Edie Bresler

I follow the trail of winning jackpots ranging from $1million to as much as $415 million, back to mom and pop stores all across the country where the winning ticket was sold. Here are the places and people who keep the lotteries in business. After selling a winning jackpot, stores acquire a lucky aura, bringing in new customers from surrounding communities. While it is true some owners receive a bonus commission, the amount varies wildly from state-to-state and in some states like Georgia, no bonuses are paid for top selling instant scratch winners. In the shadow of someone else’s lucky day, I meet and photograph the store owners, clerks and customers who get up for work the next day, dreaming about what “I would do if I had that money”.

In 2019 Americans spent $72billion in a bid to become the next millionaire and in Massachusetts, we have the highest per capita lottery spending in the nation. Rather than raise taxes on those at the top, or close corporate tax loop holes, legislators in forty-four states rely on lottery revenue to prop up shrinking state budgets.

For eight years I have been peeling back each complex layer of this booming, yet invisible local economy.

If you want to experience the widening income inequality at the root of our divided country, pay a visit to your local convenience store.

Encroaching big box stores might offer better prices but they don’t come close to the warmth or genuine hospitality of a mom and pop shop.

I seek to honor the families who are working harder and longer, sometimes at multiple jobs, to sustain their ideal of the American dream.