Lottery is a gambling game in which participants have the chance to win money or prizes by matching a series of numbers. Prizes include cash and items like cars, electronics, and houses. Lottery games are often promoted by state governments as a way to raise revenue for public programs, particularly education. However, the popularity of these games has fueled concerns about gambling addiction and a lack of regulation. In the United States, lotteries raise billions of dollars each year and contribute to a wide range of social problems.
The odds of winning a lottery jackpot are extremely low, but the allure of instant wealth and hope for a better life keep many people playing. In a conceptual vacuum created by incomprehensible odds, people may become susceptible to magical thinking and superstition or throw reason out the window entirely. “A lot of the weird stuff we see with decision-making and risk happens with very small probabilities,” says Carnegie Mellon University economist George Loewenstein. “Lottery is a perfect example.”
Leaf Van Boven, chair of the CU Boulder Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, has studied the role of counterfactual thoughts in playing the lottery. Her research has shown that the strength of the emotions people feel when imagining winning the lottery can be so strong that they will continue playing even after they have lost. This tendency has been attributed to low socioeconomic status and minority race/ethnicity, but Van Boven suggests that it also is a result of a broader ecological factor.