Almost every Friday afternoon I meet with my mother and several of her co-workers for a girls night of appetizer’s, potato chips, and a few rounds. Usually we gab about men, work, stress, the usual. But this Friday, the word on everyone’s lips was “lottery.”
“Tanya, you better get your ticket, the jackpot’s up to $330 million.” I shrugged, replying that I had more important things on which to spend my scant funds.
“But don’t you want to win it?” 
And therein lies the rub. You see, I do want to win the lottery, just not enough to play it. I know someone will win one of these days, and I know that without a ticket it won’t be me, but I can’t shake the feeling that the Mega Millions, among other lotteries, is a big scam.
Simply put, I think the state lottery prays upon the poor, touting itself as a get-out-of-poverty-free card, devaluing the merits of a good education, tenacity and ingenuity, you know, those qualities present in many self-made men.
A post from The Common Sense Foundation notes “47 percent of Maryland’s most frequent lottery players come from households earning less than $20,000 a year.” It stands to reason that many of the residents of the lowest income communities are minorities, likely Blacks.Of the four confirmed winning tickets for the drawing of the Mega Millions, one ticket came from Baltimore County, Maryland. The winner apparently bought five tickets for $1 each. Congrats to you, new multimillionaire, I hope you use your windfall wisely.
If I’d played, I’d have had a one in 14 million chance of winning. Not playing, those odds shrank to zilch. Hum, maybe I’ll grab a ticket next week, I mean, someone’s bound to win eventually, right?
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