by Kris Kennedy

Created on: November 15, 2009

Lottery as Recreational Tax

Lottery Officials bill the product as fun, but in reality, it is a personal choice tax. In no other way do citizens actually determine whether to pay a tax. It is the recreational tax but is it really only done for fun?

Lottery is Gambling

There are people who suffer from addiction to gambling. The lottery plays into this problem. Not everyone who purchases a lottery ticket is addicted just as not everyone who purchases alcohol is an alcoholic. As citizens, hear and indulge in the discussion of prevention of taxation by government, the citizens might even buy a lottery ticket when the jackpot gets high. If it simply were an option to dream, it would seem harmless. What is harmless for one might cause devastation to another?

The people who complain about taxation might complain about increases to sin taxes. Sin taxes are on the items that are not necessary, but people choose to use such as alcohol and tobacco. In addition, these items are addictive. The aim for increasing the tax is to encourage people to deal with the addiction because of the negative health concerns. Gambling can have negative problems to an individual with a gambling addiction, but government does not try to promote discontinuation, but its increase. How do you get them to pay the tax?

If someone enjoys gambling for recreation, is the lottery where the true gambler would gamble? Most likely not the odd are not good. With the increase in casino throughout the country, there are better places for true gamblers to gamble. So why have a lottery? It is so the state can receive additional funding.

Promotion of the Tax

The lottery tells people that the lottery ticket sales go to education. Would someone willing give discretionary funds to the government for schools? Most likely not, but if someone who hoped to win a life changing amount of money might justify spending the money by purchasing a lottery ticket with the reasoning that the funds go to help education. The State of Oregon promotes the lottery with projects that received funding by the lottery. Would these projects been funded with another source of taxation if the lottery did not exist?

Winners Not Prepared

The large winners rarely are people who have had to deal with philanthropist requests by large quantities of individuals. In order to keep people buying lottery tickets individuals need to know there were winners. Media services provide newscasts and newspaper articles about the winners. The winners answer what he or she is going to do with the winning. Right afterwards many winners complain of the requests for money from family members, charities and complete strangers. These winners rarely know how to deal with the notoriety and the ability to be a philanthropist.

True gamblers may buy a lottery ticket just for the fun, but others may buy more tickets than they can afford to make a life change. Is not funding education a better means to help all reach the American dream than place some at risk?

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