Financial literacy and its relation to lottery gambling consumption

This study uses restricted-version data from the 2018 state-by-state survey of the National Financial Capability Study to investigate the relationship between financial literacy and lottery consumption frequency. To control for the potential endogeneity of financial literacy, I employ the ordered probit model with an endogenous regressor by instrumenting the average education level of a zip-code area for financial literacy. The results indicate that an increase in financial literacy significantly reduces the lottery consumption of those who play with moderate frequency, while no marked curbing effects are found for heavy lottery players. This suggests that different policies are needed to reduce lottery consumption for those who engage with moderate frequency and those who engage with high frequency.