>I'd wager that more people are harmed by pseudoscience and religious false pretenses than they are by the state lotto, but alas I have no number to back up my

>I'd wager that more people are harmed by pseudoscience and religious false pretenses than they are by the state lotto, but alas I have no number to back up my hunch -- and they're hard numbers to come by. It is hard to measure the effect of religions, however, it is pretty obvious the lottery is not good for poor people. In the US alone, 35 billion dollars spent by the poorest third of households in 2014--half of all lottery purchasing. [1] Americans that make $13k or less spend 9% of their income on lottery tickets [2] I think may be better off buying crystals or going to church, because lottery windfalls also often result in misery. [3] [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/lotteries-americas-70-billion-shame/392870/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/lotteri... [2] https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/what-the-lottery-has-to-say-about-poverty/ https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/what-the-lottery-ha... [3] https://time.com/4176128/powerball-jackpot-lottery-winners/ https://time.com/4176128/powerball-jackpot-lottery-winners/