©Edie Bresler

The $70 billion that Americans spend playing the lottery each year is more than they spend on movies, music and porn combined, says photographer Edie Bresler, whose ongoing project called “Lottery Economies” explores the trickle-down effects of all that lottery spending. Media coverage “typically highlights big winners and annual revenues generated for education and other essential services, but finding tangible effects in communities is elusive,” she says. “I focus on lottery stories not part of the usual hyperbole. A lot of these stories happen in small family-run convenience stores and marketplaces where lottery tickets are sold.” Stores that have sold winning tickets, such as Azores Discount Tobacco in Fall River, Massachusetts (above), are perceived by lottery players as “lucky.” Bresler says she photographs these stores “during the fleeting moments of twilight to evoke the tenuous seduction of hope and desire that accompanies the purchase of every ticket.” More work from “Lottery Economies” and related projects can be viewed on Bresler’s Web site and blog. (more…)