For the second time in two weeks, there is a lottery jackpot topping $1 billion.
The Mega Millions drawing will be $1.05 billion. It has grown steadily over 15 weeks, with drawings each Tuesday and Friday, as people pay $2 for each line of numbers printed on a small slip of paper, eager for a chance at financial freedom.
In Pennsylvania, that is a lot of people. The state is one of the best places to play the lottery because of the percentage of the pot that goes to taxes. In the Keystone State, it’s 3.07%. Buy a ticket over the border in Ohio and it’s 3.99%. Other neighbors are much worse: Maryland is 8.95%, New Jersey is 10.75% and New York is a whopping 10.9%.
Pennsylvania has seen three previous Mega Millions jackpot wins and 19 Powerball jackpot wins.
But, while the focus of stories about the lottery is often on the life-changing money that is awarded, with giddy winners standing in front of enormous cardboard checks, there is more money at play.
The Pennsylvania Lottery has pumped $33.8 billion into programs for seniors since it began in 1971. That money goes to senior centers that are a daily presence in the lives of many older residents. That is money that makes sure those seniors have access to their medication through PACE and PACENET. Transportation, rent rebates and more come from scratch-off tickets and nightly draws.
In 2021-22, the lottery put $1.2 billion into those programs. That is impressive, and it almost makes buying a lottery ticket feel like a donation.
But it is worth focusing on the other side of that money.
In the same year, the lottery sold $5 billion in game tickets. Some people couldn’t afford the $2. Some people couldn’t stop at just $2.
Compulsive lottery gambling is a subset of compulsive gambling. It’s more easily hidden sometimes. It might be disguised by a trip to the grocery store or filling up the car’s tank at the gas station.
The Pennsylvania Lottery does encourage participants to “please play responsibly.” They do provide support numbers for compulsive gamblers, and a page on the website is devoted to knowing the signs of gambling problems.
But these issues seldom are in the spotlight when the jackpots reach epic proportions. They should be. The lottery — and yes, the media — should take time to talk about the risks of gambling at the same time it romanticizes the billion-dollar rewards.
