Posted 7/04/2008 02:00:00 PM by Douglas

If the state is giving away a million dollars on a scratch-off lottery ticket, they'd stop selling them after they gave the money away, wouldn't they?

Your chances of winning the $1 million top prize are Z-E-R-O.

The six top prizes were awarded months ago, but the $20 tickets are still on sale. The best prize available today is $10,000.

State lotteries are coming under renewed criticism for selling scratch-off tickets after the top prizes have been given away. The latest challenge comes from a professor who says he intends to sue Virginia for allegedly selling $20 million a year in lottery tickets that had no top prize available.

Meh. Anyone stupid enough to buy one surely can't be that disappointed to find out they didn't really have a chance at the jackpot, are they? As Joe Bob said:

The whole "problem gambler" self-righteous party line is nothing more than an attempt to hide the reason most governments traditionally banned gambling entirely: it was considered a con directed against the poorest citizens and the ones who had no self-control. Presumably governments today could do the next best thing and ban "sucker bets"--except for the embarrassing fact that the biggest sucker bet of them all is owned by the government: the lottery.

But be careful. Bet too much money that the state doesn't get a cut of, and they just might shoot you for it.