Who pays and who benefits? Examining the distributional consequences of the Georgia lottery for education

This paper examines the incidence of the implicit lottery tax and the distribution of benefits from lottery-funded programs in Georgia. Georgia's lottery is unique in that revenues are earmarked for three educational programs-HOPE College Scholarships, universal pre-kindergarten, and education infrastructure, We estimate separate models of household-level lottery purchases and of household benefits from lottery-funded programs. Our estimates suggest that lower income and non-white households tend to have higher purchases of lottery products while receiving lower benefits, as compared to higher income and white households. Benefits of HOPE Scholarships, in particular, accrue disproportionately to higher income and more educated households.