01-Mar-2012, 11:50 AM
On the one hand, lotteries are a disagreeable tax on ignorant people, whose popularity is a symptom of both terrible judgment on the players and the general lack of faith said people have in the ability of their traditional earnings to support them. On the other hand, they provide revenue for the state that would be badly missed otherwise in these days of deficits and budget cuts. So I figure savvy people support the regime while not themselves "investing" in it.