Lotteries have been tried, and yes, it did lead to all kinds of work being done to be able to enter the lottery multiple times, for people to enter the lottery

Lotteries have been tried, and yes, it did lead to all kinds of work being done to be able to enter the lottery multiple times, for people to enter the lottery just to resell, and other similar shenanigans. More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/business/in-wireless-spectrum-competition-is-critical.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/business/in-wireless-spect... So a lottery quickly becomes a special kind of auction where lower bidders still have some chance to win.