Multinational Finance Journal, 2022, vol. 26, no. 3/4, pp. 27-59
Email: drscottbrown@gmail.com
William T Ziemba , The University of British Columbia
Abstract:
Lotto tickets normally have negative expected value that sometimes
turn positive with carryover or promotions. The purchase of lotto
tickets by professional bettors has been shown to be rational
economic behavior during these periods. The typical player is
known to play continually and is subject to a regressive tax when a
professional bettor wins the jackpot. We perform an out-of-sample
experiment that provides countervailing evidence of an
economically significant silver lining for the typical player from
easier-to-win small prizes making lotto one type of investment for
this demographic. In this light lotto participation by the typical
player is, if not rational, less irrational in terms of prospect, strain,
networking, and consumption theories. Finally, we show linkage
between jackpot size and economic boom and bust in Puerto Rico
Keywords : Lotto; Prospect Theory; Portfolio Theory; Strain Theory; Networking Theory; Consumption Theory.
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