Why Tax the Rich When You Can Soak the Poor.

The Texas Lottery Commission received a report of a demographic study of who paid the most to the lottery. Apparently they had previously only reported on percentage participation in the lottery, but this time they included how much each demographic group actually spent per month. Essentially the lottery is a method of soaking the poor and uneducated to support government so that the wealthy can avoid paying taxes. Grover Norquist must love it!

Here is an analysis:

High school dropouts spend an average of $173.17 per month on the lottery while those with college degrees spend $48.61.

Blacks and Hispanics spend $108.96 and $102.20, respectively, while whites spend $55.02.

Those who earn less than $20,000 spend $76.50 per month. But people in the $60,000-$75,000 income bracket spend $34.37 per month while the $76,000-$100,000 income group spends even less, $28.96. Only the wealthiest — those whose income is above $100,000 — spend close to the bottom-income group: $71.42.

The youngest players, ages 18 to 24, spend far more per month ($91.23) than the oldest. The 55-64 age group spends $56.34, and those 65 and older spend $60.45.

Surprised? You might be surprised to know that the Texas Tech research group submitted two reports. It submitted the first one in early January, then, at the commission's suggestion, made changes after some members felt the report might reflect poorly on the lottery.

One notable change appears on the final page. The report's first conclusion, which was not released to the public, noted that higher educated players spend less on the lottery. The second conclusion omits this fact. Only the second conclusion appears on the Web site.

This is an analysis allegedly written by Ken Rodriguez of the San Antonio Express-News, and reported in February 2005 by The Lotto Report
The San Antonio Newspaper’s website no longer goes back that far so I can’t confirm that Ken actually wrote This.

The actual report as published by the Lottery Commission itself is found at The Texas Lottery Commission website as a pdf file. The key charts are on pages 7 and 8. The summary reports misleading conclusions based on ignoring how much each group spends, and reporting only the percentage of each group who participated in the lottery.

Rick Casey of the Houston Chronicle filed a similar analysis.