The luck of the draw: A deeper look at lotteries

This hour, we’re talking about lotteries. How did this massive money redistribution game come to be? And we know that lotteries can randomly allocate cash prizes to ticket buyers – but could they also pick our political officials? Or the victims of our human sacrifice rituals to ensure that “corn be heavy soon”?

GUESTS:

Jonathan D. Cohen: Historian and author of For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America

Alex Guerrero: Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University and author of the forthcoming book, “Lottocracy: The Case for Democracy without Elections”

Ruth Franklin: Book critic and author of the award-winning biography Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life

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Colin McEnroe, Stacey Addo, Lily Tyson, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired on August 23, 2023. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.