Gambling Impact Study — Part 1A - Online Sunshine

egressivity of the lottery. While critics have termed state lotteries “a tax on the stupid” 223 due totheir unfavorable odds, lottery play remains the most broadly popular and regionally widespreadgambling activity both nationally, where 53 percent report playing the lottery within the pastyear, 224 and within Florida, where 60 percent of residents report having played the lottery at leastonce in their lifetimes and 44 percent say they have played within the past year. 225A 2005 report from the Brookings Institution notes the following:A number of studies have investigated the demographic predictors of lottery gambling andhave tended to find that, on average, state lottery products are disproportionately consumedby the poor. … The data reveal the following general trends. First, lottery gambling extendsacross races, sexes, and income and education groups. Second, black respondents spendnearly twice as much on lottery tickets as do white or Hispanic respondents.The average reported expenditure among blacks is $200 per year, $476 among those whoplayed the lottery last year. Black men have the highest average expenditures. Third,average annual lottery spending in dollar amounts is roughly equal across the lowest,middle, and highest income groups. This implies that on average, low-income householdsspend a larger percentage of their wealth on lottery tickets than other households.Interestingly, the regressivity of the state lottery appears to vary across lottery products.Low-income lottery players are more likely than other lottery players to bet on instantgames. Among NORC survey respondents who report playing the lottery, 38 percent ofthose in the lowest-income third report that they purchased an instant ticket the last timethey played the lottery, compared to 27 and 19 percent of players in the middle and highestincomethird. Higher-income players are more likely to have purchased a ticket on a jackpotlotto game - 56 percent of those in the highest-income third, 49 percent in the middle group,and 39 percent in the lowest-income third.The NORC survey also asks respondents about their favorite state lottery game. Instantgames are the most common reported favorite among those in the lowest-income third,while jackpot lotto games are by far the most common stated favorite among those in thehigher income categories. 226Spectrum has asked the Florida Lottery for ZIP Code and other information related toexamining both the proportion of lottery purchases in poor neighborhoods, as well as theproportion of tickets sold to non-Florida residents. As of this writing, Spectrum has not received aresponse.223James Walsh, True Odds: How Risk Affects Your Everyday Life, 1996.2242013 State of the States.225Robert J. Rotunda, Terry L. Schell, “Gambling and Problem Gambling Prevalence Among Adults inFlorida: A 2011 Replication,” University of West Florida, January, 2012.226Melissa Schettini Kearney, The Economic Winners and Losers of Legalized Gambling,” BrookingsInstitution, February 2005, p. 16 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/266971-the-economic-winners-andlosers-of-legalized.htmlFlorida Gaming Study, Part 1-A 98