Estimates from The Week suggest that nearly 40% of all internet users participate in online gambling.īetting and gambling offer a ‘thrill’ appeal – high reward at high risk. With nearly 560 million internet users in India, young people are driving its gaming market, estimated to be worth $1 billion. This is not just relevant for why people play similar lotteries it could also explain enthusiastic responses to recent policy interventions like the vaccine lottery in the US. For example, gamblers will often take a 1% chance of winning a million dollars. The St Petersburg paradox, described by decision-theorist Nicholas Bernoulli, suggests that individuals often overweight small probabilities of winning if the expected payout is big. This article is being posted here courtesy of The Wire, where it was originally published on June 17.
