This article from the Maryland Reporter details why the lower-income communities in Maryland play the Lottery disproportionately. For example, Park Heights, one of Maryland’s poorest neighborhoods with a median income of $35,000, gave the most money to the Lottery in the entire state- a whopping $34 million. A truck driver from Park Heights told the Reporter that, “We play to make some extra money… I want some extra money. We all do.”  Lower-income communities disproportionately believe the path to wealth is the Lottery, not responsible saving and spending. However, with every Lottery ticket, as this article explains, residents only fall deeper and deeper into poverty.

Low-income players drive lottery sales as a big source of state revenues