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Then that portion is the tax, not the lottery ticket itself. In the same way that there's a tax on alcohol, but the alcohol itself is not a tax because no one's forcing you to buy it. The author himself states: "The lottery is not a tax. The inflated price of lottery tickets is"... which makes his headline "The lottery is a tax" shameless clickbait.

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I think this characterisation is excessively persnickety.

Much like many other comments on this article, that seem to have been written in a painful rush to demonstrate just how damn rational the comment author is.

The headline is neither wrong nor sensationalised, and the article is nuanced and cogent.

I am of the opinion that comment authors should, if capable, explain his or her reasons for thinking the way he or she does, without resorting to throwing unqualified insults.

Furthermore, I think everyone has a right to his or her own opinion.

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