If you’re a lotto player, you’ve likely heard that it’s important to pick numbers that are sequential or based on significant dates (e.g., birthdays or ages of children). But that’s only part of the story. Lottery numbers aren’t just random — they are also influenced by how many other players choose those same numbers. The more tickets sold, the higher the odds of a win.
In the United States, lottery revenue is split among administrative costs and vendor expenses as well as state-designated projects, such as public education. It’s impossible to know how much of each ticket sale goes toward the prize pool because the number of tickets purchased varies by state, but the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries publishes a breakdown of state spending.
The way lotteries operate in the modern era is a classic example of piecemeal public policy-making: each state creates its own monopoly and then, with pressure for additional revenue, progressively expands its operation and complexity. But the expansion is often accompanied by a lack of overall public oversight or even an understanding of what the state is doing and why.
This inevitably leads to state lotteries being coded as “good” in the eyes of politicians and citizens alike, and that’s what keeps the system going, despite its obvious regressivity. As a result, many low- and middle-income households purchase lottery tickets at levels far beyond their percentage of the population, contributing billions in foregone savings that could be better spent on retirement or college tuition.