The Lottery - a tax on the poor and could wreck your marriage

The news that a Gloucestershire couple have been rocketed into the Rich List by a Lottery win of £56 million prompts me to have a poke at finding out whether the Lottery is a tax on the poor.

An overview of European lottery research finds this:

manual workers spent more than twice as much on the lottery than non-manual workers. The study also demonstrated a link between higher spending on the lottery and poor social functioning, lower frequency of social support, and higher alcohol and cigarette consumption. Higher spending was associated with older age and manual social class, as noted in previous studies.

This is a brief indication, a straw in the wind, and I am not going to dive into an exhaustive literature review. That is a job for some sociology postgrad student. But the prima facie evidence here is that the Lottery is indeed a tax on the poor, so, assuming that it is politically unacceptable to terminate it with extreme prejudice, the distributed profits should at least go primarily to relieving poverty-stricken communities.

While on the subject, I thought I would have a look at lottery winner outcomes.
Google results:
Lottery Winner horror stories     338 k
Lottery Winner success stories   920 k
Lottery Winner leaves wife       21.6 million
Lottery Winner suicide             37.8 k
Lottery Winner's Curse              202k

Make of that what you will. Obviously reporting bias comes into the picture.
The "leaves wife" one is convincing, because a male winner will be beseiged with alluring gold diggers.
Here are some sad anecdotes about winners.

Provisional bottom line: - whether a win makes you happy or sad is a complete lottery. 

Spoiled for choice

Blimey! Spoiled for choice for what to comment on in today's news.

• RBS has given up tax avoidance schemes worth 1/2 a billion, (a) because they no longer have the sums required and (b) because they are now owned by the taxpayer. No brainer for the man that made that decision. Give that man a bonus.
• Stern attacks politicians over climate devastation. We need an Icelandic solution to that one.
• EDF says development of new nuclear plant could be prevented if the government allows too much windpower to be built
• China has sidelined Pan Yue, the green minister in the Government
  
• Social workers spend too much time writing reports. I know about this one. Social work reports make the MfSS look like a short story. They note obsessively, every detail of their encounters, right down to the colour of the door. Either give them a Dictaphone and a typist, or teach them touch typing, or teach them to record significant points only.
• Obama is rethinking the drugs war: answer, Buy, don't Burn.
• Inequality (economic divergence) is the mother of all evils. Richard Wilkinson is your man. Green economics must generate convergence.
• Pakistan and Mexico are floundering.
• And I am off to Bristol to take part in the launch of the Soulth West Green Party's European Campaign, an event which will clearly displace all these other items from the front page.