> taxing winnings from gambling never made much sense to me. If you didn't tax winnings, then you're merely inviting a deluge of tax evasion and money launderi

> taxing winnings from gambling never made much sense to me. If you didn't tax winnings, then you're merely inviting a deluge of tax evasion and money laundering schemes. But note that gambling losses are deductible. (You can even itemize your lottery ticket spend.) The caveat is that gambling deductions can only be used to offset gambling winnings; again, because otherwise you're inviting a ridiculous amount of difficult to police fraud. > Especially if it's run as a government monopoly. Some states, like California, don't tax state lottery winnings. (But neither do you get deductions for lottery losses.) For other states--at least those with an income tax--I suppose it's just a matter of simplicity to not distinguish state-controlled from private lotteries.