Numerous surveys conducted by individual lotteries show that their players cross-section the overall population in that jurisdiction. A 1997 poll commissioned by the Washington Post found that middle income Americans were the most likely group to play the lottery and that the wealthiest and poorest were least likely to play. This myth, like most urban legends, is perpetrated for its sensationalism and does not reflect factual accuracy about the lottery industry. We who support the state lottery industry take every opportunity possible to correct the bad press lottery has received due to erroneous reporting about billboards placed in Illinois in 1986. The Washington Street location was on the main access road to Chicago Stadium and was chosen simply to reach an entertainment-seeking audience.
Lottery is a game.
Games are entertaining. Non-winners often have an opportunity to enter special drawings for a second chance at winning prizes. Probability games add to the entertainment factor in that every ticket will be a winner if it is played correctly. The growing number of television tie-in lottery games also adds another dimension of entertainment to lottery games with comedy, drama and suspense all rolled into the show. Compulsive gambling is addictive behavior, and like other forms of pathological addiction, it involves biological and psychological factors that predispose an individual to the behavior.