The joy of lottery play: evidence from a field experiment
通过荷兰的实地实验发现，购买彩票在开奖前就能提升参与者的幸福感，而赢得小奖则无此效果，表明彩票本身具有消费价值。
Abstract Buying lottery tickets is not a rational investment from a financial point of view. Yet, the majority of people participate at least once a year in a lottery. We conducted a field experiment to increase understanding of lottery participation. Using representative data for the Netherlands, we find that lottery participation increased the happiness of participants before the draw. Winning a small prize had no effect on happiness. Our results indicate that people may not only care about the outcomes of the lottery, but also enjoy the game. Accordingly, we conclude that lottery participation has a utility value in itself and part of the utility of a lottery ticket is consumed before the draw.