The lottery victimizes the poor. A California study revealed that 40 percent of lottery players are unemployed. In Maryland, the poorest 1/3 of the population buys 60 percent of the daily number tickets than those who make $75,000 or more per year. Economic professor and lottery expert, Dr. Robert Goodman says that after three to five years, many people stop playing the lottery because they couldn’t afford it. The lottery exploits persons of all ages. In Texas, the commission on alcohol and drug abuse found that the introduction of a state lottery increased the number of adults who gambled by 40 percent. Meaning senior citizens are the fastest growing group of problem gamblers. “In 1997 the state of Minnesota saw an increase of 200 percent in problem gambling among seniors. According to a 1995 survey in Florida 72 percent of the senior citizen problem gamblers there said the source of their problems was the lottery” (saneok.org) this quote explains exactly how most people believe that the lottery will solve their problems. Then once the lottery doesn’t work, that is when drug and alcohol use comes into play.

State sponsored lotteries diminish local and state tax. According to a 2000 study by Arkansas advocates for children and families, the average taxpayer spends about 5.7 percent of their income on state and local sales taxes. At this rate the estimated 169 million dollars spent on lottery sales will result in the loss of about 9.6 million dollars in state and local sales tax revenue. “Convenience stores have reported that selling lottery tickets hurt their business due to: employee time required selling tickets, subsequent shoplifting increase because of inattentiveness by employees occupied with lottery sales, and lost sales due to longer lives resulting from lottery customers.” (arragopwing.com) This quote means that convenient stores have realized that the lottery has brought their business down. They also realized that their employees have been spending too much time on lottery customers rather than customers who come to buy food and that have resulted in theft.

The benefits and cost associated with the economic factors are often reported in terms of community impacts. This means that all the money that is spent on the lottery affects the community. “The news reports say that people in receipt of benefits are more likely to play scratch cards and draw based games than those not on benefits. People who earn less than $20,000 a year spend an average of $55.39 a year on scratch cards, compared with the national average of $44.18” (okklesla.co.uk). This quote means that the lottery attracts the poor. The people that make a little amount of money a year are more likely to gamble. The lottery encourages people to gamble money that would otherwise be spent at pre-existing businesses. “In California, one entire chain of grocery stores were losing one dollar in food sales for every one dollar in lottery tickets sold.” (saneok.org) This quote means that customers stopped coming to the store to buy groceries but instead buy lottery tickets. Stores then realized that they were decreasing in money.

 

“the lottery is essentially unstable and ineffective method of raising public revenue”-Ginny Blankenship. To interpret Blankenship’s quote, I would say he means you cannot depend on the lottery, it is like an unstable yearly thing to help the government. State run lotteries are the most popular form of commercial gambling in the U.S. The lottery presents a plausible advertisement by saying quotes such as “you have up to ten chances to win!” “Pennsylvania Lottery- Benefits older Pennsylvanians every day” and “keep on scratchin’”. But you would have to be a very solicitous person because there are millions of people hoping to win as well. Advertisements would usually be seen downtown, shopping centers and on public transportation because that is where people spend the most money."In most recent national study, completed in 1988 by NORC (National Opinion Research Council) under contract with the national gambling impact study commission, reveals that overall, problem and compulsive gamblers in the United States cost for productivity reductions, social services, and credit losses.”(gamblinghelp.org) This study by the NORC proves my main point because in 2003, the total consumers spending on lotteries were nearly $45 billion dollars. People suffered from: addictions to the lottery and drugs. They suffered from drug addictions because knowing that you may have lost a lot because of the lottery it causes stress. People would get addicted to the lottery because some people take out loans to continue playing the lottery others may think that if they keep trying they’ll get it but at the end of the day you’re spend more money on the lottery than you would get by gambling.

Man spends $1000 a month on lottery tickets

Lottery Curse

Problem Gambling Awareness Week - 3/1 through 3/7