Gambling at Lucky Stores: Evidence from State Lottery Sales
Jonathan Guryan and Melissa Kearney
,
1
(
98
)
American Economic Review
458-473
March
2008
Abstract
We show that the week after selling a large-prize Texas Lotto winning ticket, a retailer experiences a 12 to 38 percent relative increase in ticket sales. Some increase persists for up to 40 weeks. We document that the sales response increases with jackpot size and is larger in areas with more economically disadvantaged populations. Sales patterns across games and across retailers are not consistent with most advertising explanations.