Media exposure and individual choices: Evidence from lottery players

To what extent individual choices are influenced by media exposure? We try to provide evidence on this aspect considering how the sales of lotto tickets are determined by the size of the top prize (the jackpot) compared to the amount of attention that media devote to the game. We use data on the Italian SuperEnalotto (2003-2010) and estimate ticket sales in relation to the jackpot size and to several measures of lotto media coverage. To take into account that media attention may be affected by the amount of tickets sold we instrument media coverage with the availability of other newsworthy materials (sport events and disasters). It emerges that media attention to the game is inversely related to the availability of other news. Two-Stage-Least Squares Estimations show that, given the jackpot size, players are affected by media exposure as they spend more on lotto when media attention to the game is higher.