The Motley Fool has a good article on what a terribly foolish thing is it to buy lottery tickets. Reporter Rich Duprey explains that the payback from lotteries is worse than from any other bet available, worse than any casino game. And they cite Alicia Hansen’s 2004 Tax Foundation Background Paper on lotteries to bemoan how much money Americans continue to pour into this dreadful state-run gambling operation. Hansen updated that study in 2007 though, so here are the newer, even more depressing numbers of how much Americans are foolishly spending on lottery tickets.
As always in a Motley Fool article, the reporter concludes with good investment advice:
Share this articleBet on the house
A better bet … to invest that $10 in the companies that make lotteries, games of chance, and casino games possible. Slot maker International Gaming Technology (NYSE: IGT), online gambling software provider Cryptologic (Nasdaq: CRYP), and deck-shuffling machine producer Shuffle Master (Nasdaq: SHFL) are all companies involved in helping separate gamblers from their money. Or consider an investment in Harrah’s (NYSE: HET) or MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) if you want to bet on the house directly.