Gambling at Lucky Stores: Empirical Evidence from State Lottery Sales

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2008
Volume: 98
Issue: 1
Pages: 458-73

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

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. Furthermore, response patterns are not consistent with representativeness-based explanations for the hot hand or gambler's fallacy; we suggest an alternative explanation for the observed "lucky store" effect. (JEL H27, H71)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:98:y:2008:i:1:p:458-73
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25