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The Lottery: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

LastWeekTonight · commentary · Watch on YouTube

Media, journalism & propagandaMicroeconomics & behavioral economicsSatire & parody

What it is

John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on state lotteries. It argues that the claim that lotteries fund education is misleading, because the money is fungible and often diverted to general funds.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Go-to reference in lottery threads for the point that earmarked lottery revenue does not really add to school funding.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 6 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2023

What HN commenters said

  1. “John Oliver just did a good segment about this too”

    John Oliver segment on lottery practices.

    jab2014, 2015-03 · Recommendation · in “Calling the Oregon Lottery's Bluff After Poker Machine Dealt a Strange Hand”

  2. “This John Oliver segment about it is pretty interesting”

    Segment on lottery revenue not reaching schools.

    joesmo, 2015-05 · Recommendation · in “Engineers of addiction”

  3. “John Oliver's Last Week Tonight had an excellent take on a similar topic”

    Excellent take on earmarked lottery revenue.

    AaronFriel, 2015-09 · Recommendation · in “Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado”

  4. “Check out John Oliver's video on state lotteries”

    Restricted funds are fungible.

    studentrob, 2015-10 · Recommendation · in “Blowing the Whistle on the UC Berkeley Mathematics Department”

  5. “this video is worth watching.”

    Good starter on lottery funding claims.

    edgartaor, 2017-08 · Recommendation · in “Ex-lottery worker who rigged winnings gets 25 years in prison”

  6. “I especially like the John Oliver pieces[0][1] on that one.”

    John Oliver pieces on lotteries.

    kkielhofner, 2023-03 · Recommendation · in “Bitcoin is a solution looking for a problem”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: lottery, john oliver, public funding, education funding, regressive tax

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