Nobody matched all six numbers in the Powerball draw on Saturday night and the jackpot grew to an astonishing $1.55 billion, enticing thousands of people to buy a ticket for the next draw. The Mega Millions prize is currently smaller, at $20 million, after a ticket sold in Texas hit the $360 million jackpot on Friday. Interest in this lottery game is strong, with ticket sales climbing by about $2.12 million between the September 26th and 29th drawings alone.
And while everyone dreams of pocketing a life-changing amount, it turns out that the residents of some states spend much more on lottery tickets than others, with the sales in some regions exceeding 3 times that of others. To reach this conclusion, our team at SuperCasinoSites looked at the 2023 ticket sales of the two major lottery games in the US, and calculated the per capita ticket spending for each state. Sales figures as of September 20 were considered. This is what we found:
States where People Spend the Most on Powerball and Mega Millions
The residents of California and Florida have spent the most money on Powerball and Mega Millions tickets since the beginning of 2023, at $1.06 billion and $706.1 million respectively. Floridians won the last two MM jackpots worth $1.602 billion and $39 million, while a player from California won the penultimate PB jackpot, worth $2.04 billion. Interestingly though, neither of the two states is at the top of the per capita spending ranking.
This year’s lottery ticket sales data shows that three other states stand out from the rest as they had a per capita lottery spend that was significantly higher than the the rest of the country. New Jersey had a $43 per capita ticket spend, closely followed by New Hampshire and Maryland, both with $42 per capita spends.
The most intriguing state is New Hampshire, where the latest jackpot winners date back to 2019 for Mega Millions, and 2018 for Powerball. This relatively long hiatus does not seem to have discouraged local players from trying their luck with the lottery though. We are willing to bet that the fact New Hampshire has no income or sales tax probably plays a role here.
With per capita ticket sales lower than NJ, NH, and MD, but still above the national average of $23.72, New York, Delaware, and Massachusetts come next in our ranking. Since the beginning of 2023, players from these states have spent $673.4 million, $34 million, and 231.5 million on Powerball and Mega Millions tickets, which amounts to a per capita spend of $34 in NY, and $33 DE and MA.
Maryland is the only state to show a substantial preference for one of the two major lottery games over the other. So far this year, around $162 million has been spent on Mega Millions tickets, while Powerball sales amount to just slightly more than $95 million.
States with the Lowest per Capita Powerball and Mega Millions Sales
We didn’t expect residents of all states to be equally active in buying lottery tickets, but we have to admit that the three-fold difference in per capita sales is rather surprising. So, here’s who buys the least:
Arkansas, Montana, and Oklahoma are the three states with the lowest ticket sales in both lottery games, each averaging a total spend of $13 per resident in 2023. The statistics are telling here, and the states’ low jackpot winning rates over the years appear to have demotivated local players. This is most true of Arkansas, which has only produced two jackpot winners in both lotteries history, the Powerball in 2010, and Mega Millions in 2017. As for Montana and Oklahoma, they each have four Powerball jackpot winners, but none in Mega Millions.
Since the beginning of 2023, New Mexico and the District of Columbia have sold Powerball and Mega Millions tickets worth $10.93 million and $34.24 million respectively. According to our calculations, this corresponds to both having per capita sales rates of $16. Despite the fact that neither state has had a single Mega Millions jackpot winner, and that DC has had only 11 Powerball Jackpot winners, and New Mexico only 5, there is no notable disparity in the number of tickets sold for the two lotteries.
The same is not true about Kansas, however. So far in 2023, the Powerball holds the advantage over Mega Millions, with over $3 million more in ticket sales generated. This amounts to an average per capita spend of $17.
Final Thoughts
Logically, California and Florida, two of America’s three most populated states, have the largest cumulative Powerball and Mega Millions ticket sales, thus injecting billions of dollars into local budgets to help fund areas like education, senior programs, and capital projects. On a per capita basis, however, New Jersey citizens spend the most.
Raw Data
State Powerball Draw Sales Mega Millions Draw Sales Total Loterry Sales Population Lottery Sales per Capita NJ $185,639,370 $213,490,688 $399,130,058 9,261,699.00 $43 NH $29,969,052 $28,516,784 $58,485,836 1,395,231.00 $42 MD $95,276,217 $162,099,920 $257,376,137 6,164,660.00 $42 NY $313,340,862 $360,110,230 $673,451,092 19,677,151.00 $34 DE $17,349,190 $16,639,958 $33,989,148 1,018,396.00 $33 MA $108,393,576 $123,130,622 $231,524,198 6,981,974.00 $33 FL $355,172,600 $350,969,062 $706,141,662 22,244,823.00 $32 RI $18,030,848 $14,506,774 $32,537,622 1,093,734.00 $30 MI $132,924,792 $162,395,636 $295,320,428 10,034,113.00 $29 PA $193,077,282 $186,157,358 $379,234,640 12,972,008.00 $29 CT $53,013,752 $50,004,242 $103,017,994 3,626,205.00 $28 VI $1,585,498 $1,186,732 $2,772,230 98,649.00 $28 AZ $99,612,398 $100,676,760 $200,289,158 7,359,197.00 $27 CA $474,347,062 $585,138,232 $1,059,485,294 39,029,342.00 $27 VA $104,554,888 $123,024,282 $227,579,170 8,683,619.00 $26 GA $129,894,918 $152,899,168 $282,794,086 10,912,876.00 $26 NC $151,839,416 $117,819,832 $269,659,248 10,698,973.00 $25 SC $67,234,356 $59,680,830 $126,915,186 5,282,634.00 $24 KY $61,882,666 $45,228,224 $107,110,890 4,512,310.00 $24 WV $22,979,280 $17,523,620 $40,502,900 1,775,156.00 $23 NE $25,448,340 $19,181,848 $44,630,188 1,967,923.00 $23 WI $68,800,500 $63,122,212 $131,922,712 5,892,539.00 $22 IL $127,234,686 $154,147,696 $281,382,382 12,582,032.00 $22 OH $117,145,682 $142,748,436 $259,894,118 11,756,058.00 $22 OR $51,209,148 $42,095,014 $93,304,162 4,240,137.00 $22 TX $300,084,924 $342,144,416 $642,229,340 30,029,572.00 $21 MO $68,710,664 $62,264,096 $130,974,760 6,177,957.00 $21 WY $6,095,870 $6,041,524 $12,137,394 581,381.00 $21 IA $36,735,608 $30,000,028 $66,735,636 3,200,517.00 $21 ME $15,002,558 $13,159,042 $28,161,600 1,385,340.00 $20 VT $6,574,659 $5,841,160 $12,415,819 647,064.00 $19 ND $7,660,130 $7,243,982 $14,904,112 779,261.00 $19 IN $70,667,666 $59,627,254 $130,294,920 6,833,037.00 $19 LA $47,538,448 $38,492,708 $86,031,156 4,590,241.00 $19 CO $56,297,922 $52,565,438 $108,863,360 5,839,926.00 $19 MN $57,055,908 $49,166,196 $106,222,104 5,717,184.00 $19 TN $69,080,430 $60,815,014 $129,895,444 7,051,339.00 $18 MS $27,393,608 $25,565,436 $52,959,044 2,940,057.00 $18 WA $63,227,340 $76,877,142 $140,104,482 7,785,786.00 $18 SD $8,782,604 $7,485,196 $16,267,800 909,824.00 $18 ID $16,687,968 $17,860,462 $34,548,430 1,939,033.00 $18 KS $26,955,196 $23,775,252 $50,730,448 2,937,150.00 $17 DC $5,513,826 $5,420,414 $10,934,240 671,803.00 $16 NM $16,981,436 $17,254,872 $34,236,308 2,113,344.00 $16 OK $28,008,536 $25,761,586 $53,770,122 4,019,800.00 $13 MT $6,934,500 $7,596,008 $14,530,508 1,122,867.00 $13 AR $19,871,792 $19,415,658 $39,287,450 3,045,637.00 $13
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