The Risks of Lottery Gambling

When you buy a lottery ticket, the odds aren’t the only thing you’re gambling on. You’re also investing in a dream, that one day you might stand on a stage and be handed an oversized check for millions of dollars. This is not the kind of fantasy most people invest their life savings in. It’s a gamble, but it’s not exactly reckless.

It’s the inextricable human impulse to gamble that draws many of us to lotteries, but there’s a whole lot more going on behind the scenes of these games than just that. They dangle the promise of instant riches in an era of inequality and limited social mobility. And they target a player base that’s disproportionately lower-income, less educated, nonwhite, and male.

Lottery players are a diverse group, but they share the same basic desire: to be rich. This desire isn’t unique to America, but the way it’s marketed to the general public makes it feel like everyone can get in on the game. The ads are awash in big prizes, and billboards trumpet the size of their jackpots. In fact, 50 percent of Americans play the lottery at least once a year.

The first lotteries to offer tickets with money prizes appeared in the Low Countries in the 15th century, when towns held them to raise funds for town fortifications and to help the poor. Francis I of France permitted public lotteries in several cities, and they became widely popular.

These lotteries were brought to the United States by British colonists, but initial reaction was mostly negative, with most states banning them by the time of the Civil War. Only in the 1960s did state lotteries make a comeback, and they now account for nearly half of all lottery sales.

Lotteries have become an essential revenue source for state governments. In an anti-tax era, voters want their states to spend more, and politicians look at lotteries as a way to collect “painless” revenues that don’t require additional taxes.

In the long run, this dynamic will lead to serious problems. Despite the obvious risks, state governments have a lot of incentives to promote the lottery and encourage people to play it. And in an era of declining state budgets, lottery profits are likely to grow even more quickly than other forms of legal gambling. This trend is unlikely to change unless policymakers recognize the dangers of encouraging an activity that’s a loser for most players while reaping gains for state coffers. The only way to break the pattern is for voters and state officials to reject the lottery’s skewed incentive structure. This will require a fundamental shift in how state policies are made, from piecemeal and incremental to holistic and global. And it will require a commitment to limiting the growth of state power and the influence of lobbyists. Until then, the only sure way to lose is to keep playing.