NJ Spends More on Lottery Tickets than Any Other State

I play the lottery every week. I actually play it through an app called Jackpocket, so I don’t need to leave my house to buy tickets. I have a formula set up for each week and for which lotteries I want to participate in.

The biggest Powerball winner ever was last year— someone in California won an insane $2.04 billion. And It seems California is a lucky place because, back in 2016, there was a $1.586 billion win shared by three people.

Mega Millions had a massive $1.537 billion prize in 2018.

Like me, NJ folks love the lottery, and since tickets only cost $2 (or $3 with extra chances), it seems like a very small price to pay for a chance at changing your life forever.

Even though winning big is super rare, Americans spent about $108 billion on these lotteries in 2022.

Why? Well, like an old saying goes, "Hey, you never know."

The excitement of maybe, just maybe, hitting it big keeps people hooked on the idea of winning a life-changing amount of money.

I’ve often wondered which state spends the most on the lottery, and of all 50 states, believe it or not, according to an article on today.you.gov, it’s us! Here in New Jersey, we are lottery fanatics.

Using data from supercasinosites.com, The site compiled data on ticket sales for both lottery games from Jan. 2 through Oct. 10 of this year, then calculated per capita spending for each state. States are ranked from the lowest to highest amount spent on both (Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah are missing from this list because they do not participate in either multi-state game).

Here are the Garden State’s stats:

The New Jersey population is 9,261,699, and Powerball ticket sales between Jan. 2-Oct. 9, 2023 were $277,142,839. Mega Millions ticket sales throughout almost exactly the same period (Jan. 3-Oct. 10, 2023) were $239,335,887. Combined ticket sales through Oct. 10, 2023 were $516,478,726. Another interesting statistic is that combined spending on tickets per person through Oct. 10, 2023 were $55.77.

By comparison, in Arkansas, a state with a population of 3,045,637 and where lottery sales were the lowest, the combined sales were only $59,342,487; and per person spending was only $19.48!

To discover what every state spends on lottery tickets, both individually and collectively, check out this list: “The US States Where People are Spending the Most on Lottery Tickets in 2023”.