Is the Lottery a Good Idea?

Carly Scarlato

Professor Chester

English 102

5 May 2014

Easy Money

Humans can’t help but desire the vulnerability that is elicited by taking a chance. Participating in the lottery is based on sheer luck, yet we continue to partake knowing that the stakes are high and the chances of winning are slim to none. Although some may argue that contributing to lotteries is a waste of money, their small daily investment is funding societal advancement. State lotteries are a source of public revenue and raise funds for public purposes. Lotteries remain one of the most noticeable state government activities while their sales continue to surpass those of all other products sold directly to the public from state governments. The object of state lotteries is to raise as much money as possible for state funds, and then, those profits are put towards supporting education and other public services. The reason the lottery is a good idea is because it serves as an alternative source of state income that is then provided to the government’s overall fund.

There is always someone out there that is sick and has hospital bills to pay. Maybe you got laid off and are scrambling for money to pay the rent. Or, maybe you would like to quit your job and move to Hawaii (Wilson, 2013). It is people like this that participate in the lottery because they know that no matter the dilemma, the lottery can fix it. The lottery still exists because people can receive millions of dollars from the purchase of just a $2 lottery ticket. These two dollars that are given weekly become a significant source of funds for the states, and since there is such a controversy over raising state taxes, paying for lottery tickets helps in doing this. States that already have insanely high taxes benefit from a state lottery because “legislators in these high tax effort states realized that adopting a state lottery might generate significant spendable revenues for the state without having to raise other existing...