CNN Declares Lottery System 'Systemically Racist'
The lottery system is racist, systemically racist -- so concluded CNN.
CNN came to such a verdict after interviewing supposed lottery researchers. The piece accuses state lotteries of using marketing to target not just low-income communities, but specific communities of color.
"These communities are disproportionately made up of black and brown people. Critics say the consequence is that marginalized people will be driven into deeper debt by a system that is transferring wealth out of their communities," CNN’s Nicquel Terry Ellis and Justin Gamble wrote.
CNN says lotteries mislead black and brown communities into believing they could hit the jackpot. One might say that marketing that unlikely possibility is the foundation of the lottery system, the selling point to communities of all colors.
Sure. But this piece wasn't met to publish truths. Rather, CNN posted the article to drum up racial hysteria. Duh.
False hope is now racist.
The article then blames the government for weaponizing people of color by dangling the possibility of the winning ticket paying their rent:
“They’re hoping to pay their rent at the end of the month or pay an outstanding medical bill or put their kids through college or they just lost their job and they’re just trying to find a way to make ends meet,. And here you have what is a government program encouraging citizens to lose their money on rigged games.”
Ultimately, CNN found the lottery a form of “consumer financial fraud" and "systemic racism.”
Someone should tell that old white guy who buys a ticket each day during his commute to purchase the newspaper that he's privileged because the lottery system is not exploiting his vulnerabilities -- despite exploiting his vulnerabilities.
When the demand for racism outstrips the supply, outlets like CNN publish stories accusing the lottery of utilizing systemic racism.
That's where we are as a society.
Altadena, California recently sold the largest Powerball jackpot lottery ticket ever with a historic winning of $2.04 billion. The odds were 1 in 292.2 million.
In other words, racism.