Decision theory states that people are willing to risk a small amount to win a large amount even if the expected outcome is negative. It’s because people are risk seeking.
So if you can risk 10 XCP with the chance of winning 10,000 XCP with a probability of 0.099%, you’d likely go for the bet. Mathematically, you expect to lose 0.10 XCP Still it’s a perfectly rational choice because of your preferences.
Lotteries are popular all around the world, and often they are state monopolies with very bad payout. Even if you expect to lose half your bet, you* still play.
* You as in the wast amount of people who do participate in lotteries.
An XCP lottery would be the first ever that
- is 100% transparent
- is anonymous (or pseudonymous)
- does not require registation
- can have an (almost) 100% payout
- can even have a more than 100% payout in fiat terms, as more players will mean higher XCP price
I’m in favor of some very general new functionalities that enable lotteries among other things