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is it luckier to buy tickets on the rich side of town?

yes

[ 4 ]

[ 26.7% ]

[ 8 ]

[ 53.3% ]

maybe

[ 3 ]

[ 20.0% ]

Total valid votes

[ 15 ]

Discarded votes

[ 1 ]

Think

Marquette, MI
United States
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August 20, 2005
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Jun 4, 2026, 8:39 am

It depends
Stat$talker

700 light yrs West of Milky Way Galaxy's Center
United States
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September 1, 2019
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Jun 4, 2026, 11:17 am

Quote: Originally posted by tokecap on Jun 3, 2026
A very logical reason why someone might perceive that rich neighborhoods win more, alongside some fascinating psychological habits that people substitute for "luck."

The Neighborhood Myth: Volume vs. "Vibe"

The lottery terminal in a high-end grocery store uses the exact same random number generator (RNG) as the one in a small corner store across town. Every single combination has the exact same mathematical probability of being drawn, no matter where the piece of thermal paper was printed.

So, why do some areas seem to produce more winning tickets? It usually comes down to two factors:

Higher Sales Volume: If a specific store or neighborhood sells 10,000 tickets a week, and another sells only 1,000, the high-volume location is statistically ten times more likely to sell a winning ticket. It is not luckier; it just has more chances in play.

Confirmation Bias: We tend to notice and remember the massive jackpot winners from prominent areas, while the thousands of losing tickets bought in those same neighborhoods go completely unnoticed.

"We tend to notice and remember the massive jackpot winners from prominent areas, while the thousands of losing tickets bought in those same neighborhoods go completely unnoticed."

Well, Statistically speaking,..most of the winning jackpotz oughtta come from the areaz buyin the most QP ticketz ...since statistically QPz makeup the majority of winning ticketz...

Most well to do 🍷Caviar folkz don't play the lottery, 1 bcuz they have NO NEED TO.. It'z mostly poor people that religiously play it..

I vividly remember the Truck driver in Dalton winning a MM jackpot, and he said he neeavah playz the lottery, plus Truck driverz make real good money... So whut'z the underlying factor? Systemic denial of access to Money. !!

The Terminalz in outlying areaz tend to give out betta moe likely numbaz...

And if you don't believe redlining Poke n Beanz sidez of town izza real practice ...Google the story of Fulton County Tax Commissioner Michael Lomax, how a well paid Politician got turned down for a home loan...simply becauze ,he lived in the Bank'z redlined "No Loan Zone"...

And you're naive if you believe LOz don't do the same type of discrimination ...

Thoze Thousandz of ticketz allegedly sold, going unoticed.. simply DON'T HAPPEN ...

Keeping it Reeal

-Stat$talker
Brock Lee

us
Member #231,828
May 4, 2023
1,640 Posts
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Jun 4, 2026, 12:43 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Stat$talker on Jun 4, 2026
"We tend to notice and remember the massive jackpot winners from prominent areas, while the thousands of losing tickets bought in those same neighborhoods go completely unnoticed."

Well, Statistically speaking,..most of the winning jackpotz oughtta come from the areaz buyin the most QP ticketz ...since statistically QPz makeup the majority of winning ticketz...

Most well to do 🍷Caviar folkz don't play the lottery, 1 bcuz they have NO NEED TO.. It'z mostly poor people that religiously play it..

I vividly remember the Truck driver in Dalton winning a MM jackpot, and he said he neeavah playz the lottery, plus Truck driverz make real good money... So whut'z the underlying factor? Systemic denial of access to Money. !!

The Terminalz in outlying areaz tend to give out betta moe likely numbaz...

And if you don't believe redlining Poke n Beanz sidez of town izza real practice ...Google the story of Fulton County Tax Commissioner Michael Lomax, how a well paid Politician got turned down for a home loan...simply becauze ,he lived in the Bank'z redlined "No Loan Zone"...

And you're naive if you believe LOz don't do the same type of discrimination ...

Thoze Thousandz of ticketz allegedly sold, going unoticed.. simply DON'T HAPPEN ...

Keeping it Reeal

-Stat$talker

if you've been in possession of this secret knowledge for a long time, why haven't you changed your habits?

"don't believe everything you read on the internet." -- abraham lincoln

"abraham lincoln is a liar." -- william shakespeare
sully16

25

Ringleader

Michigan
United States
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October 28, 2009
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Jun 4, 2026, 1:27 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Brock Lee on Jun 3, 2026
somebody said they win more when the buy lottery tickets in an upscale neighborhood rather than their own. do richer neighborhoods have a luckier vibe? if you think "no," do you think some other habits are luckier than others?

No, I don't see the very wealthy running out for pick 3 or even scratch offs.
GiveFive

Florida's West Coast
United States
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June 10, 2010
7,151 Posts
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Jun 4, 2026, 2:26 pm

I couldn't care less where I buy a ticket.

While I lived in New York State and visited NYC for the day, I did make it a point to buy a ticket while in the city. That was because of the number of winners that the New York Lottery reported on their website we're sold in the 5 Burroughs.

Brooklyn had most of the winners but then if Brooklyn was it's own city it'd be the 6th largest city in The USA.

Erie County produced a lot of winners too. Buffalo is in Erie County. The county I lived in didn't produce many big winners. Occasionally it did but that was not very often. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!
GiveFive

Florida's West Coast
United States
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June 10, 2010
7,151 Posts
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Jun 4, 2026, 2:32 pm

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Jun 4, 2026
No, I don't see the very wealthy running out for pick 3 or even scratch offs.

In addition you won't find many medical professionals or legal people buying lottery tickets. They understand all too well buying a lottery ticket is a sucker bet. They won't waste their time and money. But then their financial posture is such they don't really need to either. Any doctor or lawyer with a lucrative practice isn't into the lottery. G5

Play Smart! That's IF there is such a thing as playing smartly!!
tokecap

Sao Paulo
United States
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June 10, 2014
11,673 Posts
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Jun 4, 2026, 2:56 pm

This is a classic question in sociology and applied economics, and the answer is well-documented by demographic studies and market research in the United States (such as data from the Brookings Institution, the Tax Foundation, and various state lotteries).

The direct answer is: people from all social classes play, but the financial impact, frequency, and motivation are profoundly different between the poorest and the wealthiest.

Here is the breakdown of how lottery consumption works in the US, categorized by profile:

1. The Consumption Base: The Poorest and the Lower-Middle Class

While it is a myth that only poor people play, it is a statistical fact that the poorest spend a significantly higher percentage of their income on lotteries than any other class.

The "Regressive Tax": Economists frequently call the lottery a "tax on the poor" or a "tax on hope." Those earning less than $30,000 a year spend, proportionally, much more on tickets than those earning above $100,000. Preferred Game Types: This demographic heavily consumes scratch-offs and smaller daily drawing games (like Pick 3 and Pick 4). These games offer instant gratification or slightly higher odds for smaller prizes, serving as an attempt at immediate financial relief. The Motivation: For those at the bottom of the financial pyramid, the lottery is often not seen as entertainment, but as the only realistic and available escape route to drastically change their lives. 2. The Middle Class and the Huge Jackpots (Powerball and Mega Millions)

The American middle class is the engine that drives accumulated jackpots into the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.

Behavior: The middle class tends to ignore the lottery when the jackpot is at its starting amount. However, when Powerball or Mega Millions rolls over and crosses the $400 million or $500 million mark, behavior shifts. The Motivation: Playing becomes a cultural phenomenon. People play for the entertainment value, to join the conversation at work ("What would you do if you won?"), or for the "cost of the fantasy" of spending a weekend dreaming about an unimaginable fortune for just $2 a ticket.
tokecap

Sao Paulo
United States
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June 10, 2014
11,673 Posts
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Jun 4, 2026, 2:58 pm

Doctors, Lawyers, and the Wealthy: Do They Buy Tickets?

Yes, they do, but in a completely different way. It is false to say that wealthy individuals or high-income professionals (like doctors and lawyers) never buy tickets, but their dynamic is distinct:

Frequency and Volume: Chronic, daily, or weekly purchases are almost nonexistent in this income bracket. A doctor or lawyer rarely stops at a gas station to buy $5 scratch-offs every day. The FOMO Effect (Fear of Missing Out): When a Powerball jackpot reaches $1 billion or $1.5 billion, the wealthy enter the game. During these times, office lottery pools are formed in law firms, medical clinics, and Wall Street companies. They buy in not out of financial need, but for the fun of the extreme probability and the social fear of being the only person in the office left behind if the group wins. Opportunity Cost: For investors or high-income professionals, lottery mathematics (where the expected return is mathematically negative) conflicts with standard financial logic. They prefer to allocate capital into assets, stocks, or real estate, where risk and return can be managed.
Coin Toss

Zeta Reticuli Star System
United States
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January 17, 2006
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Jun 4, 2026, 5:40 pm

Don't the poorest parts of towns sell the most tickets? I remember reading that poor people see lotteries as the only hope.

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