Yeah but he specifically said these are folks with quantitative degrees... I would expect want to be quants applying at a hedge fund to have an understanding of statistics.
Yes, but there is a difference between expected payout and a person's willingness to play a game of chance. The expected payout of a lottery ticket is the same for every ticket before the drawing, but everyone has a different willingness to purchase tickets. The person is being asked about their willingness to take on risk and not their objective analysis of the payout.
Or high school students with a class in basic probability. All I was after was the expectation, just as a quick warmup. No fancy talking about utility functions and all that. And it really was meant to make people feel at ease.