Lottery Marketing Messages

The lottery is the game in which people pay to buy a ticket and then win a prize if the numbers they choose match those randomly spit out by machines. It’s a popular game, and it’s not just a pastime — people use the money they spend on tickets to buy a range of goods and services.

Lottery players tend to go into the game with a clear sense of what’s on the line. They have quote-unquote “systems” based on things like lucky numbers and stores and times of day to buy their tickets. They also know that the odds are long.

But there are other messages buried in the hype that accompanies the lottery. Most importantly, it’s that you can have a hand in reshaping your own fate if you play. It’s a big message in an era of inequality and limited social mobility, and it can obscure how regressive lottery marketing is.

Lottery ads tend to emphasize specific constituencies — convenience store owners (who are the usual vendors); state politicians who receive large contributions from lottery suppliers; teachers in states where lottery proceeds are earmarked for education; and so on. These constituencies all have a vested interest in the promotion of the lottery, but they also obscure how regressive it is for most of the population. This is why it’s important to set a lottery budget and stick with it, even if that means not buying every drawing.