TikTok monthly active users worldwide

American lottery sales climbing as TikTok monthly users explode globally. Two products built around the dopamine of one more chance: the next pull, the next swipe. Both grew in the same six years for completely independent reasons.

US lottery sales grew from about 80 to over 110 billion dollars annually across this window as states expanded games and jackpots inflated. TikTok grew from a few hundred thousand MAUs in 2017 to over 1.5 billion by 2023, the fastest social platform expansion in history. Two completely unrelated lines sharing a window because the same six years scaled both a state-sponsored low-cost-hope category and an algorithmic-attention platform. Different products, similar reward loops.

Both products understand reward variability. The decade was kind to anyone selling a quick chance.