> This might be obvious to everyone, but gambling expenditure is higher (as a percentage) in low-income households

As is everything. Your household grocery bill is higher (as a percentage) in low-income households. Everything is a higher percentage because the cost of stuff doesn't go down when you have little money. Gambling, alcoholism and drugs, medical bills, life don't cost less when you're broke, you just have to pick and choose what you buy to make ends meet.

Hope and escape are the biggest sellers on the market. When everything around you is geared towards selling "bigger is better", "newer is better", "richer is better" and you have no means to participate in that "Xer is better" society. Beauty companies sell us on "just use our makeup and it will cover all your flaws and make you look beautiful", fitness companies sell us on "just use our product and it will make you look beautiful", clothing companies "just buy our clothes, they will make you look beautiful"... The media constantly brainwash people to act that way.

Is it any wonder that people will spend out on anything that will let them hope (even if just for an hour or two) that perhaps, no matter how small the odds, they just might have a shot of "belonging" and joining those that have made it... or purchase some means of escaping from that whole system - if just for the hour or two it takes the drugs to wear off.

That's human nature. We live emotionally. We will die emotionally. No amount of math or education is going to change that. As long as the media keeps drumming its ever present beat that you need money to belong, you need stuff to belong, you need to be someone to belong, people will keep spending money on the hope of belonging... or spending money on a means of escaping from that pressure.

> As is everything. [Everything] is higher (as a percentage) in low-income households.

No. Exceptions including (from the link above):

   Buns, cakes, biscuits etc.   Beef (fresh, chilled or frozen)    Bacon and ham   Fish and fish products  Milk     Butter Margarine, other vegetable fats and peanut butter   Fresh fruit  Dried fruit and nuts Preserved fruit and fruit based products  Fresh vegetables  Other preserved or processed vegetables    Sugar and sugar products Jams, marmalades Chocolate    Other food products     Cocoa and powdered chocolate Fruit and vegetable juices (inc. fruit squash)  Soft drinks (inc. fizzy and ready to drink fruit drinks)                              Beer, lager, ciders and perry (brought home)           Men's outer garments Men's under garments Women's outer garments Women's under garments  Boys' outer garments (5-15) Girls' outer garments (5-15) Infants' outer garments (under 5) Children's under garments (under 16)  Accessories Haberdashery and clothing hire                                                                  hire/repair of furniture/furnishings      Medicines, prescriptions, healthcare products etc.         Purchase of new cars and vans Purchase of second hand cars or vans Purchase of motorcycles and other vehicles   Spares and accessories Petrol, diesel and other motor oils Repairs and servicing Other motoring costs   Rail and tube fares Bus and coach fares  Other travel and transport                                      TV, video and computers        Computer software and games Equipment for sport, camping and open-air recreation Horticultural goods, garden equipment and plants Pets and pet food   Sports admissions, subscriptions, leisure class fees and equipment hire Cinema, theatre and museums etc. TV, video, satellite rental, cable subscriptions and TV licences  Development of film, deposit for film development, passport photos, holiday and school photos Gambling payments    Diaries, address books, cards etc. Newspapers    Package holidays - UK Package holidays - abroad             Restaurant and café meals Alcoholic drinks (away from home) Take away meals eaten at home Other take-away and snack food Contract catering (food) and canteens   Holiday in the UK Holiday abroad Room hire                           Hairdressing, beauty treatment Toilet paper   Hair products, cosmetics and related electrical appliances      Household insurances - structural, contents and appliances Medical insurance premiums Vehicle insurance including boat insurance Non-package holiday, other travel insurance   Moving house  Other services and professional fees              Money, cash gifts given to children Cash gifts and donations7 Club instalment payments (child) and interest on credit cards

Healthcare is explicitly included as something high-income households spend a larger % on.

Please disregard the data here, in my haste I buggered it up :)