The Science of Scratch-Offs: What Your Brain Can’t Resist
Clip: Season 52 | 6m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
You probably won’t win big playing the Lottery but your brain may want to keep trying.
Scratch-off tickets are big money for state-run lotteries. Is it the promise of winning big that keeps players in the game? Or is there something else happening in the brain?
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The Science of Scratch-Offs: What Your Brain Can’t Resist
Clip: Season 52 | 6m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Scratch-off tickets are big money for state-run lotteries. Is it the promise of winning big that keeps players in the game? Or is there something else happening in the brain?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(intense music) - Buy one of these, scratch off the foil and boom!
You're a winner!
(ching) Or more likely a loser.
But either way, instant lottery tickets, scratchers, scratchies, whatever you call em, are big money for lotteries.
And behind it all is data, math, and neuroscience.
(intense music) One of the most successful state run lotteries in the country, the Massachusetts lottery, made more than four billion dollars in 2024 from scratch tickets.
That's a ton of money.
That's a ton of money!
But, Massachusetts uses the money for public services such as road improvements and even schools.
They bet on scratch tickets decades ago.
In fact, the first scratch offs were introduced in Massachusetts in 1974.
Back then, they were pretty successful.
Today, they're outright huge.
In 2024, scratch tickets made up almost two-thirds of all lottery sales.
Now, part of this idea to bet big on scratch tickets came from an economist/ Catholic priest.
(angelic singing) - I have the interesting denotion of being known as "The Sin Priest" because I did my doctoral dissertation on effective excise taxes and anti-smoking laws on the cigarette industry.
Then, I moved onto alcohol.
- [Alok] Richard McGowan was teaching a statistics course at Boston College in the early 90s when one of his students approached him.
- His father was a Massachusetts lottery commissioner and said, "My father would like to talk to you."
- [Alok] The lottery was looking for ways to further develop scratch ticket games.
So, McGowan took the meeting.
- He said, ya know, "How do you think we'd grow the instant games?"
I said, "Well, one thing you might be able to do is make sure people think it's a quote/unquote fair game."
- [Alok] McGowan and a group of students poured over ticket sales data from every state run lottery in the country and they thought the higher the payout for players, the more scratch off tickets people would buy.
But they had to figure out how to strike a balance between getting winners a good payout and making a profit for the lottery.
So, using statistical models, McGowan and his team created a system of recommendations for Massachusetts.
- The one dollar tickets, we made a payout of around 90%.
The two dollar tickets, I think we moved it up to 91 or 92%.
For the five dollar tickets, we made the payouts around 95.
- At the time, those payouts were higher than any state run lottery and they still are.
Massachusetts still has the highest payouts across the country, according to a 2024 analysis.
McGowan's team also determined that the state should make more winning lottery tickets.
They thought that the better the odds of winning, the more people would play.
And their strategy worked.
The Mass state lottery is still one of the most successful lotteries in the country.
But the lottery isn't only popular in Massachusetts.
Playing the lottery is one of the most popular forms of gambling across the United States.
(upbeat music) I remember being a kid and seeing those like numbers show up on the screen and being like, "Oh my gosh!
I could buy a piece of paper and win $15 million?"
It's like ingrained into us as Americans to play the lottery.
- Thanks for joining me.
Stay tuned for, "This is America Charlie Brown."
- So, is it only the promise of a fair game that keeps people playing?
Maybe it's the idea of beating the odds or the dream of winning big.
Or maybe there's something else that's happening in our brains that makes gambling so enticing.
Your brain is hardwired to seek out rewards through a pathway fittingly known as the reward system.
It links different brain regions involved with memory, motivation, pleasure, and movement.
Basically, your brain says, "That was good, do it again."
Scientists think this is part of why our species has been so successful because the reward system reinforces behavior that once helped us survive.
When you do something rewarding or something that keeps you alive, like eating, for example, neurons in your brain release powerful chemical messengers, such as dopamine which causes you to feel a wave of satisfaction and encourages you to repeat that behavior again and again and again and again.
But drugs, alcohol, and gambling can hijack this process.
Some researchers are finding that the anticipation of reward sets off the reward center in the brain, regardless of the potential outcome.
Win or lose, doesn't matter.
I'm gonna play anyway.
And with excessive stimulation of the reward system, the brain becomes less responsive to the effects of dopamine.
It builds up a kind of tolerance, so you need more of the stimulant to get the same effect and this sets off a vicious cycle.
Brain imaging studies have shown decreased activity in the decision making part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, in those with a gambling disorder.
The overall effect of the constant stimulation of the reward system is that the behavior becomes more like a reflex than a choice, but what causes addictions is complex.
Some researchers think that underlying factors, such as genetics or psychiatric conditions influences who will develop issues with gambling, but unlike with drug or alcohol addictions, for those who excessively gamble, the promise of winning big, maybe even getting financial freedom may seem like it's right around the corner.
(disc scratching) But, reality check, McGowan says those who play the lottery should always keep in mind, the odds of winning stay the same no matter what you do.
- [McGowan] Every time you flip a coin, the coin doesn't say, oh, I was heads this time and I wanna be tails the next time.
Every time we flip it, the odds are exactly the same.
The same thing when you buy a lottery ticket.
The odds of you winning are the same every time, thank you very much.
- If you like this video, check out the Scratch & Win podcast for the story of the unlikely rise of America's most successful lottery.
You can find Scratch & Win wherever you get podcasts or on the GBH News YouTube channel.
And if you or someone you know is struggling with gambling, help is out there.
Call the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.
That's 1-800-GAMBLER.
Or text 800-GAM.
Help is available 24/7 and it 100% confidential.
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