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Early America was a nation defined politically by an aversion to taxes, and lotteries offered the promise of painless taxation without the stigma of paying taxes. Lottery opponents were devout Protestants who regarded government-sanctioned gambling as morally unconscionable, but they weren’t the only ones. Private lottery games were a big part of American culture, and private citizens raised money for everything from churches to schools to civil defense projects.

Lottery critics argue that the regressive nature of state-run lotteries is inherent to their business model. They point out that low income Americans spend far more of their budgets on instant scratch-off games that have incredibly low odds of winning than high-profile jackpot drawings, and that lottery advertising is heavily concentrated in neighborhoods that are disproportionately Black or Latino. As a result, those communities’ residents are led to believe that the lottery is a quick way to build wealth, and their spending habits can lead them into deeper debt.