The Lottery Spending Habits of Americans

What are the odds of winning the lottery?

The odds of winning the lottery on a single ticket are 1 in 175 million. A person is more likely to get struck by lightning in their lifetime, get injured by a toilet this year, or get killed by a shark, comet or asteroid. While the odds of winning the lottery are slim to none, many Americans buy lottery tickets in hopes of winning big.

How much do Americans spend on lottery tickets?

• Americans spent $70.15 billion on lottery tickets last year.

• Americans spent more on lottery tickets than movies, music, books, video games, and sporting events combined.

Lottery Ticket and Leisure & Entertainment Spending Compared

• $70.15 billion on lottery tickets• $17.8 billion on sports tickets• $14.6 billion on books• $13.1 billion on video games• $10.7 billion on movie box office• $6.8 billion on music

A Breakdown of Lottery Spending Habits by State

• Lottery games bring in more money per person in the northeast and mid-Atlantic.

• Rhode Island is the highest at $800 per capita, per year.

• North Dakota is the lowest at $36 per capita, per year.

Top 5 Highest Spenders

1. Rhode Island2. South Dakota3. Massachusetts4. West Virginia5. Delaware

Top 5 Lowest Spenders

1. North Dakota2. Oklahoma3. Montana4. New Mexico5. Nebraska

See Spending in Real Time

In one hour, Americans spent over $2 million on lottery tickets. For a real-time view of consumer spending on lottery tickets, visit our U.S. Consumption in Real-Time Graph here.

Sources:

• http://www.couponbox.com/real-time-consumption/• http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/11/news/companies/lottery-spendin

g/• http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/lotteries-ame

ricas-70-billion-shame/392870/• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronald-l-wasserstein/chances-of-win

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