Around 50% of Americans buy scratch tickets each year. They spend a lot of money on them and can’t gain the same amount back, making scratch tickets not worth people’s money.

People waste millions of dollars on scratch tickets. Many people believe they are not worth it, yet they still purchase them. Citizens in America think that the government should stop this gambling but the truth is the government benefits; so they allow people to continue to buy them. The government has sin tax on gambling and an income tax on the winners. If a person wins 1 million the income tax takes money out of the winner’s pocket resulting in a winning of only 800,000 to 700,000 dollars. 

Lots of people have won money from scratch tickets, but the probability of someone winning is usually one in three million. People like to challenge their luck while doing it. There is a higher probability of winning on certain scratch tickets than others. For example, Merlin’s Million is easy to win since the company made many winning cards. Even if they win they don’t make more than what they bought so it’s not worth it. People end up buying multiple tickets and when they finally win it is only around 500 dollars. The amount of money you put in won’t be the same amount you get out.  

A scratch card is a type of mind manipulation game that the government does to have some control over the people. If they get to influence people to purchase the tickets the more money the government gets. The government gets to make money out of scratch tickets, while civilians lose money. The people in society don’t get to keep much money so there will always be a loss. 

Spending money on scratch tickets is a big waste of money. Which ends up causing more economic problems than solving.