The lottery is a classic example of public policy being made piecemeal and incrementally, with little or no overall overview. Once a lottery is established, state officials have inherited policies and a dependence on revenues that they can do nothing to alter. This gives the industry a sort of immunity from scrutiny, especially in times of economic stress.
Lottery winners can often end up blowing the jackpot—buying luxury houses and cars or gambling it away, or even getting slammed with lawsuits. To avoid that fate, one expert recommends assembling a “financial triad” to help with pragmatic financial planning.
This is the strategy that Richard Lustig, a former professional poker player and winner of seven lottery grand prizes, has used to transform his life. He advises that the key to winning is to play consistently and to purchase more tickets—but not too many, as an experiment done in Australia found that purchasing a lot of tickets doesn’t necessarily improve your odds of winning.
Lottery ads and marketing campaigns are aimed at two things primarily: telling people that playing the lottery is fun, and dangling the promise of instant riches in an age of inequality and limited social mobility. But there’s an additional message that these promotions are hiding: the lottery is a regressive form of gambling. Most of its players are in the 21st through 60th percentile of income distribution, folks who may have a few dollars here and there to spend on a ticket, but not much money left over for the American dream.