[Houstonymous]

I'm pretty sure we let the government run the lotteries here in the US because it's a lot better than when the gangs would run them. It's much the same argument for drug legalization, really... if people are going to be stupid, and you know they're going to be stupid, at least help them be smart about being stupid.

[sanxiyn]

We should also cut tax on lottery tickets. It would reduce economic inequality.

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/05/low_hanging_fru....

[radarsat1]

Yup, and it's not like the US is alone in this endeavour..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotteries_by_country