State lotteries transfer wealth out of needy communities, investigation finds
The argument for the state having a monopoly on lotteries is that if there wasn’t a legal lottery illegal lotteries would proliferate. Thus to protect people, the state should run it as it would then be guaranteed to be fair and free of the criminal element (mobsters, etc.). Ideally, the lotto would just take in enough to pay the winners and administrative expenses. However, most states have abused this monopoly and just see it as an alternative source of revenue, which turns it into a regressive tax.State lotteries should be small, should not be advertised and should not be sources of revenue for the state.