Developing a Profile of Lotto Players in Korea

Abstract

Given the potential impact lottery gambling has on individual lives, especially on low-income earners and adolescents, extensive studies have been conducted to develop a comprehensive profile of lottery participants in North America, Europe and to a lesser extent, East Asia.  However, studies on the characteristics of Korean lottery participants are missing in the literature even though in 2013, Korea’s Lotto lottery sales were around US$3.035 billion and ranked 22nd in terms of worldwide total lottery sales.  Using Lotto lottery sales and corresponding socio-demographic data, the current study developed a profile of lottery participants in Korea.   The findings indicate that the typical lottery consumer in Korea would be an individual whose income falls in the middle to below middle-income brackets and has at most a high school degree.  In addition, both widows and widowers are major participants in lottery gambling.  However, married, higher-income, and college-educated individuals are not active participants in the Lotto.  The above profile is similar to that of lottery players around the globe.  However, there are two differences between the profiles of Korean players and those from the rest of the world. First, males around the globe (except Thailand) are more active lottery participants than females.  However, in Korea, there does not appear to be a significant difference in participation rates by gender.  Second, people in their mid-20s to mid-60s have the highest participation rate around the globe.  Korean society, in contrast, has no one age group that dominates lottery sales.