Criminals, by and large, must be risk-lovers--otherwise they'd be car-wash attendants instead of criminals. Lottery players, by and large, must be risk-lovers--otherwise they'd buy Treasury bonds instead of lottery tickets. You might be tempted to conclude that criminals and lottery players are often the same people. That's probably the wrong conclusion. After all, risk-lovers enjoy having all their eggs in one basket, which suggests they should pursue either crime or the lottery, but not both.
Still, if you want to understand what attracts people to crime, it pays to understand what attracts people to risky activities more generally, so it pays to understand what attracts people to the lottery.
