Last year the average American, man, woman and child, spent $183 on lottery tickets. In Massachusetts? It was almost $700. ($699 to be exact.)

But people who typically play the lottery are getting older, not younger. And with increasing competition from casinos for those replacement players, lottery revenue isn't expected to grow much.

So is now the time to sell the lottery? Steve Bailey looks into how it might work: The State would get something like $11 billion dollars, structured into a fund that would pay out to cities and towns what they get now. And, the government gets out of the gambling business (but not the taxing gambling business I presume.)

Very interesting. Almost sounds like a good idea. $11 billion is a good chunk of change, but in a quick reality check, Bailey asks, "[W]ould you trust these guys on Beacon Hill with all that dough?"