Powerball mania has taken over the U.S., with ticket sales soaring all over the country, pushing the jackpot higher and higher and making it more mathematically advantageous to take the normally inadvisable step of spending $2 on a ticket.
Powerball tickets aren’t for sale in every state, however. Specifically, six states—Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah—don’t have state lotteries, and therefore don’t sell tickets for Powerball or any other multi-state lottery games.
Even if Gov. Phil Bryant is warming to the idea of lottery in Mississippi, it’s still a bad idea as a way to raise money to fund government.
Bryant, according to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, said he would be open to discussing the idea, which is a significant change from his previous promise to veto a lottery.
Those who support a lottery usually do so for one of two reasons. They see the jackpots being doled out elsewhere and want a shot at that action without having to drive across state lines, or they see the lottery as a voluntary tax and, thus, more palatable than raising income or sales taxes.
Americans spent $73 billion on lottery tickets last year, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
The odd thing with all this is that Mississippi voters approved a state lottery back in 1992, but the Legislature never followed up and has voted down all of the dozens of bills introduced to legalize the lottery. A recent bill that would allow Powerball tickets to be sold at casinos would funnel lottery proceeds into education, roads and bridges in the state, but it gained little traction.
So is Mississippi losing money that could help fully fund education or shore up some of the budget shortfall?
Or is the state Legislature keeping residents from spending money on lottery tickets that would be better spent elsewhere?
It’s no doubt that a lot of Mississippi dollars are being spent in neighboring states that have a lottery, but a lottery is very inefficient as a revenue-generating mechanism. By the time they pay out the prizes and cover their advertising and administrative costs, most states end up netting only about a third of what’s sold in lottery tickets.
For the purchaser, it’s also a poor bet. On average, state lotteries pay out in prize money about 60 percent of what they sell in tickets. A gambler has much better odds at a slot machine or gaming table, of which Mississippi already has an ample supply.
