Pricey picks: Powerball lottery tickets will double in price to $2 beginning in January

Washington Post ^ | 1/01/12

[Libloather]

Pricey picks: Powerball lottery tickets will double in price to $2 beginning in January
By Associated Press, Published: January 1

DES MOINES, Iowa — Powerball lottery organizers are betting that bigger jackpots will entice more people to play, but gamblers are going to have to dig deeper into their wallets to try their luck.

Tickets for the multistate game are doubling in price to $2 beginning Jan 15. While the odds of winning one of the game’s giant jackpots also are improving, those in charge of the lottery are gambling that people are willing to pay more for the hope of becoming a millionaire in a down economy.

“With the price of everything else going up, there’s not much you can get for a dollar anymore,” said 28-year-old Ryan Raker, of Des Moines, Iowa, who buys a ticket once a month. He says he’ll probably play less frequently now.

[trebb]

I hope their sales drop to half. Would serve these lecherous government chiselers right to realize we the private sector are not an endless cash machine.

It's an insult-to-injury tax on the terminally stupid who think of lottery tickets as "investments for the future".

[MaxMax]

Darn, this is going to throw a wrench in my retirement plans.