>> For instance, as one camper noted, in just one lottery to hike Mount Whitney, more than 16,000 people applied, and only a third got in. Yet everyone paid the $6 registration fee, which means the gross income for that single location is over $100,000.
> Wow, it's like those scummy all-pay auction sites you see advertised, where you can buy/win a TV for just $4.29. Incredible that this is allowed.
My impression was that those sites use a much scummier model, in which whoever buys the last ticket wins. Tickets are cheap, but the priority system ("last guy wins") means people buy a large number of tickets.
A true lottery in which you buy a ticket for $6 and then either win or lose at random is a very different thing. You can't spend more than $6 on that.
> Wow, it's like those scummy all-pay auction sites you see advertised, where you can buy/win a TV for just $4.29. Incredible that this is allowed.
My impression was that those sites use a much scummier model, in which whoever buys the last ticket wins. Tickets are cheap, but the priority system ("last guy wins") means people buy a large number of tickets.
A true lottery in which you buy a ticket for $6 and then either win or lose at random is a very different thing. You can't spend more than $6 on that.