Why is The Lottery So Popular Despite its Terrible Odds?

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Sunday, November 5th, 2017 | Written by Charles Washington

Winning the lottery is something that most people dream of doing, whilst also realistically appreciating that the chances of such a life-changing eventuality ever happening to them was next to zero. More precisely, a person playing in a typical lottery where you select six numbers from a choice of 49 has odds of around 1 in 14 million of winning the top prize, with that number increasing to about 1 in 45 million for the UK Lotto, 1 in 140 million for the EuroMillions, and 1 in 292 million for the US Powerball.

In fact, you are much more likely to get struck by lightning with odds of 1 in 10 million, or become an astronaut with odds of 1 in 12 million than you are of ever winning the lottery. With the odds firmly stacked up against players, this naturally begs the question as to why people bother playing the lottery at all.

Incomprehensible Odds

These incredible long odds are actually a major reason why the lottery has proven to be such a popular game, as it is difficult for people to understand what these astronomical odds really mean. Elaborating further on this point, Robert Williams PhD, psychology professor at the University of Lethbridge, explains:

“We have no comprehension of what 14 million is, as we have no evolutionary experience with anything of this magnitude. It is equivalent to having to guess the house number on a particular street in a particular town or city in a particular province, with this address changing after each draw.”

Gambler’s Fallacy

Much like casino customers, lottery players are also susceptible to falling prey to the gambler’s fallacy. In other words, many people who have played the lottery over several years may start believing that they are owed a big win. What they fail to appreciate, however, is that every draw is its own event, and that the probability of their winning the lottery has nothing to do with how long a person has been playing for, or how much they may have won in the past. Furthermore, many of the people who have played the lottery over a long time may feel like they have to keep playing the game in order to win back what they’ve already spent.

Illusion of Control

Lottery organizers continually promote their winners as being just ordinary people, helping to create the impression of an everyday person winning the lottery as much more attainable. This illusion of control is further enhanced by enabling players to choose their own numbers, even though this doesn’t have any impact on their actual chances of matching all the required numbers and being a winner.

Broad Demographic Appeal

There is no group of people who are totally impervious to the enticing allure of playing the lottery. Studies have shown that people from all walks of life and demographics play the lottery at least every now and then. Nevertheless, the biggest indicator of who might play the lottery is tied to their economic status. A study conducted in the US, for instance, showed that those people from a lower socioeconomic background usually were the biggest participants in lottery gambling, and in at least one incident, the highest number of lottery sales came from the poorest counties within a particular state.

Good Causes

Another way in which people justify playing the lottery, despite the incredibly slim odds of winning, is in order to support good causes or a charitable organization that they like. In the UK, for instance just under one-third of all lottery receipts are given to such charities, with a massive £36 billion having been donated since its launch back in 1994. The same kind of percentage also applies to the American Powerball game.

Nonetheless, other US states are not nearly so generous. Arkansas, for instance, returns only about 20% of lottery profits to its state budget, while in North Carolina lottery sales are used as a replacement for taxpayer revenues.

Conclusion

There are a number of reasons why people choose to play the lottery despite the odds, and all of them are valid. One thing that most people fail to anticipate, though, is that winning a large sum of money does not assure a person’s future happiness. Furthermore, a startling study carried out by the National Endowment for Financial Education found that 70% of people who suddenly find themselves with a large windfall will usually have spent all of that money just a few short years down the line.