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Nothing reeks of desperation like Arizona residents breaking the state record for buying lottery tickets.
Arizonans forked over $692.9 million for their 1-in-a-zillion chance at getting rich in fiscal year 2013, which is the most spent in the 31-year history of the Arizona Lottery.
See also:
–Powerball Winner ID’d
Now, this is the sixth year in a row that the state record for lotto sales has been broken, but it’s not really a small increase — the sales in 2013 were more than 7 percent higher than in 2012.
Except for a very small number of people, like the dude from Fountain Hills who won the gigantic Powerball jackpot, everybody basically paid a voluntary tax to the state.
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The state gets $176.5 million from state lotto sales in 2013, which is nearly $12 million more than last year. The total generated for the state since 1981 is approaching $3 billion.
However, the catch is, according to the slogan, that you can’t win if you don’t play — which is debatable.
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Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.
