Should national lotteries be abolished or encouraged?

Gambling is a major social evil, an addictive habit that ruins thousands of lives and damages families every year. A national lottery not only provides another easy opportunity for gambling, but also removes the stigma from all forms of gambling and acts as a gateway for potential addicts to become hooked on more expensive and ruinous forms. Governments should be in the business of harm-reduction, not legitimising such destructive activities.

If nobody ever won the lottery, then nobody would play it. The public appreciates that the odds against them are very high indeed, but the purchase of a ticket gives them a chance of a fortune, however remote, and the opportunity to dream of a different life. As other forms of gambling are legal, along with many other ways of harmless but enjoyable wasting money, there is nothing wrong with the government benefiting from the pursuit.

Playing the lottery is a free choice and is by no means confined to the poorest. The issue of regression relates more strongly to what the revenues from a lottery are spent on (although it is patronising to assume that only the rich can enjoy opera, for example), rather than on the principle of a lottery. In many countries the general taxation system is far from progressive in any case, with an increasing share of government revenue coming from indirect taxes such as fuel duties and sales taxes, rather than from income or property taxes.