Is Playing the Lottery a Civic Duty?

Across the United States, Americans spend billions of dollars every year on lottery tickets. But are they buying into a false narrative that lottery wins are inevitable, and that playing the lottery is a civic duty? I’ve talked to people who play the lottery for years, spending $50 or $100 a week on tickets. Their stories surprise me.

Lottery winners say they feel a strong sense of responsibility to help the state. But they don’t seem to understand the percentage of ticket sales that are paid out in prizes. When you take into account how much is returned to players, it actually decreases the amount of money that’s available for education and other state-wide priorities.

People also don’t realize that when you play a lottery, you’re basically paying an implicit tax. And I think that’s a big part of the problem with state-sponsored gambling. It’s a tax that isn’t explicitly stated, and it’s not as visible as a regular state tax.

The drawing of lots to determine ownership or other rights is recorded in ancient documents, and was used for a wide range of purposes in colonial America, including funding towns, wars, colleges, and public-works projects. In the modern era, the term “lottery” has come to be defined as any competition that relies on chance to distribute its prize money, even if later stages require entrants to use skill. Lotteries often team up with sports franchises, or sell scratch-off tickets featuring popular products like cars and motorcycles.