Do People Put Their Money Where Their Votes Are? The Case of Lottery Tickets

• Published in: Southern economic journal 1989-07, Vol.56 (1), p.32-38
• Main Authors: Hersch, Philip L., McDougall, Gerald S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Censuses; Coefficients; Consumer behavior; Decisions; Economic theory; Lotteries; Low income; Middle income; Morality; Political behavior; Referendums; Regression analysis; Social research; Socioeconomics; Studies; Tickets; Urbanization; Voter behavior; Voter turnout; Voters; Voting; Voting behavior
• ISSN: 0038-4038; 2325-8012
• DOI: 10.2307/1059053

County voting results on a 1986 state constitutional amendment to establish a state lottery in Kansas and data on sales of lottery tickets by county indicate that there are asymmetries in the political economy of a state lottery. The results suggest that moral values influence whether people vote in favor of or against a lottery but have less effect on whether or not people purchase lottery tickets. Voting and purchases are both affected by income, but that influence is apparently exerted through different mechanisms or channels. Both low- and high-income groups tended to vote in favor of the lottery, but both groups tended to purchase fewer lottery tickets. This is consistent with the view that low-income families want to play the lottery but often cannot afford to, while high-income families favor a lottery in anticipation of fiscal incidence effects rather than in anticipation of playing. The results also indicate that the voters reflected the market preferences of nonvoters.