The Great Lottery Lie

Why That "Lucky Ticket" is Just a Tax on the Poor?

Mwebantu, greetings.

We need to have a serious family meeting. You know how it is - you are walking through town, maybe by the bus station or the mall and you see those bright colors. The signs are shouting: "WIN BIG!" "JACKPOT!" You look at the coins in your pocket and you think, "Iye, if I just win this ka money, my life is sorted. No more nkongole, I’ll buy a farm, maybe a Land Cruiser and just relax."

It’s a sweet dream, isn’t it? We have all been there.

But today, we are going to look behind the curtain. We are going to look at the facts - real facts, not stories from the bar! About what the lottery actually is. And I’m telling you, what we found will make you hold your wallet tight.

Part 1: It’s Not New, and It’s Not Small

First, let’s understand the scale. We think this is just a game? Awe. This is an industry.

Here's an example; In the United States alone, in just one year (2021), people spent over $100 Billion on lottery tickets. That is a number so big it can make your head spin.

And it’s not a new trick. The government has been running this game for thousands of years.

1. Ancient China: They used lottery money to help build the Great Wall of China. (Imagine, your losing ticket bought a brick in a wall!)
2. The Romans: They did it too.
3. The Dutch: Same story.

It is almost always the Boma (Government) running the show. They have a monopoly on this gambling game.

Part 2: The Odds (Or, Why You Will Lose)

We know winning is hard. But do you know how hard?

A smart statistician crunched the numbers for a big game like Powerball. The odds of winning are 1 in 302 million.

"302 million" is just a number. Let me paint you a picture so you understand:

Imagine we line up 66 bathtubs.

We fill every single bathtub to the brim with rice. That is millions and millions of grains of rice.

Now, we take one single grain, paint it gold and hide it in one of those 66 bathtubs.

To win the jackpot, you have to walk into that room, close your eyes, dip your hand into a random tub and pull out that one gold grain on your first try.

Eish. You have better chances of becoming an astronaut. Even that YouTuber MrBeast bought $1 million worth of tickets just to see what would happen, and he lost about $300,000. The math is not on your side.

Part 3: The Money Chop (Where Does Your K20 Go?)

Some people say, "Ah, but even if I lose, the money helps the country!"

Well, let’s follow the money. If the lottery collects 100 Million, this is how they chop it:

• 50 Million (50%): Goes back to the winners (Jackpot and small prizes).
• 6 Million (6%): Goes to the retailers (the shops, gas stations, and kantemba owners selling the tickets).
• 9 Million (9%): This one will annoy you. It goes to private companies to pay for ads and administration. These guys are getting rich just to run the system!
• 35 Million (35%): Goes to "Good Causes" (The Government).

So, only about a third of the money actually goes to the state. But wait, it gets worse.

Part 4: The "Good Causes" Scam

The Boma loves to say, "We use this money for Education! For the children!"

In states like Virginia, they proudly say they sent $780 million of lottery money to schools. Sounds good, right?

Here is the trick:

When the lottery gives money to the education budget, the government simply reduces the normal budget by the same amount.

So the schools don’t get extra money. The government just swaps the money so they can use the tax revenue for other things. It is a shell game. The schools are in the same position as before.

And sometimes, the money goes to strange places:

• Colorado: Spent lottery money on parks and wildlife.
• Nebraska: Used it to fund the State Fair.
• Minnesota: This is the most ironic one, they used lottery profits to fund programs for gambling addiction. So they create the addicts, then pay to treat them? Atase!

Part 5: Even the Winner Loses

Let’s say you are the chosen one. You beat the bathtubs of rice. You win the advertised $67 Million.

Do you get $67 Million? No.

They give you two choices:

1. The Annuity: They pay you slowly over 29 years. (Who wants to wait 29 years?)

2. The Cash Option: You want the money now.

If you take the cash now, the value drops immediately to about $40 Million.

Then, the tax man arrives. The Federal Government takes 24% immediately. The State takes another cut (maybe 10%).

By the time the money hits your account, that "$67 Million" is actually just $26 Million.

The government advertises a huge number to get you excited, but they know they will never pay out that full amount in cash.

Part 6: The "Poor Man's Tax"

This is the most painful part of the story.

Why did governments bring back lotteries in the 1960s and 70s? Because people hate paying taxes. The politicians realized: "If we make a tax that looks like a game, people will volunteer to pay it."

But who pays this voluntary tax?

The poor.

1. Studies show that people earning low wages (like $35,000 a year) spend double the amount on lottery tickets compared to people earning big money ($100,000+).

2. In America, African Americans and other minorities are more likely to buy tickets than white players.

3. If you look at a map, you will find lottery shops are concentrated in poor neighborhoods, not rich ones.

Economists call this a Regressive Tax. It takes a bigger percentage of money from the poor than from the rich.

It is a system that feeds on desperation. It sells hope to people who are struggling, people who see no other way out. The government is basically saying, "We won't tax the rich more, we will just trick the poor into giving us their change."

The Conclusion

Look, mwebantu, we are not saying you are a sinner if you buy a ticket. Humans love to gamble; it is in our blood.

But we must stop lying to ourselves.

 1. It is not an investment.

 2. It is not "helping the schools."

 3. It is not a way out of poverty.

As the famous Bill Nye said, "The lottery is a tax on people who don't know math."

Next time you want to spend that K20 or K50 on a ticket, just remember: The house always wins. The Boma always gets its cut. And the only sure way to keep your money is to keep it in your pocket.

Stay wise, Zambia.

Note: All images in this blog are AI Generated by Gemini, Google's AI.

(Written by Museli Mulaima)