We know that people can develop gambling problems due to their lottery play it may even be exclusively due to their lottery play,” Whyte adds.ĭrew Svitko, Powerball product group chair and the Pennsylvania Lottery’s executive director tells TIME, “since the mid-1960s, lotteries in the U.S. “The general public doesn’t always see the lottery as gambling, both legally and psychologically. But he says, “there’s no question that the lottery is a form of gambling like any other and excessive use can lead to addiction.” Whyte explains that large prizes tend to attract more people, even those who wouldn’t gamble in other settings. Half the country doesn’t have anything, they don’t have assets, and these are the folks that we encourage to play the lottery.” “Half the country has stocks and bonds, and they own houses. The lotteries don’t exist without low-income people spending their fortunes,” Bernal says. “The lotteries feast on these demographics, they’re the business model. A Consumer Federation of America survey found that a fifth of Americans believe that winning the lottery is the only feasible way for them to acquire several hundred thousand dollars. Research suggests that state lottery retailers tend to be concentrated in lower-income areas and communities of color. “It’s a form of financial fraud that is only legal if you partner with the state government,” he says.

Bernal is a firm believer that state-sanctioned lotteries are particularly exploitative because of how they target marginalized groups.

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