Texas Lottery ticket sales slump

Those who track the lottery say several factors are to blame for the decline, including newer, more expensive games, longer odds on existing games and worries about the economy and high gasoline prices.

No citation of Dekpen and Dorasil (2007)… wait, so lottery tickets are a normal good?

Once the jackpots became fewer and farther between, players began holding onto their dollars, [Dawn Nettle] said.

Reverse causality. If fewer people buy tickets, jackpots are fewer and farther between. How to test for this statistically? Granger?

But he said changes to Lotto Texas were made only after research and surveys showed that customers would take to the modifications.

Talk is cheap. Players respond to effective ticket price changes… check out Depken and Dorasil (2007).

Still, Mr. Kohler said, with the cost of gas and day-to-day living increasing at a rapid clip, players now have choices to make that didn't exist before. - Rob Kohler

Didn’t exist before? Not before $4 gasoline did consumers have a trade-off between tickets or gasoline? I think Rob needs to read Depken and Dorasil (2007). I'm not asking for much, just GOOGLE the words "Texas" "Lottery" and "Gasoline" together. We're the fourth hit, right under Monteverde's article.

"It's the people who are barely making it who are buying large numbers of tickets," Mr. Kohler said.

The majority of those who spent at least $22 a month on lottery purchases make less than $50,000 a year, according to a 2007 survey conducted by the University of Houston's Center for Public Policy.

Ok, so now lottery tickets are an inferior good. So, why is a poor economy hurting an inferior good?

"It's coming down to do you want to buy a ticket or a tank of gas?" Mr. Kohler said.

Right, just like always.


I get no respect I tell ya, no respect...


Article in context - DANIEL MONTEVERDE / The Dallas Morning News