A recent study of the Maine Lottery by Cornell University, commissioned by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, for every 1 percent increase in joblessness in a given zip code, sales of scratch and draw lottery tickets jump 10 percent. “You’re selling to people who are already desperate, or in tough financial circumstances. By promoting the lottery, the state is, in some way, complicit in this,” said Cornell behavioral economist and professor Dr. David Just, a lottery expert who helped analyze the date from the six-month Maine research project. Recent research in 39 other states also indicated lottery sales increase with poverty.
The Cornell report also showed residents in Maine’s poorest towns spend up to 200 times more per person than those in wealthier areas. That has helped boost ticket sales to $230 million annually, more than the amount spent in the state annually on liquor. Maine residents spend an average of $173 per person, compared to $794 per person in Rhode Island and $36 per person in North Dakota, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries data.
Six of the 10 towns whose residents spend the most on lottery tickets are in Washington County, the state’s poorest county. Lottery players in this area spent a minimum of $600 on scratch and draw games in 2014, the report showed. According to 2013 U.S. Census data, Washington County residents spend $275 per person per year on lottery tickets, more than $100 more per year than residents of either Cumberland ($166) or York counties ($174), among Maine’s wealthiest.
In addition, the Cornell report showed since 2003, the Maine Lottery has more than tripled its advertising budget, invested in sophisticated market research and installed flat-screen TVs in stores to encourage impulse buys.
Because the lottery pays for itself through ticket sales, the legislature has no oversight over the lottery. Most Lottery budget and marketing decisions are made internally. In 2007 lawmakers requested that the legislature’s investigative arm conduct an assessment of lottery operations but that has yet to begin. “They basically run their own business,” said state Rep. Louis Luchini, co-chairman of the committee that oversees the lottery.
Furthermore, the report indicated the state never has researched the impact of the lottery on the poor and unemployed, despite promoting the lottery over decades. State lottery and health officials said they have no data on addiction rates and have no plans or funding to gather it, and instead must rely on data from other states, they said.
But state lottery officials, when presented with the Cornell data, noted people play the games voluntarily and that the majority of revenue is returned to winners. The lottery also transfers to the general fund an average of $50 million per year of the $230 million raised in ticket sales, helping the state avoid cutting state services or raising taxes, officials said. Lottery Deputy Director Tim Poulin said, “That money helps with education, conservation, all those things and services that state government provides. And if the players can pocket some money, that can make a substantial difference in their life.” He said the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, which falls under the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, is responsible for problem gambling services. But, Christine Theriault of DHHS’s Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services said her office lacked funding to study the issue. She said the state spends $100,000 on problem gambling initiatives, but the funds also cover casino gambling addiction. “Somebody can be just as addicted to lottery tickets as they are to going to a casino, or sports betting, or card games, slot machines, poker. Unfortunately, we don’t have data that tell us how many people in the state have a problem. It’s a gap we have,” she said.
