Destructive The National Center for Policy Analysis offers this summary of the evils of government-sponsored gambling.
Critics claim the benefits of lotteries have been oversold, while the costs to society are ignored.
Although more than half of all state lottery revenues are dedicated to education, they are more often used as a substitute for other funds. Rather than improving state economies, lotteries simply transfer wealth from the many to the few, and ticket sales decrease other retail purchases by about the same amount. Ticket sales are highest in neighborhoods with the lowest income levels and the highest proportion of minority residents. The poor are more likely to play than any other income group, and spend a larger faction of their income. There are also studies showing lotteries create societal costs that have to be weighed against income to the state.