Which makes them much better at not losing their life savings, hence the regs.

The new regs put limits on how much money the non-accredited investors are allowed to invest.

So we should ban the lottery for poor people.

Frankly, yes. Government-run lotteries are a pretty abusive practice that should be ended.

John Oliver has a great segment on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PK-netuhHA

Actually yes, I know an economist (working for the BCE) half-jokingly preaching it. According to him, lottery should be reserved to people who can afford to lose 10$.

In fairness to the lottery, few people consider it to be a sensible place to stick 50% of their net worth. Bearing in mind that top startups - which generate nearly all the return to VCs - have a marked preference for "smart money" and the majority of startups ventures fail hard, most lotteries probably have a higher expected value than retail investors are likely to see from the average crowdfunding portfolio.

luckily the new regs don't allow you to invest 50% of your net worth.

If I understand correctly, the 10% of net worth restriction applies to investments in a single startup.

That being the case you can guarantee there will be commission-earning intermediaries or platforms misrepresenting the concept of portfolio diversification to encourage people to invest in as many startups as they can afford...

actually the new regs are such that you can't in fact lose your life savings. only 10%.