Whether they are designed to incorporate the media or popular television games, or are simply white slips with lines of numbers, Americans are not hesitating to get their hands on lottery tickets.

According to a Sept. 5 Illinois Lottery press release for the fiscal year 2008, from July 1 to June 30, lottery tickets brought in sales of $2.07 billion; the highest sales in one year in the Lottery’s 34-year history.

Jodie Winnett, acting superintendent for the Illinois Lottery, attributes the lotto’s success to being “recession resistant.”

“People play the lottery because it is a form of escapism, it’s entertaining and a diversion from economic hardships,” Winnett said. “It’s a simple way people can entertain themselves that is cheaper than the cost of a movie or dinner.”

Some Americans are also opting for buying lottery tickets with hopes of lucking into instant gratification.

“A lot of people are turning to the lottery to try to win a substantial amount of money quickly and out of luck,” said junior meteorology major Brittney Inman. “I think people are just desperate and hope to win at least a little something.”

Senior criminology major Tony Hantaksaid he believes people playing the lottery are buying into a kind of “false hope” the lottery exudes.

“People are spending money they really don’t have just to play the lottery,” Hantak said. “But people still think they could be that lucky winner, regardless of the very bad odds.”

Winnett also attributes the high sale of lottery tickets to mega-million jackpots and players’ routines.

People get excited when the media hypes up the mega-million-dollar jackpots. The appeal of such a large sum of money makes people want to spend that extra dollar in hopes that they will be the lucky winner, she said.

“As for routine, we have regular players that make buying a lottery ticket a part of their week and a form of entertainment,” Winnett said. “They spend a dollar on a lottery ticket every week because they figure a single dollar won’t help that much toward anything else, so they cut costs elsewhere instead.”

The best part of someone’s day could be buying that instant lotto ticket and scratching it, hoping to win that cash reward, Inman said.

And with a profit this year of over $1 billion for instant lottery tickets, people are doing just that: snatching a ticket at gas pumps and hoping to win back their dollar and much more.

“Casino players allot money into pressing their luck at the slots,” Winnett said. “But all other Americans are attracted to the lottery solely by the thought of a single dollar to a dream.”