NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Editorial Opinions

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / SUPPORT US / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
State Lotteries and Taxes

Daily Policy Digest

Social Issues

Wednesday, August 29, 2001

The outcome of the recent giant Powerball jackpot has focused public attention on state -- and multi-state -- lotteries.

Here are some interesting insights into the subject:

  • Multi-state lotteries are sizzling because their huge jackpots are bringing back participants who have become bored with single-state lotteries -- which are losing players.
  • Participation in lotteries is roughly equal among people of different income and educational levels, but poorer and less educated individuals buy more tickets each year -- with high school dropouts spending an average of $334 in 1999 versus $86 per capita spent by college graduates.
  • Although states like to proclaim they earmark lottery money for such things as education and health-care, legislatures in fact reduce general-revenue appropriations by a similar amount and use the money for other projects.
  • A survey by Money magazine in 1996 revealed that states with lotteries had raised their per capita taxes at three times the rate of non-lottery states in the first half of the 1990s.
At present, 37 states and the District of Columbia have lotteries.

Source: Ryan H. Sager, "Multi-State Lotteries Are a Bad Bet," Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2001.

For text (WSJ subscribers)
http://online.wsj.com/
articles/SB999041326244578625.htm

For more on Gambling
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/social3.html
Dallas: 12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
Washington: 601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2001 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.