I was just making a joke. In reality, it’s a lot more complicated then innumeracy, there are a number of “profiles” of lottery ticket buyers. Here are three com

I was just making a joke. In reality, it’s a lot more complicated then innumeracy, there are a number of “profiles” of lottery ticket buyers. Here are three common ones: Alice buys a ticket every once in a while for “the thrill,” usually she buys tickets for the big jackpot games, and usually she buys just one on her own, plus she puts a small amount into a go in a pool with friends for social reasons. She doesn’t spend a lot every month, but she’s steady. Bob has a sense of desperation in his life. He's older, and with chronic economic problems. For him it’s a hail-mary play: He doesn't believe he has any other way to get rich, or even be comfortably provided for in his old age. Bob spends a lot on tickets, more than is advisable, but he tries to pick the ones with the biggest rollover jackpots to maximize his outcome. Carol is addicted to the rush of the gaming itself. She goes for the instant payoff games, and mixes lottery purchasing with video slots. There is a compulsive aspect to her play, and she spends what to us is a horrifying proportion of her disposable income on lotteries and video slots. She also has substance abuse problems. Alice, Bob, and Carol all know the odds are against them. Alice thinks that what she loses is made up for in entertainment and the social interaction with her friends. Bob know he’s losing, so he thinks he’s being perversely rational in buying tickets. Carol has problems, and the instant-win games and video slots are engineered to exploit them.