Someone said a while back, "Playing the lottery is like paying more tax than needed." Hence, the saying, "Lottery is a tax on the poor."
It is true that a larger percentage of disposable income of poor people end up filling the lottery coffers. Generally, the people who play benefit not from winning. Their benefit is purely a fantasy of a great life after winning. It is an escape from the reality of life where bills are unpaid, retirement goes unfunded, drug addictions, etc. This fantasy is a heavy burden on those who could least afford it.
Some even contend that the lottery is unethical and immoral. Is there a solution to this additional taxation? I don't know what that would look like.
What I do believe is we need to explore the lottery's impact on those who could least afford the escape into fantasy land.
