Lay down your money and take your losses
Reason wonders what record lottery ticket sales tell us about our welfare system:
"You can’t use food stamps to buy lottery tickets, but if your food stamp allotment subsidizes at least a portion of your grocery bill, you may be able to supplement your scratchers budget with a few bucks that might have otherwise gone to stocking up on Top Ramen. In 2009, while contemplating legislation that would have prohibited anyone receiving federal or state assistance from winning more than $600 in the state lottery, Tennessee officials conducted a review that found that “half of the people who receive food stamps from the state—294,805 individuals—buy lottery tickets.” The bill didn’t pass, but in 2010, Tennessee residents received both a record level of food stamp benefits and spent a record amount of lottery tickets."
"You can’t use food stamps to buy lottery tickets, but if your food stamp allotment subsidizes at least a portion of your grocery bill, you may be able to supplement your scratchers budget with a few bucks that might have otherwise gone to stocking up on Top Ramen. In 2009, while contemplating legislation that would have prohibited anyone receiving federal or state assistance from winning more than $600 in the state lottery, Tennessee officials conducted a review that found that “half of the people who receive food stamps from the state—294,805 individuals—buy lottery tickets.” The bill didn’t pass, but in 2010, Tennessee residents received both a record level of food stamp benefits and spent a record amount of lottery tickets."
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