Lotteries are a sucker game because, as in California (for example), the players put their money into the pot, the house takes one-third off the top (administrative expenses), the house takes another one-third for a good cause (education or whatever), and the players take their chances against one another playing for the remaining one-third.<p>I don&#x27;t care how normal odds of winning are calculated. The above is a shell game in which the only certain losers (from a financial standpoint) are the players.<p>That is what a typical lottery system boils down to, in essence. It may be possible to justify them for the social causes they promote but they clearly take advantage of the players and particularly those who do not focus on the obviously horrible odds against them when they play in such a stacked game.<p>This may or may not be a &quot;tax&quot; in the technical sense but it sure is a case of the government rationalizing a system by which it (in my view) takes advantage of its citizens in the name of advancing its social agenda on other fronts.