Lotteries are reactionary poor taxes imposed by neoliberal states that can no longer raise their own funds for projects so have to create “for profit” gambling rackets to fill in the gaps of cutting taxes on the rich. They also serve a useful ideological purpose for controlling the poor, giving them an avenue to make it big and join the capitalists. Why be a pain to the state and improve conditions when YOU could be a lucky winner and be rich!! They exaggerate the likelihood of it happening and pretend anyone could win at any time to keep this illusion alive.
I feel like there’s also some state propaganda involved in making it seem like lottery winners just blow all their money and become poor again. I don’t know how true that is but it’s always smelled wrong to me.
That lottery winners typically do become destitute again is true, but it’s not because they blow all the cash.
Lottery winners are subject to a lot of pressure from other people who want that money. Hostile divorces, scams, and familial financial abuse are all really common. Winners are rarely informed of the financial instruments the wealthy typically use to protect their wealth, and thus have a much higher financial attrition rate.
They also tend to be less aware of and prepared for future financial precarity. The concept of being “set for life” seems to result in a really high rate of underinsurance, so when an unexpected financial hardship like a house fire or major car accident occurs, they’re typically unprepared for that hardship.
Lotteries are reactionary poor taxes imposed by neoliberal states that can no longer raise their own funds for projects so have to create “for profit” gambling rackets to fill in the gaps of cutting taxes on the rich. They also serve a useful ideological purpose for controlling the poor, giving them an avenue to make it big and join the capitalists. Why be a pain to the state and improve conditions when YOU could be a lucky winner and be rich!! They exaggerate the likelihood of it happening and pretend anyone could win at any time to keep this illusion alive.
https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-19-lotteryism-part-i-how-a-compliant-press-fuels-the-spectacle-of-winning
https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/2017/12
I feel like there’s also some state propaganda involved in making it seem like lottery winners just blow all their money and become poor again. I don’t know how true that is but it’s always smelled wrong to me.
That lottery winners typically do become destitute again is true, but it’s not because they blow all the cash.
Lottery winners are subject to a lot of pressure from other people who want that money. Hostile divorces, scams, and familial financial abuse are all really common. Winners are rarely informed of the financial instruments the wealthy typically use to protect their wealth, and thus have a much higher financial attrition rate.
They also tend to be less aware of and prepared for future financial precarity. The concept of being “set for life” seems to result in a really high rate of underinsurance, so when an unexpected financial hardship like a house fire or major car accident occurs, they’re typically unprepared for that hardship.