The Olympics

Oh, okay, maybe it does just come from the ticket sales and then the funding decisions are made by the above organisations.

I just Googled lottery funding on my phone and I got the website with those organisations listed.

I'm always ticked off that back home (Washington state....not that wimpy DC place) when they introduced the Lotto they got support by stating that x% of the funds would go to schools. Having worked for the Govt.....I knew this would likely be total bollocks....although not "technically". They did spend that money on schools.......they just cut the funding the state gave to schools to compensate. So the politicians got extra money to blow on what they wanted....the schools didn't end up with anything.

I thought Lotto funding was from foolish people spending too much money trying to win a prize that you have a shot in hell of winning.....

I remember distinctly a pop quiz in a university finance course where the teacher had all the info legally required in the back of a lottery ticket (Florida) and we had to calculate the odds of winning.  The correct answer was zero.  One of those trick questions we all hated.  Needless to say that has stuck with me.

On the other hand, one of our neighbors in Florida won $7 million...

So I pay £2 a draw.  Yes, it's money down the toilet but you've got to be in it to win it.  And people really do win!

But National Lottery funding comes from mainly sports and arts organisations, which are independent of government:
Sport England,
Sport Northern Ireland
Sport Scotland
Sport Wales
UK sport
Heritage Lottery Fund
Creative Scotland
Big Lottery Fund (for communities in need)
British Film Institute
Arts Council England
Arts Council Scotland
Arts Council Northern Ireland
Sent from my iPod using Tapatalk

Isn't 40% of lottery funds given to educational type things? 20% to sports, 20% to arts. I'm not sure what section gets the other 20%.

Isn't 40% of lottery funds given to educational type things? 20% to sports, 20% to arts. I'm not sure what section gets the other 20%.

Heritage. I just read the post by F4mandolin

The only stuff I've noticed about the Olympics and all the medal winning is a local group who has been trying to find funding for a velodrome-sports complex has been using it as a impetus to get more interest. 

So I pay £2 a draw.  Yes, it's money down the toilet but you've got to be in it to win it.  And people really do win!

Yeap!  A co-worker of mine won one of the £20,000 prizes on the Lotto when it first came out. 
We do a lucky dip if we remember.  We don't have gambling issues, we're not obsessed if we forget, we can afford the up to £8/week (usually more like £4) to play lotto/euro millions.  Someone may say we'd be better off putting the £4-£8 /week in the bank to get £208-416 a year in savings, but hey, with crap interest rates, I may get £2-4 extra a year if I'm really lucky.    And I'd have to save for 100/50 years to get £20,000 and way longer to get a good prize.  So I'll fool myself thinking I can win by tossing away that £2 

The only stuff I've noticed about the Olympics and all the medal winning is a local group who has been trying to find funding for a velodrome-sports complex has been using it as a impetus to get more interest. 

Yeap!  A co-worker of mine won one of the £20,000 prizes on the Lotto when it first came out. 
We do a lucky dip if we remember.  We don't have gambling issues, we're not obsessed if we forget, we can afford the up to £8/week (usually more like £4) to play lotto/euro millions.  Someone may say we'd be better off putting the £4-£8 /week in the bank to get £208-416 a year in savings, but hey, with crap interest rates, I may get £2-4 extra a year if I'm really lucky.    And I'd have to save for 100/50 years to get £20,000 and way longer to get a good prize.  So I'll fool myself thinking I can win by tossing away that £2 

I have no issue's with people who can afford it.....I always feel a bit crappy when I see somebody roll up to the check-out and buy a bunch of tickets when it "looks" like they can't really afford it. But what the hell.....no law against blowing money......I can list a few things I blow money on (beer, junk food, golf, way too much diet Coke). A lot of my family back in the US like to go to the local casino's.....and when I was younger it was to Reno. My mom just about killed herself when she went down there with non-stop "fun"....but she had a limit on how much money she could lose and never went over that limit. I never got it myself......I find the casino's a bit depressing....although the food is usually a hell of a deal.  It's still that example that I used above about promising money to schools and then screwing the schools over on money that they had advertised.....

"We spend $48 million in lottery tickets. You can’t trust us with out money. "How you planning for your retirement?" "Powerball."

 - Wanda Sykes

I worked with a lady who made more money than me.....and she was single. I mentioned how much money I was saving in the last few years I was working getting ready for quitting my job.....she couldn't understand how I could be saving that much. I asked her a few questions....turns out she never did her own laundry.....almost never fixed her own meals....went to London every chance she got to see plays etc.....What I learned.... Even really smart people often do not know how to deal with their own finances. I still keep track of every £ we spend. I don't need to.....but it is just a reminder of where the money is going. Total expenses in July.....£945 including council tax, utilities etc. And we think we are wasting money.........well, I am.....my wife is cheaper by far......if I cut out junk food we could probably save £100 a month easy.

I worked with a lady who made more money than me.....and she was single. I mentioned how much money I was saving in the last few years I was working getting ready for quitting my job.....she couldn't understand how I could be saving that much. I asked her a few questions....turns out she never did her own laundry.....almost never fixed her own meals....went to London every chance she got to see plays etc.....What I learned.... Even really smart people often do not know how to deal with their own finances. I still keep track of every £ we spend. I don't need to.....but it is just a reminder of where the money is going. Total expenses in July.....£945 including council tax, utilities etc. And we think we are wasting money.........well, I am.....my wife is cheaper by far......if I cut out junk food we could probably save £100 a month easy.

It amazes me that budgeting STILL isn't taught in schools.  Particularly around student loans.  Now that it is equally (if not more) expensive to obtain an education here, it REALLY should be taught.

I also keep track of every nickel spent and have a fancy little pie chart at the end of each month.  My husband and I are nerds with money but hopefully we will be able to retire young and live life to its fullest.

It amazes me that budgeting STILL isn't taught in schools.  Particularly around student loans.  Now that it is equally (if not more) expensive to obtain an education here, it REALLY should be taught.

Kfdancer, out of curiosity, did you ever go.to Enterprise Village in school in Florida?

It was a day out where you're given a job at a company, paid three times during the day and you had to fill out deposit slips and make out checks when you wanted to buy something at their shop. You could save for all three of those paychecks and get something bigger towards the end of the day or spend as you get. It was great! Only problem is you are 10 when you go and that's the last budgeting I was ever taught before going into the real world.

It definitely needs to be addressed later on in high school.

It amazes me that budgeting STILL isn't taught in schools.  Particularly around student loans.  Now that it is equally (if not more) expensive to obtain an education here, it REALLY should be taught.

In high school (late 70's), I failed algebra, and was subsequently placed in a class called Consumer Math.  It was great!  We learned how to balance a chequebook, learned about loans and interest rates and bank accounts and all kinds of real-world financial stuff.   

Kfdancer, out of curiosity, did you ever go.to Enterprise Village in school in Florida?

It was a day out where you're given a job at a company, paid three times during the day and you had to fill out deposit slips and make out checks when you wanted to buy something at their shop. You could save for all three of those paychecks and get something bigger towards the end of the day or spend as you get. It was great! Only problem is you are 10 when you go and that's the last budgeting I was ever taught before going into the real world.

It definitely needs to be addressed later on in high school.

Ha......just as I was typing this....Albatross said the same thing.

When I was in 9th grade I took a class called Consumer Math. We called it "Bonehead Math" since we were the people who had no interest in math at all. That's what the class was.....included how to do your checkbook, how to calculate % on big things you buy, how to save etc etc. Looking back.....it wasn't such a "bonehead" class since it is something even the good people in math are quite often terrible at.

The problem as I've seen it.....it just doesn't really sink in for most people until they are older. When I was younger I hated being in debt....so any extra money I had went into car payments, property payments etc. Not a bad way of dealing with money....but I missed out on some mutual funds I sure wish I had known about when I was younger (like Vanguard Wellington/Wellesley). I almost started up an after school class right before I retired......not for the kids.....but for the younger teachers in the school. There was a bunch of interest from a nimber of them. My problem is that I was into my late 40's before it REALLY sunk in how I should have been saving money over the previous 20 years. I just hate to see people complain about not having money.....but then stop at Starbucks for coffee.....or eat lunch out every day. That type of expense really adds up.

At the end of the day (or two weeks) the country with the most medals tops the table, but for a little fun, don't let anyone tell you either the US or the UK won! (at least by capita or GDP.)

Total medals per capita (2016 Rio Olympics)

Rank Country       Medals   
1 Grenada            1           106,825 population       106,825 population / medal
2 Bahamas           2           388,019                         194,009
3 Jamaica            11       2,725,941                         247,812
4 New Zealand     18      4,595,700                        255,316
5 Denmark           15       5,676,002                        378,400

19 Great Britain    67     65,138,232                      972,212

43 United States  121   321,418,820                  2,656,353

http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:2016

Total medals (weighted) by GDP (2016 Rio Olympics)

Rank Country      Medals    Weighted Medals      GDP       GDP per Weighted Medal1
1 Grenada           1              2                             0.82      0.41
2 Jamaica            11            32                         15.07      0.47
3 Kenya              13            37                         33.62       0.91
4 Fiji                     1              4                           3.81      0.95
5 Armenia           4              10                        10.25      1.02

36 Great Britain   67            171                     2431.59    14.22

64 United States 121           296                   15094.00     50.99

http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-by-gdp:2016


Or this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2016/08/21/rio-2016-alternate-medal-table-how-countries-rank-when-we-adjust/   
     

Kfdancer, out of curiosity, did you ever go.to Enterprise Village in school in Florida?

It was a day out where you're given a job at a company, paid three times during the day and you had to fill out deposit slips and make out checks when you wanted to buy something at their shop. You could save for all three of those paychecks and get something bigger towards the end of the day or spend as you get. It was great! Only problem is you are 10 when you go and that's the last budgeting I was ever taught before going into the real world.

It definitely needs to be addressed later on in high school.

Yes!!!  I was telling my husband about Enterprise Village the other day.  I was manager of Blockbuster.  What did you do?

Yes, I told him that was the ONLY time in school I learned about earning and spending.  And I was 10.  Was still more than he had.  Budgeting with earnings and expenses should be taught around 16 in my opinion.

Yes!!!  I was telling my husband about Enterprise Village the other day.  I was manager of Blockbuster.  What did you do?

Yes, I told him that was the ONLY time in school I learned about earning and spending.  And I was 10.  Was still more than he had.  Budgeting with earnings and expenses should be taught around 16 in my opinion.

I was in charge of the good ol' yellow pages designing ads for it for the businesses there. I think it was AT&T at the time? It was neat because we got a copy of the "yellow pages" we created :-D

They definitely need something like that here but for older kids!