Lottery Gambling and Demographic Factors

Lottery gambling is an activity wherein people purchase lottery tickets in order to win the prize. This is a popular pastime for many and it can also be beneficial to the community. However, it should be done in moderation and within reasonable limits. This is because gambling is not something that should be abused or become an addiction to. It can be quite dangerous to the physical and mental health of the individual.

In the past, lottery revenues have grown rapidly due to innovations such as daily numbers games that were modeled on illegal numbers games historically present in most cities. These new games have generated significant revenue for state governments. However, these gains have leveled off in recent years and the industry has begun to face a number of issues, including a lack of growth and increased competition from casino-style games and keno.

While economic analyses of lottery gambling have been important for lottery-specific policy discourse, few studies have examined the effects of various sociodemographic factors on lottery playing patterns. Using data from the 2004 and 2005 Consumer Expenditure Surveys, this article examines the influence of age, gender, race/ethnicity, education and socioeconomic status on days lottery gambling. The results show that age is the most important predictor of lottery playing patterns; men play more than women; blacks and Hispanics gamble at a greater frequency than whites; and gambling on the lottery declines with increasing educational achievement.

In addition, it was found that neighborhood disadvantage is a strong predictor of lottery gambling and that this effect becomes stronger as other independent variables are controlled for. This finding suggests that lottery retailers may be concentrating their efforts in poorer communities, and that the regressive impact of the industry has a more pronounced effect on lower income households than higher ones.