt and Entanglements Between the Wars

Debt and Entanglements Between the Wars PDF Author: Mr.Thomas J Sargent
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513516868
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
World War I created a set of forces that affected the political arrangements and economies of all the countries involved. This period in global economic history between World War I and II offers rich material for studying international monetary and sovereign debt policies. Debt and Entanglements between the Wars focuses on the experiences of the United States, United Kingdom, four countries in the British Commonwealth (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Newfoundland), France, Italy, Germany, and Japan, offering unique insights into how political and economic interests influenced alliances, defaults, and the unwinding of debts. The narratives presented show how the absence of effective international collaboration and resolution mechanisms inflicted damage on the global economy, with disastrous consequences.

Gus and Duncan's Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars Collectibles

Gus and Duncan's Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars Collectibles PDF Author: Duncan Jenkins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 994

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Book Description


I Won a Life in the Lottery

I Won a Life in the Lottery PDF Author: Dale Warren
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing
ISBN: 9781622121755
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Dale Walker won the lottery, not the Power Ball but the Vietnam War Draft lottery. Being a draft dodger was not an option in his family. They believed in the old-fashioned virtues: God, family, and country. Did he want to go to Vietnam and perhaps be killed? No, but if his country called, he would serve like all the brave men before him. He had his life planned out: work for a chemical company, marry his girlfriend, build a home and live the "American Dream." When his birthday was the number one pick in the Vietnam War Draft Lottery, all those plans changed. Dale married his sixteen-year-old sweetheart, served at the Army Intelligence School and overseas in Germany. His exciting Army career had its ups and downs, from winning "Soldier of the Year" to making lifelong friends, to medical emergencies and assisting Interpol with drug smugglers. This fictional novel was inspired by actual events in the lives of the author's family and the many blessings along their journey of serving God and others. Reverend Dale Warren, his wife Jane, children and grandchildren live a blessed life in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. While serving in the Army at the Intelligence and Electronic Warfare School and overseas, he completed a BS and MBA with honors. He returned home living the American Dream. When God called, he sold the family home to attend seminary and serve over twenty years in ministry. He has received many awards and honors: graduating Magna Cum Laude, being named an honorary citizen of Tucson, winning the Paul Harris Award from Rotary International, and was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge to serve the community. For more information on the author and his works visit www.pastordalewarren.com . Publisher's website: http: //sbpra.com/DaleWarren

Selective Service

Selective Service PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Draft
Languages : en
Pages : 850

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Book Description


For a Dollar and a Dream

For a Dollar and a Dream PDF Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197604889
Category : Gambling
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This first comprehensive history of America's lottery obsession explores the spread of state lotteries and how players and policymakers alike got hooked on wishful dreams of an elusive jackpot. Every week, one in eight Americans place a bet on the dream of a life-changing lottery jackpot. Americans spend more on lottery tickets annually than on video streaming services, concert tickets, books, and movie tickets combined. The story of lotteries in the United States may seem straightforward: tickets are bought predominately by poor people driven by the wishful belief that they will overcome infinitesimal odds and secure lives of luxury. The reality is more complicated. For a Dollar and a Dream shows how, in an era of surging inequality and stagnant upward mobility, millions of Americans turned to the lottery as their only chance at achieving the American Dream. Gamblers were not the only ones who bet on betting. As voters revolted against higher taxes in the late twentieth century, states saw legalized gambling as a panacea, a way of generating a new source of revenue without cutting public services or raising taxes. Even as evidence emerged that lotteries only provided a small percentage of state revenue, and even as data mounted about their appeal to the poor, states kept passing them and kept adding new games, desperate for their longshot gamble to pay off. Alongside stories of lottery winners and losers, Jonathan Cohen shows how gamblers have used prayer to help them win a jackpot, how states tried to pay for schools with scratch-off tickets, and how lottery advertising has targeted lower income and nonwhite communities. For a Dollar and a Dream charts the untold history of the nation's lottery system, revealing how players and policymakers alike got hooked on hopes for a gambling windfall.

Mathematics of Keno and Lotteries

Mathematics of Keno and Lotteries PDF Author: Mark Bollman
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 135175629X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Mathematics of Keno and Lotteries is an elementary treatment of the mathematics, primarily probability and simple combinatorics, involved in lotteries and keno. Keno has a long history as a high-advantage, high-payoff casino game, and state lottery games such as Powerball are mathematically similar. MKL also considers such lottery games as passive tickets, daily number drawings, and specialized games offered around the world. In addition, there is a section on financial mathematics that explains the connection between lump-sum lottery prizes (as with Powerball) and their multi-year annuity options. So-called "winning systems" for keno and lotteries are examined mathematically and their flaws identified.