Is the lottery a scam that preys on the poor?

It is a regressive, state-sanctioned product that disproportionately extracts money from poorer people with misleading hope.

Lotteries function as a regressive tax that disproportionately extracts wealth from low-income communities who purchase a majority of the tickets.

While the odds are steep and marketing leans on low-income players, lotteries are legal, voluntary, transparent about odds, and fund public programs, so they're a poorly-valued bet rather than a scam.