Anxiety about Standard of Living and Expenditures on Lottery Tickets

Abstract

Prior research has indicated that negative mood can positively influence spending on lottery tickets. In this paper, we use a nationwide random sample to evaluate whether worries about ability to maintain standard of living can affect expenditures on lottery tickets. Our analysis, based on the generalized linear model, indicates that expenditures on lottery tickets vary inversely with education. People with annual incomes of less than $30,000 spend less on lottery tickets than people belonging to other income categories, Marital status, working status, and gender are found to have no impact on spending on lottery tickets. Worries about maintaining standard of living do not affect lottery spending. However, worried people with some college, incomes $20,000 to $30,000, and incomes $50,000 to $75,000 will spend higher amounts than people with similar characteristics. To further corroborate results and lessen selection bias, we perform a propensity score matched analysis and find that worries about maintaining standard of living have no effect on the expenditures on lottery tickets.