This Bugs Me …
Here’s something that’s been bugging me a lot lately and it is making me really dislike some people in the journalism/online news clickable fields – this inability to move away from the spin. Take this graphic, as an example, that was Tweeted out during the Powerball fever by the Vox.com “graphics reporter.”
After compiling data from the zip codes of lottery winners in Connecticut – a VERY COOL idea – he has to go and wreck it with his (somewhat false, actually) commentary: “The lottery preys on the poor. Here’s the data.”
While there are a few high per capita numbers in the $25K slot, the majority of the winners – by pretty overwhelming margins … look at all those dots – are all in the $50K to $100K+ range. The second highest per capita dot is in a community that has a median household income of MORE THAN $100K.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I would agree that $25K median household income in Connecticut is poor. But there are only four dots in the under $25K median household incomes category (of mixed capita). The highest per capita dot is just above $25K – definitely poor. About 30 more dots are under $50K. I would even venture to say that $50K, in that state, is just squeaking by, knowing how high their income, sales, property, and gas taxes are.
But since when is $75K or more than $100K “poor”? As well, this isn’t data showing who plays the most – so the headline, “Poorer ZIP codes play the lottery more often,” is incorrect – the data shows “Lottery wins per capita.” Yes, you have to play to win, but the actual “more often” is unknown. Someone could play once, win, and never play again. That would throw the number completely off. In order to find out which zip code “plays more,” you need to eye the revenue generated per zip code (something readily available in Massachusetts, BTW, and I know, because I did that story in 2004 when working as editor of The Winchester Star).
Here’s where I add my own “spin”: What this graphic shows me is that middle-class and upper middle-class households – that’s what $50K to $100K+ to me is – not poor households, are winning a lot (and, therefore, are probably playing a lot).
As we all know, the rich probably don’t play the lottery much … After all, they are rich. But since the majority of lottery money goes back into cities and towns, paying for schools, firefighters, cops, and roads, and there are many more poor and middle-class folks that use those services than there are rich people using them (there aren’t many rich people and they probably send their kids to private school), the poor and the middle-class benefit when they play, whether they win a prize or not.
Lastly, and most important, the lottery doesn’t “prey” on anyone; it’s a choice to play (and lose, since that happens more than winning). No one is forcing anyone to play.
