For what it’s worth, this is perfect example of the fraudulence of the people running this state. The rainmakers on Beacon Hill go overboard to try and paint themselves and Massachusetts as ultra compassionate & progressive, with the “Brahmins” virtually unanimously working to craft their individual reputations as champions of equity and justice who fight tirelessly against enemies like the right wing and the 1% on behalf of the most disadvantaged members of society, people who the deck is stacked against that really do need help to have a serious chance at breaking out of the generational cycle of poverty and impossible choices that so many people are stuck in starting at birth. Then either by participation or simple inaction they bring a $50 dose of cardboard crack scratch ticket to market that is expected to generate $1.5 BILLION by serving as an extralegal tax collected via tempting the most vulnerable, desperate people in MA with dreams of an instant fortune that will be split by the commonwealth’s individual towns to use as they see fit, with zero earmarks to direct the town’s spending. People may argue with this, and I’d love to hear a well reasoned defense of $50 scratch offs. As a libertarian leaning MA resident my stance historically was that if fellow residents wanted legal scratch tickets then the government shouldn’t stand in their way, but this has been taken to such an extreme that I’ve reevaluated my position.