ABSTRACT
Tables 2 and 3 present descriptive statistics for the sample. Just over half the sample is male (55.4 percent) and married (51.4 percent). The average age is 29.6 years. The education level is low, with almost three quarters (72.5 percent) educated to only junior high school or below. The participation rate in the illegal lottery was 18.6 percent. This was significantly higher than the participation rate in official lotteries (6.9 percent). Among 730 participants in the illegal lottery, approximately 70 percent had won at least once in the lottery. The normal amount of a bet ranged from 1 to 2000 RMB, reflecting the flexible bet requirement. The average normal amount of a bet was 46 RMB, while the total amount wagered by any one individual ranged from 1 to 180,000 RMB. The average “normal bet” consumed about 4 percent of mean monthly income, which was around 1100 RMB. If the individual played all 12-13 games in a month, nearly half of their mean monthly income would be spent on the illegal lottery.
