Running Heading: Jackpot!

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Ethan Shiveley Jackpot 07/15/13

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The idea of the lottery has been around a long time.

There are records of gambling

going back to early colonies when the English first came and settled in America. King Henry authorized lotteries in the first settlements in America. The funds were used to help build roads and establish towns. In the early 1800s, the lottery came to be what it is known as today. For a brief period around the early 1900s it was even illegal to participate in the lottery, until the 1960s when it was legalized again. Within it there are many perspectives and relationships that take place related to the game. The lottery is most often seen by organizations such as the government as a tool for expansion, the general public sees it as the most common way to get rich quick. The lottery is a controversial topic, people are unsure of the benefit of having a lottery, in fact state governments will pay people to come in and study and report the effects a lottery could have or does have on the state. Supporters of the lottery argue that it provides important benefits to society with such an increase in money, its taxes will help build up society, and it is what the people want so there is no need to take away the lottery. While helping society improve is important a closer look at this topic will review the hidden dangers behind the lottery. States should not have lotteries because it endangers the winners, uses false hope to advance society, and makes most of its money off the poor entrenching them further in poverty. The first reason why there should not be a lottery is that more often than not, the winners suffer as a result of the winnings. A ticket only costs $2.00 to purchase for a chance at 116 million dollars. There is a false deception in the lottery that the only loss in playing is in losing ones playing money. Really though, the costs are much higher than that. Mandi Woodruff and Michael Kelly spoke of the many misfortunate stories of those who lost it all, winning the lottery. They claim most peoples lives get worse after winning the lottery. These winners

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stories are full of divorce, death, drugs addictions, debt, lawsuits, and theft that these players actually spent money to have happened (Lottery winner who blew it all, 2013, pa 2). Winning the money, in a lottery, may seem like it would make ones life much easier, but really this nonsequitur deceives the public. A non-sequitur is logical fallacy that means the conclusion is not necessarily a result of certain actions. Would anyone want to participate in a raffle for a car crash? No. The lottery does such a good job advertising that money equals happiness, that people overlook the other consequences that come with the money. Understanding this point is important but that is not enough, it is important to help these people. Winners are suffering from the results of the lottery and each person can help prevent another person from going through the same suffering. Ibi Roncailoli won 5 million dollars she gave 2 million to a secret child of hers, and her husband killed her. Many of the winners have crazy stories like this that could be prevented if people didnt participate in the lottery. Without participants there would be no money, and thereby no freak accidents. Is this really what anyone would want someone to have happen to another person? As a society do people care so little about each other that they would let these things happen to one-another? That is one example of what happens to those that win the lottery. About 1,500 hundred people win the lottery and make over 1 million dollars in a year. Imagine 1,500 people a year each with stories like Ibi Roncailoli. It is really important that everyone learns about this and to understand the dangers, so as to not be misled when others say that winning the lottery would really help some individual that would otherwise never have such opportunities.

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Some people believe the lottery is really helpful in providing the winners with capitol that would stimulate the economy and help everyone. A small business does just under a million dollars in one year sales. There are some who win earning between 1-5 million dollars. That is the amount that of an entire business over the course of a year, that they can contribute to societys economy. It is natural when one has money to spend it. Therefore, spending benefits everyone around those winners of the lottery. While it appears it is very beneficial to have a lottery, it would be better to stop supporting the lottery and get rid of it. For the good of those that win all that money society should not support the lottery. One must analyze the long term effects of getting rid of or keeping the lottery. Since the winnings of the lottery are so specific, only a few individuals at a time benefit. Keeping it is not going to result in some mass melt down of society. The effects of this would be more like a suffering student in a large class, if that student begins to suffer enough, that grief will follow them, and begin to bring down the entire class. The lottery is not bad just because of the pain caused to an individual winning it, but because it is not suitable means to make money. The lottery uses a false sense of success with little chance of payout. The second reason why states shouldnt have a lottery is that it uses false hope to capitalize on individuals. The lottery is set up around the idea that for just a couple bucks a person could make enough money to live their dreams. That is like advertising that someone could go to McDonalds and purchase a cheeseburger and they may or may not receive. People would be upset if that happened. The odds of winning the Powerball, a specific lottery, are 1 in 175,223,510. This is determined by picking numbers in sequence one through ten, repeated five times, then again picking the Powerball number as the sixth one between the numbers one

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through thirty-five. To understand how small the odds of winning are one must understand how much 175,223,510 are. Comparisons make understanding ideas like these much easier so it becomes easier to see the chances of winning the lottery with an example, this will make it much easier to see how difficult the lottery is. Ronald Wasserstein, the executive director for the American Statistical Association, illustrates the odds of winning the Powerball. He says the odds of winning are 1 in 175 million (rounding just to work with an easy number). He says if a person had to pick a lucky dollar bill from 175 million dollars, those dollar bills could be laid out end to end, and stretch from Washington D.C. to Disneyworld in Florida, across the nation to Disneyland in California, then up to Oregon and back to D.C. This could then be repeated a second time (2013 par 7-10). Imagine having to pick one of those dollars, if that was a true challenge someone might pay to participate in that, but not knowing the odds would make it seem like a doable task. This deception brings more people to play, rather than driving them away. While the odds of winning are extremely low, people for the lottery argue that the money taken from the taxes on the winnings are very beneficial to society. Players of the lottery say that taxes on the lottery support schools and the state. They believe that even if they lost at least they would be helping out a good cause. People generally support the lottery under this belief. While it is a compelling argument here is the break down on the lottery winnings. There are 2 types of taxes on lottery winnings. There is a 25% federal tax, and depending on the state, a zero to nine percent tax on the winnings. So it comes out to around 35% tax on millions of dollars at its best. That would then be used for various things one of which would be the education. Taxes are very beneficial but this form of taxation is not that lucrative, nor is it an ethical form of business. Wanting to help the schools systems is a great

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idea but capitalizes on peoples hopes of winning with little chances of success, and a smaller chance of actually helping education progress. It is not a conventional method to try to make money off people with little chance of reward, even so, depending on taxes from the lottery is not very effective means of getting money. John Schoen a professional writer and analyzer for NBC News Business reported that, Only 11 cents on the dollar go towards education (2012, par 5). Most of the money taken from the winnings is used to help run the game, and some goes towards the company that runs it for profit. It is not an effective way of raising money, but beyond that most of its funds come from the impoverished. The third reason why lotteries are bad is that its main supporters are typically those that are considered to be poor. Sarah Ovaska, a researcher for North Carolina Policy Center, worked in project for the North Carolina Justice Center and reflects about adults playing the lottery in North Carolina. Ovaskas analysis shows that in Halifax County more than a quarter of its population is living under the federal poverty line, and has the second highest lottery ticket sales at $516 per capita. This shows one of the poorest counties in the state has the second highest sales on lottery tickets. More than $21.7 million was spent on lottery tickets in Halifax County in 2011. (Prosperity seen as a scratch ticket away in poorest counties, 2012, par 1-3). The point of this article demonstrated that the poor are the greatest participants in the lottery. The state of North Carolina is not the only one with facts like this Wisconsin reflects these numbers too. Typically the poor play the lottery and contribute a very large portion of their income is used to play the lottery. There was a study in Wisconsin by Irving Piliavin and Michael Polakowski, are analyst for the Institute for Research on Poverty, were sent to understand if the

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state would benefit from the lottery. They showed that 38% of the players had an income between $10,000 and $50,000. Of that group, those making between $10,000 and 30,000 spent around 70% of their income on the lottery (Are lotteries harmful, 1987, Table 3). Again the greatest participants of the lottery, the poor, are spending a lot of their money to support it. What is point of aiding the impoverished only to have them spend money in system they are not likely to benefit from it. On top of that, they are likely to get some of that money back potentially through their taxes on earnings of lottery players. They are better off to keep their money they just give a portion of it away to lottery companies. While the state has decided to allow lottery play, it does not mean it is not harmful. The government will often institute the lottery because they want to provide what the people want. People in favor of the lottery, as it relates to the poor, say it is the duty of the government to give the people what they want. They say the poor want an equal chance to make profit. America split off from its English rulers because they wanted freedoms they didnt have. As America formed the concept of government came into question, is the governing power there to benefit the people under rule or the people in power? The answer came that the government is here to serve its people. Along with this it is believed that it is even an opportunity for the poor to turn around all their circumstances. It is back up and supported with thinking that this is an unbiased system that comes at the same cost to everyone. The lottery does not judge its winners because one has a sad story, or is worse off, but because they had the right numbers. Lottery supporters say that the government should allow the lottery because the poor want a chance to make a lot of money, that they would otherwise never have a chance at getting. While it may seem desirable to the poor it overlooks the consequences that come with it to aid the poor.

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The relationship of a government giving its people what they want no matter what is comparable to the relationship between a parent and child and a childs wants. Think of a parent letting a child get a dog because it is what the child wants. The dog will need attention, to be fed, to be cleaned up after, and cost money. A child doesnt typically have that perspective and often gets in over his/her head. Then the responsibility of attending to the dog goes back to the parent. The same can be true of the lottery, the people may want it and it may seem desirable, but as people spend all their money on the lottery and dont receive their big payout they will require more assistance and attention. Sometimes parents must decide that a child is not ready for a pet and wont give it to them to protect them. The same should be true with the government and us, they are here to help us progress rather than end up back at square one. This happens to the poor, as they continue to spend their meager incomes hoping to make money on the lottery, will then require the very funds they back as they are drawn out of taxes on lottery winnings. Understanding this element of why the lottery is bad is important all of these points revolve around the responsibilities people have to each other. It would be very difficult to stop the problems above any other way, than getting rid of the lottery all together. Sure there are many little rules that could be added to the lottery that might stop these bad effects, such as maybe putting a minimum income level to play or something like that. There will never be a solution to cause good in a situation that ultimately has negative effects. That would be like a solution that would still allow war. The solution is to get rid of lottery all together, and again this is a topic that should be important to everyone. To play the game is a risk, keeping it in society is also a risk. When it comes down to it the lottery is not an effective source for building up society. It is a system of luck, and it is believed that playing it can leave the player with a large payout. In

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an effort of improving society, it is better to get rid of the lottery. The lottery is risky to a society because it generates a dangerous cycle of hope and loss. If unchecked, it will leave cut in society that will fester and weaken its people. The lottery would let participants believe that they could have it all at almost the cost of nothing. This hasty generalization would leave people taking risks with costs they cant afford. To allow a lottery in society would allow a mechanism to function that would slowly push the poor back into the economic status that society works so hard to remove. Although the nation is not in shambles or on the brink of destruction, it is getting weaker and weaker. One way of improving the nation, would be to remove the lottery altogether. All people can help by simply not participating, then the pot will begin to shrink until it is all together gone. The decision of what happens to the nation is up to everyone. Is the answer to the nations economic problems to be solved with a game that does not bring in that much money, most of which come from the poor, and sells itself to people with only a hope of a return?

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References Nocera, Joe. (2012). The bad luck of winning. The New York Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com. Ovaska, Sarah. (2012). Prosperity seen as a scratch ticket away in poorest counties. NC Policy Watch. Retrieved from www.ncpolicywatch.com. Piliavin, Irving, & Polakowski, Michael. (1987). Are lotteries harmful? Retrieved from www.irp.wisc.edu. Schoen, John. (2012.) Powerball profits dont all go where you think they do. NBC news business. Retrieved from nbcnews.com Wasserstein, Ronald. (2013). A Statistician's View: What are your chances of winning the Powerball lottery? Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved from www.huffingtonpost.com. Woodruff, Mandi, & Kelly Michael. (2013). 19 Lottery winner who blew it all. Business Insider. Retrieved from businessinsider.com.