An average $325 a year is wagered on lottery tickets for every adult in the United States (Isidore, 2017). I am surprised that the average is this low. I have a client who buys lottery tickets every week which is well above the average. I researched the Powerball lottery advertisement in WI and found it to be a fair assessment of probabilities. However, after reading where the sales were going for buying lottery tickets, I found that to be surprising. The website (Wisconsin Lottery, 2019) said "Prizes are approximately 50% of sales" below the chart of the probabilities of winning. This tells me that half of the average sales on lottery tickets, $162.50, is going to the state of WI. I don't think that is fair, but if I were the state, I'm not going to complain. It's a good thing I don't gamble or do the lottery because I put my money to use where it's most prosperous. However, I would love to be doing a business like this if I was able to take 50% of the sales.
Works Cited:
Isidore, C. (2017, August 24). We spend billions on lottery tickets. Here's where all that money goes. Retrieved from CNN Business: https://money.cnn.com/2017/08/24/news/economy/lottery-spending/index.html
Wisconsin Lottery. (2019). Powerball. Retrieved from Wisconsin Lottery: https://www.wilottery.com/lottogames/powerballinfo.aspx