From dream homes and luxury cars to globetrotting adventures with his wife, Lotto winner Robert Lustig knows how to make the most of life’s opportunities. In this book, he reveals the methods that led to his seven grand prize wins.
Lottery is a fixture in American society: People spent upward of $100 billion on tickets in 2021. But the lottery is hardly without controversy. Critics charge that the industry is corrupt, that state-run lotteries are regressive (they disproportionately draw participants from low-income neighborhoods), and that they encourage unhealthy gambling habits.
Despite these objections, the state-run lotteries have enjoyed broad popular support. They were first introduced in Europe in the 15th century, when towns used them to raise money for town fortifications and aid the poor. In the 18th century, the American colonies established and ran lotteries to fund roads, libraries, churches and colleges. Benjamin Franklin even organized a lottery to finance the purchase of cannons for Philadelphia’s defense.
Lottery advocates point to the fact that the state-run games produce a large share of overall government revenue and therefore reduce or even eliminate the need for a heavy reliance on taxes on working families. But these claims are largely misleading. In reality, the bulk of lottery revenue is generated by middle- and upper-income households—people with a few dollars in discretionary income left over after paying their bills. The bottom quintile of household income is far too small to afford the tickets that they would have to buy in order to qualify for most prizes.