Leah Muncy, writing in The Outline, has an in-depth story on state lotteries. She calls it a scam that predominately targets poor people. She’s absolutely right.

Despite the one-in-292-million odds of winning the multi-state Powerball jackpot (you have a greater chance of dying from a falling coconut, which is one in 250 million), Americans spent $71.8 billion on lottery tickets in 2017. The bulk of this revenue was generated by the largest consumers of lottery tickets, who also happen to be the poorest Americans.

I know this, but it is still fun to buy a ticket when it’s some astronomical number and then dream a bit. I never have any anticipation of winning aside from, “Wouldn’t it be nice if…”