Make the Lottery Honest
Sure, gambling is an inherently risky proposition; hence the term “gambling.” No rational person expects to win all or most of the time or even often. The attraction is that maybe, possibly, one time, someday we might win. This is the fun of gambling, if being virtually certain of losing can be considered fun. Now, we discover that too often there’s nothing virtual about the certainty of not winning the top prizes in California’s instant-lottery Scratcher games; it’s guaranteed.
The California Lottery, in court documents examined by The Times’ Joseph Menn, has admitted continuing to sell millions of dollars in tickets since 1996 for instant games in which the biggest prizes had already been won.
The lottery claims it’s exempt from false-advertising laws, that it has added a ticket disclaimer (not visible until after purchase, by the way) and has done nothing wrong, although a 1986 state law requires the lottery to comply with both the letter and spirit of laws governing misleading ads. Oh, and other states shut down scratch games when the main prizes are claimed.
We understand the compelling finances of scratch games; they produce $1.2 billion of the lottery’s $2.6 billion in annual sales. And, hey, if millions of scratch players are dumb enough to trust that their government is running an honest gambling operation, who are lottery officials to stop them? Net lottery profits go to the state’s schools, which we hope don’t teach the kind of shady dealing that’s been used to fool scratch players.
By changing numerous procedures even before a lawsuit trial opens next month, lottery officials are tacitly admitting their errors. They should immediately take further steps to ‘fess up and provide instant notification to retailers (there’s this new thing called e-mail) to instantly stop selling instant lottery tickets when the only thing instant about the game is the waste of the hopeful buyer’s money because the top prizes have already been won.
By the way, did you know that statistically you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning as you read this editorial than you do of winning a top prize in a California Scratcher game that’s already awarded those prizes?