Sure, I was surprised to see the $70B value. I think I spent $10 at most on lottery tickets last year, and those were stocking-stuffers at Christmas. I have n

Sure, I was surprised to see the $70B value. I think I spent $10 at most on lottery tickets last year, and those were stocking-stuffers at Christmas. I have no trouble believing that some people spend a lot more on lottery tickets than I do, but...."shame"? Methinks somebody had a hard deadline at the Atlantic and resorted to some good old hand-wringing. What's the author's point? That lotteries are evil because poor people spend a disproportionate amount of their income on them, effectively wasting their money? How does that differ from any other vice or form of entertainment? Conveniently ignored are how some of the state revenues are spent: in New York alone, the state lottery contributed over $3B to education. I find it hard to believe that none of that benefited the same communities that supposedly spent "too much" on lottery tickets. This article is fluff.