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Comment by jjcm | Hacker News Reader

> "In the poorest 1% of zip codes that have lottery retailers, the average American adult spends around $600 a year, or nearly 5% of their income, on tickets."

This was really eye opening for me. I knew that those in a low economic class bought more lotto tickets, but I had no idea the amount was that high.

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It doesn't add up. The average income in the poorest 1% of zip codes in the US is over $12000. Now, that's two different averages so you could have one of those statistical paradox things going on, but it's at least very poorly worded.

As another sanity check, if you were to play the biggest lotteries - Powerball and Mega Millions - every time (2x a week each at $2), it would be over $400/year, so $600 is not that surprising.

To be precise most people who play the lottery buy more tickets with any winnings they get. So the actual percentage of income will be a bit lower, though doing the math is more complex.

It’s still terribly sad, though it’s arguable that anything replacing it could be worse.

Technically winnings should be included as income

I assume this number is similar to casino slot play through where gamblers roll winners forward. Put in $50, win $2 or $5 every now and then and just play it again, next thing you know you’ve “spent” around $100 but only put in $50.

Few things are as matter-of-factly depressing as an old person shuffling down into a seat, working blank-faced through a stack of garish little scratch-offs, and then throwing them all away

They're desperate to change their economic situation.

And their solution is to gamble instead of making a budget? If they have $50/mo to spend on lotto tickets, they have more disposable income than they probably realize.

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