There’s a simple reason why so many people play the lottery. It’s in our nature to want to gamble. The promise of a big jackpot is enough to lure in many players, even if they’re well aware that winning is improbable. But there’s also the ugly underbelly of the lottery, which is that it dangles the possibility of instant riches in a world of growing inequality and limited social mobility.
It’s no secret that state lotteries are big business, but what you may not know is how the money is spent and how lottery officials manage to retain the public’s support for their organization. Lottery revenues are largely allocated in the form of prizes and administrative costs. But in addition, each state’s legislature earmarks a portion of the proceeds to various projects, typically education.
Lottery officials have a strong interest in keeping the public satisfied that the funds they are raising are being used for the good of society. This argument has proved effective in obtaining and retaining wide public support, even in states where the government’s fiscal condition is sound.
A major issue with the way state lotteries are run is that their policies are not determined by a policymaking process, but rather by a series of incremental decisions made by lottery officials and by the pressures from the industry to maintain or increase revenues. These incremental changes have created a situation where the public’s overall interests are only considered intermittently, and often not at all.