$18 billion in lottery and gaming sales
How much of that is paid out as winnings? How much is the overhead costs? How much do the private contractors that actually run the lottery get paid?
How much of that lottery revenue would have been spent on food, cars, gas or housing otherwise?
From the article:
“The Washington State Lottery made $565 million during the 2012-13 fiscal year. According to the annual revenue report, 60 percent of that money was used for awarding prizes, and another 20 percent was divvied up among sales, administration, retailer commission, economic development, and state programs.The remaining 20 percent of the lottery earnings was used for the Washington Pathways account that funds higher education.”
Good point on spending / investing the money wisely would be a better return for the government perhaps. Most of those things you mentioned have a sales tax in Washington state.
These lotteries remind me of the line in that one movie with the girl heroine with the bow and arrow fighting against the all-powerful government (The Hunger Games) where the president says something like:
“It is good for the people to have Hope. Just not too much of it.”
20%?
80% go to management fees.
It’s something like that....