A 2005 survey commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association asked 1,000 adult Americans what would be the most practical way for them to accumulate several hundred thousand dollars. Fifty-five percent responded, “Save something each month for many years.” But 21 percent of the respondents, 38 percent with incomes below ,000 and 31 percent 55 or older answered, “Win the lottery.”
According to Reuters, in fiscal 2009, Americans spent $50.4 billion on lottery tickets, video lottery terminals and related games in the 44 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, where they are allowed, and those states took in $17.6 billion in lottery profits. Tax Foundation data indicate 11 of those states make more money from their lottery than they take in from corporate income tax.
The National Council of State Legislatures reported lottery ticket sales accounted for 8 percent of state revenue in Massachusetts, 7 percent in Georgia and 4 percent in Florida. The national average is 2.6 percent. However, CBS News said in New Jersey, lottery revenue dropped 9.2 percent in the fiscal quarter ending Oct. 31, 2014; officials there had predicted a revenue gain of 7.4 percent. Lottery sales also fell in Maryland and Missouri.
But Terry Rich, a board member of Powerball, a collective of 22 states that joined together in 1987 to offer large cash jackpots, said, “Our sales tend to spike when the jackpot is high.”
In South Carolina, households with annual incomes of less than $40,000 made up 54 percent of the state lottery’s most frequent players. A 2007 California Budget Project report said lottery sales are higher for individuals age 45-65 who have little or no formal education, reside in urban areas and are not white.
One blog post stated, “The games naturally appeal to poor people, which causes them to spend disproportionate amounts of their income on lotteries, which helps keep them poor, which keeps them buying tickets.”
