Free Gas Becoming a Prize in State Lotteries
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 07. 8.08
Free Gas Instead of Cash?
In yet another sign of how gas prices are affecting the economy, several states, including Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma, have begun offering free gas for life instead of the usual cash prizes in lotteries. Of course, there's a catch: in Florida, for instance, free gas for life means that "each winner will be awarded 26 prepaid gas cards, each worth $100, every year until death." Interestingly, in Florida the free gas will go to the second-prize winner, while the first prize winner will win a cash prize. What's interesting about this is that many people say that “gas has become more precious than cash now,” and therefore they would rather win the gas--even though the cash value of the gas is far below the cash value of the first-place prize. Valuing gas more than money? Has our addiction to oil become that endemic?
Real Solutions Are Being Ignored
In fact, Florida decided to start awarding free gas after "90 percent of regular lottery players, responding to a poll in which a year’s home mortgage payments were among the other choices, said the prize they would most prefer was free fill-ups." Of course, this is much like the idea of a gas-tax holiday and off-shore drilling: gimmicks that make people feel like something is being done about gas prices. Meanwhile the real measures--efficiency, better public transit, alternative fuels, etc--are ignored.
Via: ::NY Times
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I don't get it. Isn't cash more liquid? And it's not like the gas cards are based on pure volume of gas (which would make them grow more valuable as oil prices go up). They're based on a monetary value, so they couldn't be sold for a lot should gas reach $5 or so.
Also, who's to say what we'll be driving in 10-20 years. If we do the right thing, we'll probably be off of gas.
What a great deal for the state. They can save millions and make even higher profits on the lottery.
And while I'm very hopeful that infrastructure for public transit, biking, and walking in this country will be dramatically improved in the coming years, I am sure that a couple of decades from now we will still be driving at least sometimes in most parts of the country. I highly doubt, however, that our cars will be gas-powered, or at least primarily gas-powered.
If I move to Utah, can I use the cards to buy cheap natural gas? Will the state cover the bill for the electricity for our PHEV? Within a decade or so we might expect the electric stage of a PHEV to give us a 100 mile range, meaning we would use only a few gallons of gas a month at most. Will the gas cards be redeemable for hydrogen, ethanol, methanol, methane, or anything else, should these become our most common (synthetic, not fossil) fuels?
Actually, I think this is a good deal for the rest of us from an environmental standpoint as well. $2600 in gas annually is likely to lead to a lot less emissions and wastefulness than a payoff of several million dollars. The recipient of free gas is unlikely to start splurging on flying more or building a massive- and, more importantly, inefficiently designed- house (I have no problem with a larger house if it is made super-efficient: among other reasons, this makes efficient design and technology better, cheaper, and more readily available for the rest of us).
I've also been noticing a lot of radio station contests that have gas cards as prizes--and to hear the winners weeping with joy over a tank of gas! It's getting scary out there. As the plot thickens and the crisis deepens, I expect contests and lotteries to begin offering food as a prize.
The ninth caller gets fresh meat for a month!
I don't understand. I am actually taking this as a personal insult against my intelligence from the Florida lottery committee that they think they can dupe me into accepting such a prize is worth something. How does "free gas for life" translate to 26 $100 gas gift card? In my trusty '98 Toyota Corolla getting 32 miles to the gallon (we won't even mention SUV gas mileage and how far a hundred bucks will go in one of those), $100 will fill my tank twice with each tank lasting one week. So if I was the unlucky one to win the Florida second place JACKPOT (!!!) of free gas for life, basically this would calculate to 52 weeks or one whole year of free gas (after tax... this is a little over 1/2 a year). "Free gas for life"? Don't make me laugh!