The US States Where People are Spending the Most on Lottery Tickets in 2023

Nobody matched all six numbers in the Power Ball draw on Monday night and the jackpot grew to an astonishing $1.73 billion, enticing thousands of people to buy a ticket for the next draw. The Mega Millions prize is currently smaller, at $48 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 between January 2 and October 10 of this year were considered. This is what we found:

Raw Data

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 $1.255 billion and $968.7 million respectively. Before the win in Texas, Floridians won the last two Mega Millions 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 $55.77 per capita ticket spend, closely followed by New Hampshire where people spent $54.92 per capita, and Maryland with $51.50 spending per person.

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 $33.91, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Delaware come next in our ranking. Since the beginning of 2023, players from these states have spent $4.3 million and $44.9 million on Powerball and Mega Millions tickets, which amounts to a per capita spend of $44.18 for the Virgin Islands and $44.09 for Delaware.

Maryland is the only state to show a substantial preference for Mega Millions, with all other states seeing higher Powerball sales. So far this year, around $176.3 million has been spent on Mega Millions tickets in Maryland, while Powerball sales amount to just slightly more than $141 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 nearly three-fold difference in per capita sales is rather surprising. So, here’s who buys the least:

Arkansas and Oklahoma are the two states with the lowest ticket sales in both lottery games, averaging a total per capita spend of $19.48 in the Natural State and $19.75 in the Sooner State 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 Oklahoma, it has 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 $48.2 million and $14.2 million respectively. According to our calculations, this corresponds to per capita sales rates of $22.79 and $21.21. 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, Powerball holds the advantage over Mega Millions, with roughly $10 million more in ticket sales generated. This amounts to an average per capita spend of $22.35. Other states where Powerball sales are significantly higher than those of Mega Millions are South Dakota, Montana, Tennessee, and Nebraska.

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.