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Hard times are great for state lotteries
by Les
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, California Lottery sales rose $400 million, or 13 percent, joining a long list of states that saw sales increases, including Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas. Scratch ticket sales helped fuel California’s increase for the second year in a row.
“I think it has a lot to do with the economy,” said Abel Reynoso, who works at the Desert Hot Springs Chevron on Palm Avenue off Interstate 10. “They’re getting desperate.”
Kate Sweeny, assistant professor of psychology at University of California, Riverside, said the uptick in lottery sales largely occurs when people feel a lack of control over events larger than themselves, like the economy.
“That feeling of self-control is very important to psychological well-being,” Sweeny said. “To the extent that you feel you have control, you take control.”
Every time someone experiences something beyond their self-control, such as a job loss, it makes a withdrawal on their “self-control bank.” When people deplete their self-control resources, they become depressed, Sweeny said. Scratch tickets, which can bring instant satisfaction, are a way to bring that control back to a person’s life, she said.
Citizens are getting desperate. Instead of promoting the feeling citizens have control of their future, the daily voice of government – casino and lottery advertising – exploits their desperation. It is one of the biggest failures of our time. The question we continue to ask over and over again is why is government continuing to promote a policy that shrinks the middle class and pushes citizens into deeper debt during these severe economic times?
Stunted Teenagers Born to Malnourished Mothers.
I live in a town in Lancashire UK that has one of the lowest incomes in the country. When the National Lottery and Scratch Cards were introduced two decades ago, I saw dozens of depserate young women, often single parents, squander almost their entire state benefits on these stupid scratch cards. They were left with no money to feed their children or themselves, and often turned to shoplifting, but were soon banned from entering shops. I witnessed pregnant mothers that were vivibly malnourished….Now I see the children of these same mothers, it is quite shocking! Their stature is tiny, well under five feet tall, and as thin and spindly as rakes! I strongly believe their sorry condition is just another scourge of needless gambling.
The failed government policy of predatory gambling has many major negative impacts, not the least of which is the central role it plays in keeping citizens in poverty. Thanks for posting from the UK, Alastair. Les, SPG Foundation
Desperate Times
Desperate times are a great opportunity for state lotteries. How cynical and callous our state officials are to exploit the hardhips of their citizens selling false hope with multi-million deceptive advertising campaigns. The politicians and bureaucrats are almost as blood-thirsty as the gambling industry.