Lotteries are a popular way for people to win big money. The practice goes back at least as far as the medieval world, and by the fourteenth century was common in Europe. In the sixteenth century, the English crown chartered the first national lottery to pay for town fortifications and charitable purposes, and the practice was soon adopted in other countries as well.
Lottery proceeds are typically earmarked for a specific public good, such as education. This is important, because a key element of lottery success is its ability to rally broad public support by convincing people that the money will go to a “good” cause. This argument is particularly effective in times of economic stress, when it can be used to counter the threat of tax increases or cuts in government spending. But it also works in less dire situations, as evidenced by the fact that lottery revenue is not correlated to state governments’ fiscal health.
Even when the odds of winning are enormously small—as they are in today’s Powerball games, with odds of one-in-three-hundred-million—people will play. The reason is simple: the more unlikely the prize, the greater the psychological payoff. It’s why people will pay up to a billion dollars for a single ticket.
The lottery is also a vehicle for a twisted kind of narcissism. It’s an opportunity for people to imagine themselves as the hero of their own story, or at least the one whose happy ending will be different from everyone else’s. And that’s a powerful temptation, especially for those who are living in a moment when the old promise of rising incomes, stable jobs, and secure retirements seems to have gone bust for most Americans.
Lottery advertising tries to appeal to this narcissistic desire by portraying itself as the ultimate game of chance and destiny. But the reality is that, like other forms of gambling, it is a form of addiction. Lottery players are exposed to a constant stream of messages that reinforce the idea that they can get rich and live the life of their dreams by playing the game. And, just as with other addictive behaviors, there are plenty of warning signs that it’s not a smart way to spend your money.
Despite the warnings, lotteries continue to thrive. They are the fastest growing source of government revenue, and they’re attracting ever-larger pools of players. The debate over the merits of this form of gambling has shifted from questions about its social desirability to concerns about its regressive effects on low-income groups. In the nineteen-seventies and eighties, as household incomes fell, unemployment rose, and the poverty rate grew, lottery sales increased rapidly. And, as with other commercial products, the advertisements for lotteries tend to be most heavily promoted in poor and black neighborhoods. They’re a form of predatory marketing that exploits vulnerable populations and contributes to the growing problem of compulsive gambling.
