Spreading the Fortune: The Distribution of Lottery Prizes across Countries

Victor Matheson and Kent Grote (grote@lfc.edu)
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Kent Grote: Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College

No 904, Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics

Abstract: It has been 15 years since Cook and Clotfelter described the scale economies associated with state-run lotto games in an American Economic Review article entitled “The Peculiar Scale Economies of Lotto.” U.S. states with larger populations are identified as having the ability to offer games with larger jackpots to attract higher sales per capita. The current paper extends this analysis to all current U.S. state and multi-state lotto-style lottery games as well as to a sample of international lotto games for comparative purposes. The development of the two major U.S. multi-state games over time is also examined to illustrate that changes in the structure of those games can be explained by an application of the scale economies concept offered by Cook and Clotfelter.

Keywords: lotto; lottery; public finance; gambling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D81 H71 L83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2009-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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