The Sinister Underbelly of Lottery Games

The casting of lots to determine fates has a long record in human history. It was used by Moses for land allocations in the Bible and later by Roman emperors to give away property and slaves. But lotteries that distribute money prizes rather than items of unequal value are more recent. The first such lotteries to offer tickets for sale and award prizes based on chance were organized in the Low Countries around the 15th century to raise funds for town fortifications and to help poor people.

The popularity of these games suggests that most people are willing to spend a little to have a small but real chance to win a substantial amount. But there’s a more sinister underbelly: Lotteries may encourage the belief that everybody has a shot at riches, even if the odds of winning are long.

Lottery games rely on a number of tricks to attract customers and increase revenue, including promoting huge jackpots with high-profile prize winners, claiming to be free from the influence of criminal syndicates and advertising the fact that the proceeds are used to promote civic and cultural activities. But the truth is that many states are using lottery proceeds to subsidize their own budgets and that the games are not without costs.

The history of state lotteries illustrates some of the tensions that arise when government introduces new forms of gambling. States are pushed to adopt them by their need for revenues, but the gamblers they create are not necessarily better off as a result. And while lotteries are portrayed as painless forms of taxation, the evidence shows that they have disproportionately impacted poorer communities.