Children and lotteries
From: "An Arkansas lottery A bad bet for Education and Families?", Paycheck $ and politics; State Government & your Family’s Budget, Issue XV, December 2002, p.7 found at http://www.aradvocates.org/_images/pdfs/taxbrief15.pdf
"Studies also suggest lotteries encourage illegal gambling by children. Although it is illegal to sell lottery tickets to children in every state, such sales occur with great frequency according to state studies. One survey found 27 percent of 15-to 18-year-olds in Minnesota had purchased lottery tickets. Even higher numbers were reported in Louisiana (32%), Texas (34%), and Connecticut (35%.
"According to the National Gambling Impact Study, some states (Massachusetts and Connecticut are two examples) sell lottery tickets through self-service vending machines, often without supervision as to who buys them. In Illinois, one study found a 16-year-old girl was successful in purchasing lottery tickets from 49 of50 central Illinois lottery vendors.
"A study conducted by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office found children as young as 9 were able to buy tickets 80 percent of the time and 66 percent were able to place bets on Keno games. Seventy-five percent of high school seniors in Massachusetts reported having played the lottery.10"