Transcribed Image Text: The Wealth Gap Problem
The state of Georgia uses the revenue generated from its lottery to fund college scholarships for its residents. These scholarships include
the HOPE Scholarship Program (which gives out Zell Miller Scholarships, HOPE Scholarships, and HOPE Grants). Each of these
scholarships is merit-based, meaning they are awarded based on academic achievement rather than financial need. The minimum GPA for
a HOPE Scholarship is 3.0 and the minimum for a Zell Miller Scholarship is 3.7. Students must also complete a number of advanced
classes and achieve over a certain SAT score [2].
Higher-income students are more likely to receive these scholarships in Georgia. On a surface level, the redistribution system appears fair.
However, students are competing for these scholarships on an uneven playing field. Students from higher income families have the
resources to receive tutoring for standardized tests, and potentially achieve higher GPAS, whereas lower income families are less likely to
enroll their children in supplementary lessons and extracurricular activities [4]. Additionally, poverty-related stressors at home and lack of
resources in poorer school districts lead to an educational disadvantage [8]. With merit-based scholarships, the lower income students who
need the financial aid are less able to break the poverty cycle by going to college [3]. The HOPE Scholarship Program has historically
awarded far fewer scholarships to lower income students compared to their middle and high income counterparts [9].
Figure: Distribution of Georgia scholarships in 2013 (Source: Inside Higher Ed, 2016).
Middle- &
High-Income
52%
% of In-state Undergraduates
by Income, Fall 2013
20
17.5
Low-Income
48%
Part whit
Catata from 2001 to 2013 from the Connecticut Lottery, Adam Osmond
Alvin Chung/Vax
% of HOPE Scholars
by Income, Fall 2013
Lottery Players
Low income populations play the lottery more, but receive scholarships less often than their high-income counterparts. In big jackpot
lotteries such as Powerball, participation is generally level across income levels. However, lottery games with comparatively small jackpots
drawn on an hourly or daily basis tend to draw players from lower income households [5]. Lottery outlets are often clustered in
neighborhoods with large minority populations (especially Hispanic neighborhoods) [10], suggesting significant participation within these
groups; yet a study on merit-based scholarships shows there are significant inequities among scholarship recipients. Even in high poverty
areas, white students are awarded more non-need, merit scholarships than Black and Hispanic students [7]. From this, we hypothesize that
the lottery system redistributes wealth from lower income, minority families to higher income families in the form of scholarships.
Figure: Scatter plot of minority percentages vs. lottery wins (Source: Vox, 2016).
Towns with higher minority populations play the lottery
more often
Middle- &
High-Income
58%
Vox
Reward
play_lottery_once()
Low-income
42%
Georgia's Fantasy 5 Lottery
In this assignment, you will be creating a lottery simulation for Fantasy 5, one of the lottery games in Georgia, to explore and evaluate the
lottery's profitability and effect it has on low income populations.
How it works
No. of Matches $1
A player enters the Fantasy 5 drawing by selecting five numbers from 1 to 42, with no duplicates. The player pays $1 to enter their chosen
numbers in a drawing. The lottery draws five numbers at random, and the reward is determined by how many of the player's numbers
match the drawn set. These numbers do not need to match in the same order.
Table: Fantasy 5 Rewards. The reward values were based on the average rewards in June 2018 [6].
Middle-& High
Income
79%
2
5
No prize One free play $11 $198 $212,535
3
% of Zell Miller Scholars
by Income, Fall 2013
4
Low-income
21%
References
1. "About Us." Georgia Lottery, www.galottery.com/en-us/about-us.html
2. "Eligibility for the HOPE Scholarship | Georgia Student Finance Commission." Georgia Student Finance Commission, Georgia Student
Finance Commission, HTML
3. "Break the Cycle of Poverty: Stand Together Foundation, 2 Dec. 2020, standtogetherfoundation.org
4. Caucutt, Elizabeth. "The Real Reason Why Poor Kids Perform Worse in School - and in Life." The Washington Post, WP Company, 1
Mar. 2019, HTML
5. Chang, Alvin. "4 Ways the Lottery Preys on the Poor." Vox, 13 Jan. 2016, HTML
6. "Georgia (GA) Fantasy 5 Prizes and Odds for Sat, Jun 30, 2018. Lottery Post HTML
7. Heller, Donald E., and Patricia Marin. "State merit scholarship programs and racial inequality. Civil Rights Project at Harvard University
(2004).
8. Isaacs, Julia B. "Starting School at a Disadvantage: The School Readiness of Poor Children. The Social Genome Project, Mar. 2012,
PDF
9. Seltzer, Rick. "HOPE for Whom?" Inside Higher Ed, 16 Sept. 2016, HTML
Checkpoint A
Implement these functions from the template following the description (specification) in their docstring:
• generate_lottery_numbers()
• count_matches ()
10. Wiggins, Lyna, et al. "A Geospatial Statistical Analysis of the Density of Lottery Outlets within Ethnically Concentrated Neighborhoods."
Journal of Community Psychology, vol. 38, no. 4, 6 Apr. 2010, pp. 486-496, HTML
11. Wilde, Cathy. "People in Poor Neighborhoods Are Twice as Likely to Have Gambling Problems, Study Finds." University at Buffalo, 3
Jan. 2014, HTML
• Use Python Tutor to do incremental development, focusing on one function at a time in isolation
.
• Invent some of your own intermediate output, to get feedback while in develop mode
• Submit your work to get feedback from unit tests
• sim_many_plays ()
By default, this project does not generate any interesting printed output. So, you should use one of these strategies in your work: