In an age where inequality is on the rise and social mobility limited, people need all the help they can get. That’s one of the messages behind lottery promotions, which entice people to play for the chance at winning a huge sum of money.
A lottery is a game where tickets are sold and prizes awarded by drawing lots. The first recorded lotteries were held in the Low Countries in the 15th century to raise funds for town fortifications and to help poor people. Later, private lottery games were popular among the elite and wealthy. A few decades after the American Revolution, George Washington sponsored a lottery to finance his expedition against Canada, and the colonial governments of Virginia and Massachusetts also used lotteries to fund roads, canals, and churches.
Lottery is one of the most common forms of gambling in the United States, with a majority of Americans playing at least once a year. Despite the widespread participation, there are still some clear distinctions in who plays: Lottery play is higher among lower-income people, and those from nonwhite backgrounds. It’s also lower among the elderly and those with less formal education. And yet, people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds are drawn to the idea that they could suddenly win big and change their lives.
State officials and lawmakers aren’t trying to hide the fact that the primary reason they promote lotteries is to raise revenue for their states. They do so by framing it as a “painless tax” that’s an example of citizens voluntarily spending their money for the benefit of society. This message is effective, and the fact that the proceeds of lotteries go to a specific purpose (such as education) helps make the pitch even stronger.
But this framing of the lottery is deceptive, and it’s based on some false assumptions. For one, it assumes that people are going to gamble anyway, so the government might as well take advantage of this inevitable behavior. It also assumes that the money that lottery players spend is a pure form of voluntary taxation—a view that’s not supported by research.
In reality, a large percentage of the money that players spend on lottery tickets is spent on items other than the jackpot prize. Some of it is spent on things like scratch-off tickets, which have a much lower payout than the headline amount, and others is spent on meals and gas. As a result, the share of the prize money that goes to actual winners is quite small.
It’s true that the lottery does raise a substantial amount of money for state governments, but this is not the only argument for why it should be legalized. It also has the potential to undermine a key principle of democracy: that the public should be able to choose how its taxes are spent, not just be coerced into funding things that the government finds desirable.