Raleigh, NC — March 30th marks the 20-year anniversary of the first lottery ticket sold in North Carolina. Surrounded by states that already had the lottery, the tickets were a hot item, amassing $24 million in sales in just the first week.

While millions of North Carolinians were excited to play, others we spoke with 20 years ago had concerns. One person told us, "You're gonna find people who need the money the most who are going to spend it on the lottery, instead of on food or their power bill."

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Most opponents call the lottery a "regressive tax," a  tax on the poor. In North Carolina, that so-called "regressive tax" was sold as a way to raise more money for our schools.

Twenty years later and with the luster worn off, WRAL Investigates decided to break down new sales data to answer three questions:

  1. Who's buying lottery tickets?
    1. Where do they live?
      1. Which counties have the highest per capita lottery spending?

        Armed with that information, WRAL Investigates then compared it to economic data to see if the lottery opponents' concerns were valid.

        Here's how we did it: North Carolina's counties are broken into three economic tiers with factors like income, unemployment and property tax base folded into the rankings..

        • Tier three: 20 are in the most economically stable counties, including Wake County.
          • Tier two: 40 counties. In the middle.
            • Tier one: 40 counties seen as economically distressed by the North Carolina Department of Commerce

              WRAL Investigates found the top 10 counties in per capita lottery sales for the most recent year are all tier 1, the poorest counties. Halifax County, northeast of Raleigh, had per capita lottery sales of $1,334 per year. That's more than $100 a month on average.

              That's three times more per person compared to Orange County and more than twice as much as people spent in Wake County, both Tier 3, wealthier counties.

              "It is one of our concerns. And you know, the opposition to the lottery when it originally came in front of the General Assembly, was was a bipartisan opposition, says Donald Bryson, with the conservative leaning John Locke Foundation.

              Bryson said the lottery is a tax on poor- disguised as a way to raise money for education.

              "This is a bet by the state to raise revenue for public education, that North Carolinians, who generally fall into the socio economically disadvantaged category, will lose money," he told WRAL Investigates.

              WRAL Investigates asked the lottery for an interview about the tools they're using to protect people from overspending, especially with the rise in popularity of digital instants-- essentially a lottery kiosk on your phone.

              The lottery pointed us to the new PlaySmart campaign for responsible gambling.  It allows players to set deposit limits, set loss limits, keep track of their play history and even pause play for anywhere between the day or even up to a month.

              Despite those efforts, very few players are taking advantage.We found only 7%of the nearly one million people who are gaming virtually signed up for the responsible gaming tools.

              "The deposit limits, wager limits, time limits, loss limits, a whole suite of tools, Cory Fox with FanDuel told while being interviewed for our recent documentary "The Gamble," which focused on sports betting in North Carolina. Those platforms use many of the same tools as the North Carolina lottery, but Fox says they take it even a step further, 

              Sports gambling apps have similar features, but they take it even a step further, "The real-time check-in tool that I discussed earlier that checks in with users attempting to deposit more than they usually do, and suggests that they deposit less, um, or set a deposit limit going forward."  In extreme cases, the sports betting companies will even prohibit someone from placing new bets.

              Bryson says he doesn't know all the steps the lottery takes to keep people from overspending on hope. But he thinks it's a bad bet for the state's most vulnerable.

              "I think there are problems when state government programs bet on people losing money or staying poor, right?" Bryson said.

              One major concern about overspending on lottery tickets is using credit cards to buy them.  About two dozen states allow that. However, North Carolina is not one of them.