UPDATE: $640 Million! Do You Have Your Mega Millions Ticket Yet?
You're more likely to get pregnant from a fling than win the lottery. Where does Michigan fall on the "suckers index"? Take the Patch poll.
The Mega Millions jackpot has leaped to more than half a billion dollars. It's estimated at $640 million for Friday night's drawing — $462 million if a sole winner takes the cash payout. The lottery is a suckers bet. Always has been. But the dream of winning the lottery and leaving behind the daily grind is hard to shake. More than $50 billion was spent on lottery tickets in 2010, and prizes totaled $32.8 billion, according to a Bloomberg ranking of state lotteries. Michigan adults spend an average $312.91 per year on the lottery - the seventh most in the country. (In Massachussetts, it's a whopping $860 per year.) Where does Michigan fall on Bloomberg's Suckers Index? "The Sucker Score is calculated by subtracting the total dollar amount …
Dale Murrish
8:47 am on Saturday, March 31, 2012
Lotteries are an immoral way for governments to raise money. They take advantage of people's desire to get rich quick, and are generally a regressive tax on those who can least afford it. The only good thing about them is they are a voluntary tax. The worst false advertising is done by government: it's for education. No it's not, it's for the general fund; it's all one big pot. Spending is … more ›