Odds stacked vs. minorities? Lotto marketing ‘racist’

Reporters in a CNN story on Wednesday spoke with critics knocking the lottery system as a form of systemic racism that targets poor black and brown communities across America.

The largest Powerball jackpot lottery ticket ever was recently sold in Altadena, Calif., with one lucky resident winning a historic $2.04 billion. The odds were 1 in 292.2 million.

Researchers told CNN that despite the extremely low chance of winning, state lotteries still aggressively market the lottery and sell tickets to low-income communities at higher rates, thus misleading Americans to believe it will help them quickly generate wealth.

“These communities are disproportionately made up of Black and Brown people. Critics say the consequence is that marginalized people will be driven into deeper debt by a system that is transferring wealth out of their communities,” CNN’s Nicquel Terry Ellis and Justin Gamble wrote.

Les Bernal, the national director of Stop Predatory Gambling, called the lottery a form of “consumer financial fraud” and a form of “systemic racism.”

According to the research, lotteries are a regressive service, with low-income groups paying larger chunks of their budget on games versus their wealthier counterparts. Additionally, more money is spent on instant scratch-off games versus drawings like Powerball.

The article also highlighted how stores selling lottery tickets are more likely to be located in poor communities of every state, and the state money generated from lottery sales often does not feed back into the communities.

Jonathan Cohen, cited in the article, appeared to disagree with the racial angle pushed by researchers CNN spoke with. He said the lottery often sees more players when the economy is suffering.

“The lottery doesn’t discriminate, anyone has just as terrible odds of winning,” Cohen said.”

Fox News Digital recently spoke with a Philadelphia lawyer who explained how to walk away with the most money, and the least collateral damage, should you actually win the lottery.

Andrew Santana, of Fox Rothschild LLP, said not to sign the ticket until you fully understand if the signatory’s information will become public.

Also, it is important not to tell anyone “other than an attorney engaged specifically to assist in claiming the prize,” he said, and “the people with whom you jointly purchased the ticket if any.”