"The last survey found a 7 percent decrease in lottery play from 2006, with 38 percent of respondents indicating they had played a Texas Lottery game in 2007," said Jim Granato, director of the CPP.
The new study, as with the previous one, will survey cell phone and landline users to be more inclusive and reflective of the general population. Respondents will be asked about their playing habits such as the types of games played and the amount of money spent weekly and monthly on games, in addition to demographic and income information.
The Texas Lottery is required by law to review the demographics of its consumers every year. Other findings from last year's survey include:
- more full-time employees played Texas Lottery games, but those who were unemployed spent more when they played
- those earning between $12,000 and $19, 9999 a year spent more per month on Texas Lottery games than those who earned more than $100,000 a year
- McAllen, Irving and Austin had the highest participation rates, while Lubbock and El Paso had the lowest. The new study also will employ data visualization tools to present the results in an interactive graphic format. Results will be released by the end of the year and will be available online.
For more information on the UH Center for Public Policy, visit www.uh.edu/cpp/.
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