The Lure of the Lottery

The Lure of the Lottery “The modern experience of state-run lotteries in this country begins with New Hampshire in 1964. In a story that would be repeated across the country, New Hampshire faced a difficult choice: either raise taxes or institute a lottery” (Haugen). Since 1964 a myriad of states have been inclined to induce state lotteries to bring in a greater amount of revenue for their individual states. While state lotteries may be a method for converting individual contributions into works of collective good, they are about as inefficient a way as could be designed. State lotteries do whatever it takes (i.e. sophisticated advertising, specialized marketing techniques, clever slogans) to sell their product. They do this even when it means misleading players about their odds of winning, introducing more addictive games that aggressively target the poor, and look away while minors gamble. The fact that state lotteries have the lowest odds of winning of any form of gambling is never stated in the countless advertisements states have about their lotteries. “According to the U.S. Council on Compulsive Gambling, fewer than 50% of state-run lotteries disclose their odds in print advertising, and only 25% do so in television ads” (Bayer). Unless state law requires the lottery to disclose the true odds of winning, and few do, lottery advertisements generally overstate or obscure the chances of winning, in order to make the worst bet in gambling seem attractive. Lotteries are regulated only by the state governments themselves, which are the same state governments that depend on lottery profits to increase their revenues. “Although commercial sweepstakes operators like Publisher’s Clearinghouse are governed by the Federal Trade Commission’s truth-in-advertising rules, Congress has exempted state lotteries from such restraints” (Nelson). State governments are not only hurting their citizens by using deceitful advertising, they are also hurting themselves. The deceptive

Cited: