It is a dumb tax to some extent as folks without finances will try to pay for the quick easy (supposedly) money. However, I maintain that they would probably be blowing it on something else otherwise anyway.
If a pensioner spends their money on lottery tickets, who am I to tell them no? At the same time, I am not inclined to give them a free handout when they cannot afford food. Choices and consequences for actions effect us all.
I'll buy a ticket now and again. Why? because I figure that 50% or so goes to one program or another - programs that I'd likely be taxed for anyway if the lottery didnt exist. I am pretty confident that I will NOT win the jackpot, but Im paying in for some programs and educational causes that are good for someone, and meanwhile providing myself with infinitely higher chances of winning the jackpot than by not playing. I figure that if I can win a few dollars, or preferably a few thousand, it will pay for itself, and Ill pay my mortgage off that much sooner. For the $5/year in lottery tickets that I buy, I won't be missing the money.
