Is California Addicted to Lottery Gambling?
LA socialite Paris Hilton should give us an idea why Californians seek to win the lottery.
The lottery, or Lotto, is so prevalent in the United States that all but eight states maintain a state and/or interstate lottery. In California, the lottery has become a gambling addiction problem — this, unveiled in the most comprehensive study ever done on gambling in the US.
An overwhelming 83% of California adults are gamblers at one point or another, according to the Office of Problem Gambling (OPG). Lottery is California’s most preferred form of gambling, reports the OPG study. Casinos are the gambling establishment of choice. Internet gaming and card rooms have seen the greatest personal gambling losses.
Lotteries comprise one of seven gambling categories used by the American Gaming Association. This gambling activity formally came to California in 1984, on November 6, by way of Proposition 37, or the California Lottery Act — which authorized the creation of the California State Lottery.
The California Lottery Act mandates that at least 84% of all Lotto money must return to the public in the form of prizes or school funding; and at least 34% of all lottery revenue must go to public education.
As California is a pari-mutuel state by law, lottery prize amounts are not fixed and depend upon how many Lotto tickets were sold and have won (with the exception of California’s Hot Spot games, which have fixed prizes).
On June 22, 2005, California became the 12th US state to join the multi-state lottery: Mega Millions. California lottery games include the Super Lotto, Super Lotto Plus, Daily 3, Daily Derby, Scratchers, Hot Spot, Fantasy 5, and Big Spin.
While recreational gambling exists, the OPG study found that California has between 750,000 and 1.2 million adults considered to be problem gamblers. In fact, it has 296,500 to 490,000 adults that are lifetime pathological gamblers. Another 450,000 and 713,400 adults have critical gambling problems albeit not enough to be classified as pathological.
It can not be understated that California is an important lottery gambling capital in terms of location, numbers, and riches. With people numbering about 37,172,015 as of 2006, California has a bigger population than any other US state and all but 33 countries in the world. It is the 13th fastest-growing US state, accounting for over 12% of all US citizens.
California is bordered, among others, by Nevada, home to the US casino gambling Meccah of Las Vegas, and Baja California in Mexico. Its Native American Indian population of 350,000 is higher than any other state, and operate the fastest-growing sector of Indian casinos, generating $5.1 billion in revenue yearly.
Importantly, California’s gross domestic product was larger than all but seven countries as of 2005. A predisposition towards the high life is the kind of American dream that might fuel lottery gambling here. Exposed to lifestyles like Hilton sisters Paris and Nicky have, people in California want easy big money like they can win by playing the lottery.
Read the OPG gambling prevalence study at http://www.problemgambling.ca.gov/.
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