More than 87 million tickets were bought for the Pennsylvania lottery drawing. Those who bought tickets had to choose seven numbers from 1 to 80. The chance of winning was one in 9.6 million. But that little chance certainly didn’t affect ticket sales. In the last few days before the drawing, tickets were selling at the unbelievable rate of 500 per second.

　　Experts say many people buy lottery tickets because they just want to have a piece of the action. Others say the lottery is a stock market for poor people. It allows them to dream about wealth they’ll probably never have.

　　But many people believe lotteries are no better than legalized (合法化的) gambling. Some critics (批评家) note that most people who play are poor and may not be able to afford the tickets. There are also many addicts (成瘾者) who take the game seriously. They may pour their life savings into lottery tickets. Some clubs have been formed to help them kick the habit.

　　Politicians like lotteries because they provide money that would otherwise have to come from new taxes. The profits from lotteries are usually used to pay for education or programs for senior citizens. But critics say this arrangement just allows states to legalize vice (恶习), under the name of social progress.

　　No matter whether you regard state lotteries right or not, you cannot refuse to accept their extreme popularity with many Americans.

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