Jeff,
I think that “no hard sell” mantra became inoperative as soon as the governor and legislators decided to tie the fate of particular government programs to lottery proceeds.
If More At Four or some other program must have lottery proceeds to survive, then government will do all it can to ensure lottery proceeds flow into the state’s coffers. (This is not to mention the need for sufficient lottery proceeds to support the newly created lottery bureaucracy.)
As we’ve discussed in the past, the lottery places state officials in the awkward position of urging people to waste their money (rather than praising them for having enough good sense to avoid taking a sucker’s bet).
