What would Aristotle have thought about a state lottery? This essay uses Aristotle's views on justice to evaluate the morality of a state lottery.

One aspect of justice, which Aristotle elaborated on, was that which was concerned with a fair distribution and proportionate equality. These aspects are directly related to the debate about whether a state lottery would be unjust toward those citizens of the state who are the least able to afford it. For the sake of argument we will assume that a lottery is a disproportionate tax on the poor, who are more inclined to play hoping …

…a disproportionate tax burden on the poor. Clearly, promoters of the lottery have considered this and chose to ignore the harm it would cause the lower classes of the state. For this reason, Aristotle would have said that not only is the lottery is unjust, but so are its backers. Aristotle would have looked upon the state lottery as being unjust because it would not have been a proportionately equal distribution of a harmful burden.