These States Love Playing the Lottery the Most
Winning a lottery jackpot is unlikely, but the possibility continues to fire the imagination of people across the United States.
Powerball jackpot odds are 1 in 292 million, making a winning ticket extraordinarily unlikely. Still, stories of life-changing prizes keep the dream alive: for some, the lottery represents a shot at greater comfort, freedom from financial worries and a more luxurious lifestyle.
Lottery sales have climbed as enormous jackpots make headlines. U.S. sales reached $113.3 billion in 2024, nearly double what Americans spent in 2010.
Lottery enthusiasm differs widely from state to state. Access to local games, income and cultural attitudes can all shape participation. To find where interest was strongest, we compared search activity and spending intensity across all 50 states.
Key findings
- U.S. lottery sales set a record at $113.3 billion in 2024, the highest total reported
- Georgia ranks #1 among U.S. states for lottery interest, backed by the nation’s highest search intensity and the fourth-highest lottery spending per adult, at $629.90. The state’s message that “all net proceeds fund education” frames ticket purchases as support for a public cause.
- Massachusetts has the highest spending intensity, at $1,059 per adult, almost twice the national average
- Tennessee and South Dakota have the lowest spending, at $34–$35 per adult
- The annual average American lottery spend is $384 per adult
- Lottery search activity doubles during Christmas week, rising from 15M to 32M searches over the 2024 Christmas season.
- National search interest spikes most sharply when jackpots exceed $1 billion
U.S. States with the Highest Lottery Engagement
The ranking uses two indicators to measure lottery interest in the United States. Search volume provides a measure of curiosity and intent, while spending intensity per adult shows how much residents spend on tickets. Together, these measures identify states where lottery interest and ticket spending stand out.
America’s 5 States Most Obsessed with the Lottery
#1 Georgia: education funding and the nation’s lottery capital
Georgia leads the country in lottery interest. Residents generate the highest search activity, averaging 0.48 monthly searches per adult. Their ticket spending is also close to twice the national average, placing Georgia first for overall lottery engagement in the United States.
Revenue from the Georgia Lottery supports the HOPE Scholarship and Pre-K programs, a connection promoted across the state. This public message can make buying a ticket feel like supporting education. Linking play to a community benefit may also make lottery spending seem more accepted and routine.
#2 Michigan: an early move to digital lottery play
Michigan was an early U.S. adopter of online lottery platforms, building a player base accustomed to buying tickets digitally. That history helps explain the state’s high search and spending figures. Residents spend $556 per adult, well above the national average of $384.
#3 Massachusetts: scratch-off leader with the highest adult spending
Massachusetts tops the country for annual lottery spending, at $1,059 per adult, as residents try their luck. Scratch-off tickets are a particularly strong part of the market, with per-capita sales twice those in other states. Frequent purchases help explain the high spending figure. The state also reports a high return to players: 73.4% of revenue was returned in 2024, a figure that may boost player confidence.
#4 Delaware: substantial lottery spending in a small state
Delaware has fewer than 1 million adults, yet lottery spending per adult is above average at ($493). That combination points to notable participation in a small population. Early adoption of online lottery play has also helped make lottery games familiar across generations.
#5 Connecticut: high household incomes and lottery interest
Connecticut has one of the highest median household incomes in the U.S., and combines strong search interest with spending of $549 per adult. Those figures place the state fifth in the lottery engagement ranking.
What Search Data Reveals About Lottery Fever
Ticket sales show how much people spend, while search trends help reveal when and why lottery interest grows. The patterns suggest that several familiar events regularly prompt people to seek out lottery information.
Record Jackpots Bring Fresh Attention
Few things spark lottery searches like a record-breaking jackpot. When a prize reaches historic heights, public interest tends to rise with it.
On November 7, 2022, Edwin Castro won the biggest lottery jackpot to date, worth $2.04 billion. As the draw approached, search interest more than doubled from the level a month earlier: 32 million monthly searches compared with a peak of 70.2 million.
On September 6, 2025, Powerball produced the biggest jackpot to date, $1.8 billion, shared by two winners. Search interest more than doubled again before the draw, rising from a 15 million baseline the previous month to a peak of 37 million.
The draw for the third-largest jackpot in U.S. history took place on October 12, 2023. One winning ticket claimed $1.765 billion. Before the result, searches rose from 30 million to 43.68 million.
These examples show search interest climbing as U.S. jackpots pass the $1B mark. Huge prizes are not the only driver, though: holiday traditions also bring more attention to lottery games.
Christmas Week Doubles Lottery Searches
Unlike jackpot-driven spikes, which can occur at any time, lottery searches follow a seasonal pattern. Activity generally falls off in late winter and spring, then rises again as Christmas approaches.
For many Americans, lottery tickets have become part of holiday traditions centred on nostalgia and family. During Christmas week in 2024, related searches reached 32 million, up from 15 million the month before. That 2.1-fold increase was the year’s biggest seasonal jump.
Holiday scratch-off campaigns, year-end rollovers and the tradition of giving tickets as gifts are among the factors that may drive this seasonal rise.
Methodology
We assessed lottery engagement across U.S. states by comparing search interest with ticket spending per adult. The index covers only states with complete data available: 35 states publish 2024 lottery sales, while three states have no lottery.
Data sources
- Adult population figures came from the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Google Search Volume represents monthly lottery-related searches.
- Ticket sales figures came from the latest publicly available 2024 sales data in individual state lottery reports
Metrics calculated
- Search intensity = state search volume divided by its adult population
- Spending intensity = state ticket sales divided by its adult population
How the data was normalized into an index
We converted both measures to z-scores to show how each state compared with the state average. A positive score indicates above-average interest or spending; a negative score means the result is below average. We combined the two scores to create the final engagement index and ranking. See the full dataset for all results.
.
Evan Carrington brings more than 12 years of experience in the iGaming industry, with a focus on reviewing online casinos, assessing slot games and examining player safety. Their work covers casino licensing, RTP, volatility, bonus terms and withdrawal policies. Drawing on practical testing and independent research, Evan provides clear, evidence-based reviews to help players understand gambling platforms, their features and possible risks.
