Indiana Lottery sued over misleading advertising

The Indianapolis Star reports that a lawsuit filed against Indiana's Hoosier State Lottery has been granted class-action status.

The complaint alleges that lottery advertised over $8 million in prizes for its Cash Blast game from May 2005 to July 2006, even after the prizes had already been awarded. Indianians purchased more than $20 million worth of losing tickets during that time frame, and the suit seeks a refund for losing tickets sold.
Is it unfair? Yeah, probably. But with all due respect to the victims, it's a little bit like suing the perpetrators of one of those Nigerian email scams for lying about his name -- the Lottery is one of the stupidest things you can possibly waste your money on, and, even if the prize hadn't already been awarded, the odds of winning are so small that it's barely materially different from 0.

According to the Star, "Two men, Jeff Frazer, Carmel, and Jeff Koehlinger, Auburn, filed the suit in Marion County for their losses in the game. Frazer purchased $40,000 worth of the $10 tickets and Koehlinger bought $2,470."

That's just sad. If any good comes from the case, hopefully voters and elected officials will see the tremendous human cost of gambling, even when the game isn't rigged any more than usual. $40,000 worth of tickets -- and I doubt that he could afford it because anyone who could afford it wouldn't spend money that way.