Dec272007
How fair is our lottery? So-so, says one professor
Filed under Uncategorized by david brooks at 8:35 am
There’s a Texas professor who has been a longtime critic of that state’s lottery system - as well as other state lotteries - because he says they mislead players by doing such things as continuing to sell instant scratch tickets even after the top prizes have been won. He has ranked all 47 state lottery systems using his own subjective system - New Hampshire came in 25th.
Good stuff we do: Odds for all prize levels for scratch games are on the Web; once the last top prize is claimed, game is taken off the market, no longer on sale; no
December 28th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
A lottery is essentially a tax on people who are bad at math.
December 29th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I used to think that, and I still feel that gambling (including lotteries) preys on ignorance - but I’ve come to think that I underestimated the benefits of the “thrill” factor of anticipated possibilities. The cost-benefit ratio doesn’t make sense mathematically, but it might psychologically for some people.