What the heck, its only a dollar right? And hey you never know…

As you stand in line waiting for your lottery ticket you wrestle with the magic numbers in your head, convinced that this year you have a chance. You dream of how hitting the jackpot will change your life. You see your new cherry red Ferrari parked in the mile long driveway to your million-dollar vista. Closets filled with the clothes you’ve always wanted and those courtside tickets you could never afford.

As you stand in line waiting for your lottery ticket, it’s these fancies that pry the uncertain dollar out of your hand. Then you leave, bewildered, having told yourself a hundred times you weren’t going to fall to victim to the clever scam. Don’t worry; you’re not the first. Those beautiful fancies you saw in line have convinced millions of others as well, cloaking the true evil behind the lottery.

The odds of winning the lottery are 1 in 175 million, one of the worst gambles you will ever take. And although you have a choice to take this gamble, you are really falling victim to a further scam. The lottery is a hidden tax; gaining revenue off the idea that you might get lucky. And, advertisements downplay what the winning money actually goes too, often claiming that the majority of revenue goes back to the people. In 2009, 42 states had lotteries. The total ticket sales added to 52.3 billion while the prizes added up to only 32.3 billion and states retained 17.7 as revenue.

As for a winner, your “jackpot” is further decreased. Lets say you win the $200 million Powerball. You can only get the full total of your winnings if you agree to take it in 30 payments of 30 years – not really a great deal. Those with little patience can decide to get the money immediately. However, after state tax officials and the Revenue Service have grabbed their shares, you’re left with less than half of what you thought you were playing for. Half vanishes when converting the annuity to cash and another half of that number goes to taxes. You’re left with around 50 million in cash money. In addition, lotteries collect most of their money from the poor, as these are the people who are desperate to hit it big. As a result, the lottery acts as a regression tax for the unlucky and to me, further profligates the government’s deceitful national gambling game.

So, as you stand waiting in line for your lottery ticket, think about the evils behind the game you are playing.