Mega Billions: The great lottery wealth transfer
State lottery advertising tells players half of the story
State lotteries spend more than a half-billion dollars a year on pervasive marketing campaigns designed to persuade people to play often, spend more and overlook the long odds of winning.
State lotteries are increasingly ceding control to multinational firms
Lottery systems nationwide are evolving into quasi-privatized operations, with state governments assuming an oversight role while private companies reap millions running this sophisticated form of gambling.
Scientific Games’ lottery playbook succeeded, then spread
The growth of the lottery business nationwide was inspired in large part by the lobbying innovations of a single multinational gambling company, Scientific Games Holdings LP.
About “Mega Billions: The great lottery wealth transfer”
In the popular imagination, the lottery is a harmless amusement in which people spend a few dollars on a Powerball ticket when the jackpot gets big. Data journalists and reporters from the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University…
Stores cash customers’ checks, then sell them lottery tickets
At All Checks Cashed in Everett, Massachusetts, a red neon sign beckons customers to cash their checks, pay utilities and try their luck with scores of lottery tickets.
The Lottery on Your Block
A first-of-its-kind, nationwide investigation of state lotteries by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found that stores that sell tickets are disproportionately clustered in lower-income communities in every state.
ABOUT THIS HOWARD CENTER PROJECT
These stories were produced by students in the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, part of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, and at Boston University. The mission of the multidisciplinary center is to teach the next generation of investigative journalists through hands-on investigative projects. The Howard Center is generously funded by $3 million from the Scripps Howard Foundation. It honors Roy W. Howard, one of the newspaper world’s pioneers. He became president of the United Press when he was 29 and 10 years later was named chairman of the board of Scripps Howard.
