[gruez]

What's the market that lotteries are supposed to "serve"? Taking money from poor people (lottery tickets are disproportionately bought by them) and giving them to the government, basically working out to an regressive tax?

[Apofis]

It's not really helping those poor people when those same lotteries are then bought by large corporations for profit.

[recursive]

You're right, but it's also not helping them either way. There was never any help to be had.

[throw16180339]

Poor people bought tickets in the illegal numbers racket (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_game) before state lotteries existed.