99% Invisible

For a Dollar and a Dream

Apr 11, 2023

39:07

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Highlights

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Episode notes

New York in 1985: The Lottery that Changed the Game

01:22

The Lottery Craze: Americans Spend Over $100 Billion on Tickets

00:48

The Psychology of State Lotteries

01:11

Introduction

2min

The Future of the Lottery

2min

The Association of Board Games and the Lottery

4min

The History of the New Hampshire Lottery

4min

The Psychology of State Lotteries

2min

The Importance of Legalizing Gambling

2min

The Cognitive Dissonance of Lotteries

3min

The Different Types of Lottery Games

3min

The Problem With Lottery Balls

2min

10.

The History of the Lottery

2min

11.

The Evolution of Lottery Odds

2min

12.

Random Number Picking Changed the Lottery Game

2min

13.

The Different Odds of a Mega Millions Jackpot

3min

14.

The Future of the Lottery

3min

15.

The Future of Lotteries in the US

3min

16.

The Negative Effects of Lottery Games on Younger Players

5min

From scratchers to the Powerball, the lottery is the most popular form of gambling in the United States, even though the odds of winning a big jackpot is infinitesimally small. Jonathan D. Cohen is a historian and the author of the book For a Dollar and a Dream; State Lotteries in Modern America and he says it isn’t just the people playing the lottery who irrationally think the game will solve their financial woes, the states running the lotteries suffer from the same delusion.

For a Dollar and a Dream

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