The lottery (and gambling generally) is also a disgusting side-effect of free-market economies.<p>It enables those 5% of ticket buyers who are buying 54% of all tickets to experience a false sense of economic security or maybe possibility.  In terms of intellectual toxicity, the lottery (and gambling) is right up there with religion.<p>In my opinion, it is a <i>manifest</i> moral failing on the part of state governments, regardless of the fiscal details.  If only -- if only -- there was another source of hope besides the accumulation of more consumer goods.