The emphasis on jackpot sizes has continued into the present day. Over the years, Powerball and Mega Millions made jackpots harder and harder to win, Cohen said. Officials reason that players have a hard time caring about, or telling the difference between games with different odds of winning. But, Cohen added, they can definitely tell the difference between a $4 million jackpot and a $400 million jackpot. The odds of winning already feel so distant, so improbable, that one might as well compete for the largest jackpot.
Scratch tickets, since their introduction in Massachusetts, have been designed in a way to keep people hopeful and interested in an addictive, logic-defying way. Tickets are often designed so that losing numbers are numerically closer to winning numbers, giving players the feeling of "Oh, I was just one off," Cohen said. Numbers on scratch tickets are also formatted so they resemble other numbers until a player finishes scratching to reveal the entire number. The idea is to give players a fleeting feeling of winning that can be chased by buying another ticket, Cohen added.
The future of lotteries will likely rely on the distant odds and massive prizes that set the games apart from other types of gambling, Cohen said. This translates to more expensive scratch tickets, such as the $50 offering in Massachusetts and a $100 ticket introduced in Texas last year.
When the economy takes a downturn, when unemployment rates rise, spending decreases on most gambling, Cohen said. This is not the case with lotteries, as sales generally increase when economic turmoil strikes.
What sets playing the lottery apart from other forms of gambling is the potential for a massive windfall that is totally out of proportion to the amount of money bet.
"Of all the other types of gambling, whether it's sports betting or something else, the lottery is the only one where you can come in with $2 and leave with $2 billion," Cohen said. "The enduring popularity of lotteries tells me that a lot of Americans see it as their last, best, or only chance at a new life."