Jon Cohen, JF '18, explains why public officials should not turn to lotteries as a simple solution to complex financial problems

In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, Jon Cohen, the Newman Family Jefferson Fellow, examines the spread of the lottery in the United States and the revenue expectations that come with it.

Jon, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in History at U.Va., recently co-edited All In: Gambling in the Twentieth Century United States, a collection currently under review for publication at the University of Nevada Press. The collection examines the spread of gambling over the twentieth century and some of the characters, from corrupt police officers in New York City, to members of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, to Ojibwe tribal leaders in North Dakota, who facilitated the expansion of legalized gambling.  

Click here to read Jon’s recent op-ed on the lottery.