Gambling Lotto is a popular form of gambling that involves purchasing tickets for a chance to win a large prize. It is also a popular source of revenue for state governments. In fact, lottery revenue is often more than state corporate tax revenues. Some critics have argued that lottery gambling preys on the economically disadvantaged, who are least able to control their spending habits and trim unnecessary expenses. Others have criticized state governments for using lottery income to offset declining revenues from corporate taxes.
The present study examined the sociodemographic correlates of lottery gambling using a combined dataset from two national U.S. surveys containing responses from individuals ages 14 to 94. The dependent variable was the number of days respondents gambled on the lottery. The independent variables included age, gender, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. A negative binomial model with fixed effects was used to estimate the odds of gambling on the lottery. The results show that age is a significant predictor of lottery gambling, with the likelihood of gambling increasing by 19% for every year (unit) of increased age. Gender was also a significant predictor, with males being more likely to gamble on the lottery than females. In addition, the analysis indicated that whether or not lottery gambling is legal in a respondent’s state of residence is associated with the likelihood of gambling on the lottery. The likelihood of gambling on the lottery increases by about 1.9 times for each day that lottery gambling is legal in a person’s home state.
Socioeconomic status was a strong predictor of lottery gambling, with the lowest socioeconomic group spending more money on lottery tickets than respondents in the highest socioeconomic group. However, this effect disappeared when the census-based factor of neighborhood disadvantage was added to the regression model. This suggests that while neighborhood disadvantage is correlated with low socioeconomic status and minority race/ethnicity, it may also represent a broader ecological context that is favorably inclined toward lottery gambling.
The findings of this study were consistent with other research on the relationship between gambling and a variety of other correlated behaviors, including alcohol and illicit drug use. In particular, the findings suggest that lottery gambling is related to a range of psychological and behavioral factors, including impulsivity and risk-taking behavior. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the age pattern of lottery gambling appears to be somewhat different from patterns observed in other correlated behaviors. In general, lottery gambling tends to increase across adolescence and peak in the thirties and forties, after which it declines. This is an interesting finding, since it suggests that the behavior is governed by a different set of determinants than other correlated behaviors. Nevertheless, it is important to emphasize that these findings should be taken with caution. They are based on limited and cross-sectional data and should be replicated with larger samples of lottery players. In particular, more longitudinal studies are needed to assess the causality of these effects. big77 login