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Whether you’re playing the lotto to win your dream home or just trying to make ends meet, winning a lottery jackpot is a big deal. The jackpots are enormous, and there’s a sense of destiny about them that can change your life in a single sweep.

In 2021 alone, Americans spent upward of $100 billion on lottery tickets. Lotteries are the most popular form of gambling in the country, and many states promote them as a way to raise revenue. But it’s not clear how much of a difference winning the lottery makes to state budgets. It’s certainly not enough to offset a reduction in tax rates or meaningfully bolster government expenditures. It’s also not clear if that money is worth the trade-off of people losing their own money.

So what is it about the lottery that entices so many people to spend such large sums? Part of it is the allure of becoming a millionaire. But there’s something else at play. Lotteries are a form of gambling that is regressive in the sense that it benefits richer people more than poorer ones. People who buy a lot of tickets are more likely to be white and affluent, and they’re also more likely to be middle-aged.

Lotteries aren’t as regressive as some other forms of gambling, such as casino gambling or sports betting, but they do still have that ugly underbelly. They’re a form of social engineering that gives some people the illusion that they’re doing something good for society when they’re really not. Lotteries rely on two messages primarily. One is that they’re a great source of state revenue, and the other is that even if you lose, you’ll feel like you did your civic duty to help the children. Both of those messages are coded to obscure the regressivity of the lottery and the extent to which people are willing to gamble away their own money for it.

Another thing that drives lotteries is their mega-sized jackpots, which attract a ton of free publicity on news websites and on the radio and TV. But that’s not a good reason to promote them, and it doesn’t address the fact that they rely on irrational gambling behavior.

If you want to increase your chances of winning the lottery, pick numbers that aren’t in a cluster or that end with the same digit. Also, avoid numbers that are significant dates such as birthdays or anniversaries, since those numbers are more likely to be chosen by other players. Harvard statistics professor Mark Glickman advises players to choose random numbers or Quick Picks instead. This will give you the best chance of winning without sacrificing your own chances by buying a bunch of tickets that you’ll never win. You might not be able to win the jackpot, but you can increase your odds of winning by forming a syndicate with friends and family members. This will reduce the amount you invest in each ticket, and it’s a more sociable way to buy lottery tickets.