Powerball Nation: Here's how much Americans spend on the lottery

With a $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot in the balance, it seems like half the nation is playing the lottery. 

And, as it turns out, that is more or less true. 

The average American spends $320 a year on lottery tickets, according to a Sept. 2 analysis from the personal finance site LendingTree.  

Massachusetts residents spend the most, a whopping $915 per person. North Dakotans spend the least: a measly $50. The data comes from 2023, the most recent figures available, and covers 45 states with lotteries.  

Americans spent $103 billion on lottery tickets in 2023 for a payout of $69 billion.  

Powerball is not for everyone. Roughly half of U.S. adults buy at least one lottery ticket a year, according to another recent report from The Motley Fool. Most ticket buyers play rarely, only when jackpots get big.  

Here are your odds of winning Powerball

Here are a few lottery statistics – some heartening, others sobering – gleaned from the two reports: 

• The odds of winning the big Powerball jackpot: 1 in 292 million.  
• The largest jackpot in history: $2.04 billion, from a Powerball drawing in November 2022. The winner, Edwin Castro of California, opted for a lump sum: $998 million after taxes. Ouch.  (Here's a visual breakdown of how much winners actually keep.)
• On the whole, the lottery is a losing proposition for players. Every state pays out less in winnings than it collects in sales. In Massachusetts, for example, lottery losses per capita total $232. 

“It is essentially a tax on people who don’t understand statistics and probability,” said David Meier, senior investment analyst at Motley Fool.  

In another recent report, Motley Fool notes that the overall odds of winning a prize in Powerball are about 1 in 25. The prize with the best odds is $4.  

“In other words, one would need to spend about $50 in lottery tickets,” at $2 apiece, “just to hope to win something,” the report says. “And chances are you would only win $4.” 

Five states have no lottery: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Utah and Nevada – home of America’s gambling capital.  

Lotteries seem particularly popular in the Northeast. Of the 10 states with the most per-capita lottery spending, four sit in that region. 

“It’s pretty clear that the Northeastern United States is the lottery-spending capital of the country,” said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree. “In places like Boston and New York, maybe it’s about being in an urban environment and access to convenience stores.” 

The state's gain is the lottery player's loss

State governments use lotteries to raise money, which they use to fund education and infrastructure. Nationwide, lottery funds make up about 1% of general-fund revenue in participating states. In Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia, however, the lottery accounts for fully 3% of that revenue.  

States often tout lotteries as a way for consumers to support public schools. We should note, however, that states would have to support public schools anyway. 

The state’s gain is the lottery player’s loss, as Investopedia notes in a lottery primer. Nationwide, lotteries pay out barely two-thirds of ticket revenues in prize money.  

Nonetheless, powerful human psychology drives lottery play. Buy a Powerball ticket, and you can spend the whole week dreaming about what you’d do with the money if you won. 

(Castro, the $2 billion Powerball winner, bought a mansion in the Hollywood Hills and a vintage Porsche.)  

“Quite frankly, it’s fun,” Meier said. “I mean, there is something to be said for having a chance at immediate, amazing, life-changing wealth.” 

But research has found that lotteries pose a financial burden on low-income Americans, who tend to spend more of their income on tickets.  

“I generally see it as something that’s fun, as long as it’s not your financial plan and you don’t spend too much money on it, too often,” Schulz said. “If you are on a very tight budget and you are spending $100 a week on lottery tickets, that is significant stuff.” 

Here are the 10 top-spending lottery states

Here, from LendingTree, is a breakdown of the 10 top-spending lottery states. 

• Massachusetts: Per-capita lottery spending is $915, and 69% is returned as payouts. 
• Rhode Island: Per-capita lottery spending is $573; 32% is returned as payouts. 
• Virginia: Per-capita lottery spending is $532; 74% is returned as payouts. 
• Georgia: Per-capita lottery spending is $520; 67% is returned as payouts. 
• New York: Per-capita lottery spending is $481; 52% is returned as payouts. 
• Connecticut: Per-capita lottery spending is $469; 66% is returned as payouts. 
• Michigan: Per-capita lottery spending is $468; 65% is returned as payouts. 
• West Virginia: Per-capita lottery spending is $441; 21% is returned as payouts. 
• South Carolina: Per-capita lottery spending is $437; 67% is returned as payouts. 
• Maryland: Per-capita lottery spending is $432; 64% is returned as payouts.