Government-sponsored lotteries: Exploring purchase and nonpurchase motivations

Although the consumption of government-sponsored lotteries has grown consid erably over the past 30 years, few researchers have considered the psycholo gical motivations underlying lottery purchase behavior. The present researc h explicitly investigates this issue by examining not only the reported mot ives for playing the lottery, but the motives for not playing as well. Base d on open-ended surveys of lottery-eligible individuals, a formal taxonomy of purchase and nonpurchase motivations is developed. Variations in lottery expenditures are examined with respect to the reported motivations, demons trating the key role of nonpurchase motivations in understanding lottery co nsumption levels. Policy implications and avenues for future research are a lso discussed. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.