Unlike the Powerball and Mega Million lotteries, which increase the jackpot only when there is no jackpot winner, the Michigan and Massachusetts lotteries increased the lesser prize payouts, making the games’ expected return in favor of the lottery players, provided that someone bought enough tickets for the law of large numbers to kick in. The movie “ Jerry & Marge Go Large” tells their story in an entertaining and informative way. Lotteries are designed to benefit the lottery agencies, not the lottery ticket purchasers. The Michigan couple who found loopholes in the Michigan and Massachusetts lotteries that enabled them to consistently win was due to an oversight by these lottery commissions in how they designed the lottery payouts, not due to luck.
Lotteries are a tax on the poor. Most of the people who regularly buy lottery tickets are low income, who can ill afford the money spent. They may justify their purchase as entertainment, the chance to buy a dream for the impossible. Yet when thousands of dollars are being spent every year for lottery tickets, with around 40 percent of what they spend retained by the lottery agency and its partners, such entertainment can be quite expensive.
