The real odds of winning a state lottery are approximately fourteen million to one, the same odds as being hit by lightening seven times while waiting in the lottery line. Seventy years ago it was illegal to gamble anywhere in the United States. Our parents grew up thinking that gambling was morally wrong, but our children are growing up thinking that gambling is as easy as going to McDonald's. Today, all but three states permit gaming, and it's getting bigger all the time. For the first time in history, gambling is available close to home.
People can walk to and from work and gamble.
State governments actually encourage their citizens to gamble because it seems like an easy way to collect tax free money. But some citizens are caught up in an addiction as powerful as drug addiction. One third of pathological gamblers are women. Forty-six percent of pathological gamblers borrow on, or use up the cash value of, their insurance policy. Fifty-two percent surrender their policy.