Instant Games and the Lottery

The casting of lots to decide and determine fates has a long history in human society, and the lottery is one of its most popular modern manifestations. In recent decades, lotteries have been revived in many states to raise money for a variety of purposes.

State lottery laws require that a large percentage of revenues go to prizes, and most do so at a rate higher than most other government revenue streams. These revenues are then subject to a variety of other costs, including overhead for lottery retailers and the system itself, and state taxes on winnings. The remaining pool of cash is then used for public purposes, often including education, infrastructure, and gambling addiction initiatives.

In the United States, lottery players typically buy tickets for future drawings held weeks or months in advance. These drawings are largely the bread and butter of state lottery commissions. However, a large portion of the national lottery’s revenues come from “instant games,” such as scratch-off tickets and daily numbers games. These are far more regressive than traditional lotteries, and they tend to be played disproportionately by poorer people.

The people I’ve interviewed who play these games, and have done so for years, are generally quite clear-eyed about the odds of winning. They know that the chances of hitting a jackpot are very slight, and they spend billions of dollars on these tickets that would otherwise be spent on groceries or rent. They have quote-unquote systems that aren’t based on any statistical reasoning, about lucky numbers and stores and times of day to buy tickets, but they don’t seem to be in denial.