There was a story over the weekend in The New York Times about lottery sales being up around the country as Americans seek to get ahead in a bad economy by dropping some cash on a ticket.
We play periodically and, if we’re lucky, we make back what we spent. But let’s face it, the lottery is fool’s errand — especially when you’re stretched economically.
But that’s the game states use to get us in.
In any case, there is something odd about states using this sort of gimmick to fund their budgets, rather than asking people who can afford it (read that to mean the higher-income folks). There are those who call the lotter a “poor-people’s tax” and, given the demographics of the players, I can’t argue.
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Hank Kalet 