Lottery expenditures in Canada: a regional analysis of determinants and incidence

This article examines two issues; first, it evaluates the statistical significance of a number of socio-economic and demographic variables on the level of household lottery expenditures in the six regions of Canada. While some household characteristics vary in the extent to which they significantly affect the level of lottery expenditures across regions (wealth, age, occupation, mother tongue and urban location, for example), others are significant in every region. Regional consistency exists in the statistical significance of after tax household income, sex and education of the head of household – lottery expenditures increase as incomes increase; lottery expenditures are significantly lower for female heads of households than for their male counterparts; lottery expenditures decline as the education level of the head of household increases. Second, lottery expenditures are found to be regressive, although the degree of regressivity is less than for lotteries in the United States.