Millennials and The Poor Tax

I am not a fan of the lottery.  I have always thought of it as poor tax.  The frenzy that occurs when the jackpot reaches thirty or forty million dollar only confirms that.  I do not recall seeing many people driving Cadillac and Lexus stopping at the 7-Eleven to purchase tickets.  Sadly the opposite usually occurs.  I remember observing a women paying for paying for milk and bread with food stamps and then forking over $10 for lottery tickets. 

I recently saw a glimmer of hope.  It seems as though millennials are not playing the lottery the way their parents did.  According to a recent Gallup only a third of 18-29-year-olds played the lottery in the last year, compared to 61% of 50-64-year-olds.   Their budget-minded ways have lottery officials worried because it is impacting sales.  One reason might be at this is a generation that came of age in the recession, which might have made them less likely to see lottery tickets as a wise purchase. In the words of one 21-year-old, “I feel like everything's just too expensive nowadays to just kind of throw away your money on luck."  

I hope that young folks avoiding the lottery might be the beginning of a trend.  I also realize that I could be impacted financially.  The Texas Lottery does generate millions of dollars that go toward education and other programs.  To this point we have avoided a state income tax in Texas.  I suppose that could change if we see a budget shortfall because of a decline in the lottery.  I am okay with that. Unfortunately, I do not expect the lottery to go away all together.  Human greed and the dream that we might be able to get rich quick is part of our sinful human nature.