BMJ 1995;311:1225 (4 November)

Letters

Inability to reason statistically is prime cause of lottery fever

EDITOR,--In their editorial Martin McKee and Franco Sassi express concerns about the public health consequences of the National Lottery, particularly in relation to its encouragement of gambling, redistributive wealth effects, and implications for donations to medical charities.1 Several important points, however, are neglected. Firstly, the forces driving the spread of lotteries may be more powerful than the authors realise: in the United States, state lottery revenues are now so huge that they have become a key part of political strategy because they enable politicians to cut unpopular income taxes and replace them with more electorally favoured lotteries.2

Secondly, the latest psychological research in the United States on large scale public wagering has shown another powerful driving force in addition to lotteries' fiscal attraction for governments: larger jackpots result in more betting, and increased betting produces larger jackpots.3

These are robust forces driving "lottery fever," yet not everyone plays the lottery. . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Gambling with the nation's health?
Martin McKee and Franco Sassi
BMJ 1995 311: 521-522. [Extract] [Full Text]

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