Anybody who’s bought gasoline at a convenience store in Arkansas has probably watched the scene play out: A customer stands to the side of the counter, scratching off lottery tickets, hoping to score a big one any minute now. What money he does win, if he “wins” any at all, may go right back across the counter for more lottery tickets.

And an addiction isn’t just for the uneducated or the unfortunate.

Remmele Mazyck was the deputy security director for the Arkansas Lottery for years. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges resulting from his pocketing more than $477,000 in winnings from tickets he stole from his employer, i.e., We the People. Mr. Mazyck used the lottery’s computer system to activate tickets that he took from the lottery’s warehouse. Then he’d cash the tickets at convenience stores. He did this for years. And wound up stealing half a million dollars. Naturally enough, he was one of the Lottery’s top officials in charge of, yes, “security.”

What did he do with a good chunk of that money? Prosecutors say he bought more lottery tickets with a lot of it. Some addictions-most addictions-don’t ask the suckers for a copy of their résumé or their tax records. Our official, certified and legalized numbers racket, aka the Arkansas Lottery, will welcome anybody who comes close enough to meeting the (low) qualifications for buying a ticket.

With the grocery tax shrinking as the years go on, the Arkansas Lottery now takes its place as the shame of the state.

Editorial, Pages 10 on 07/29/2013