Jackpot statistics, a physicist's approach

Abstract

At a first glance lottery is a form of gambling, a game in which the chances of winning is extremely small. But upon a deeper look, considering that the Jackpot prize of lotteries is a result of the active participation of millions of players, we come to the conclusion that the interaction of the simple rules with the high number of players creates an emergent complex system. Such a system is characterized by its time-series that presents some interesting properties. Given the inherent stochastic nature of this game, it can be described within a mean-field type approach, such as the one implemented in the Local Growth and Global Reset (LGGR) model. We argue that the Jackpot time-series behaves ergodic for six lotteries with diverse formats and player pools. Specifying this consideration in the framework of the LGGR model, we model the lotteries with growth rates confirmed by the time-series. The reset rate is deduced mathematically and confirmed by data. Given these parameters we calculate the probability density of the Jackpot prizes, that fits well the experimentally observed ones. We propose to use a single w parameter, as the product of the player pools found under the jurisdiction of the lottery and the chance that a single lottery ticket wins.