These states love playing the lottery the most
These states love playing the lottery the most Winning the lottery is a long shot, yet it remains an irresistible fantasy Americans keep coming back to. Picking the winning numbers is nearly impossible with the odds of winning the jackpot at 1 in 292 million for the Powerball. Still, the potential to escape financial burdens, reinforced by national news stories of life-changing winnings, shares a promise of luxury, freedom, and worry-free living that’s hard to resist. So it’s no surprise that the lottery is growing in popularity each year. As jackpots reached new billion-dollar records, U.S. lottery sales climbed to $113.3 billion in 2024, nearly double what Americans spent in 2010. But not every state shares the same level of obsession with the dream of winning. Factors such as income levels, cultural attitudes, and access to lottery games shape lottery popularity across U.S. states. To uncover where lottery fever burns the hottest, we ranked U.S. states by analyzing search demand and spending intensity across all 50 states.
Key findings
- U.S. lottery sales reached $113.3 billion in 2024, the highest ever recorded
- Georgia ranks #1 as the most lottery-obsessed state in the U.S., with the highest search intensity nationwide and fourth-highest lottery spending per adult at $629.90. The state’s promotion of “all net proceeds fund education” turns ticket buying into a socially endorsed habit
- Massachusetts has the highest spending intensity at $1,059 per adult, nearly double the national average
- Tennessee and South Dakota spend the least, at just $34–$35 per adult
- The average American spends $384 per adult on the lottery annually
- Lottery searches double during Christmas week, rising from 15M to 32M searches in the 2024 Christmas season.
- Jackpots exceeding $1 billion trigger the biggest spikes in national search interest
U.S. states with the highest lottery engagement
The rankings rely on two leading indicators of American interest in the lottery. The search volume is a clear indicator of cultural curiosity and intent, while the spending intensity per adult in each state shows how much adult residents truly invest in tickets. Together, these elements reveal not just where people buy the most lottery tickets, but where the fascination with winning big truly runs the deepest.
America’s top 5 states most obsessed with lottery
#1 Georgia: the nation’s lottery capital powered by education
Georgia takes the number one spot among the states most interested in the lottery. Georgians have the highest search interest in the lottery, with an average of 0.48 monthly searches per adult. They also spend nearly twice the national average on tickets, making Georgians the most lottery-engaged population in the U.S.
Georgia Lottery directly funds the HOPE Scholarship and Pre-K programs, supporting students, and the message is widely promoted across the state. So when Georgians buy a lottery ticket, they know their money goes towards education. This messaging makes buying tickets feel like participating in public education funding. It normalizes — even legitimizes — lottery spending.
#2 Michigan: early adopter of digital lottery platforms
Michigan is the pioneer of online lottery in the U.S. By early adoption of digital platforms, the state built a strong, resilient player base with high familiarity with online ticket buying. That’s the major reason why their search and spending remain high. Michigan residents spend $556 per adult, way above the nation's average of $384.
#3 Massachusetts: scratch-off capital with the highest spend per adult
Massachusetts remains the nation’s biggest spender, with residents investing $1,059 per adult yearly in hopes of good luck. The state has a famously strong scratch-off market, with twice as many scratch-off ticket sales per capita as in other states. Scratch cards create a habit of play, and they’re bought frequently, which explains the high spend per adult. In addition to scratch-off popularity, Massachusetts has among the highest payout percentages, with 73.4% of all revenue returned to players in 2024, promoting player trust.
#4 Delaware: a lottery giant in miniature
With fewer than 1 million adults and higher-than-average spending per adult ($493), Delaware reveals a surprisingly intense lottery culture. The state was among the early adopters of online lottery play, leading to embedded familiarity with lottery across all generations.
#5 Connecticut: wealth fueling high-stakes habits
With one of the highest median household incomes in the U.S., Connecticut combines strong search interest with high spending of $549 per adult, leading to fifth place in the lottery obsession rankings.
The anatomy of lottery fever: search data findings
While ticket sales reveal how much people spend, search trends show when and why American interest in the lottery peaks. These patterns reveal that lottery engagement is driven by remarkably predictable triggers.
Record jackpot: breakout in interest
Nothing drives national lottery obsession like a record-breaking jackpot. Whenever the prize pool reaches historic numbers, search interest predictably swells.
On November 7, 2022, Edwin Castro won the largest lottery jackpot to date of $2.04 billion. Leading up to this date, Americans were anticipating the big win, with search interest more than twice that of a month before: 32 million monthly searches vs 70.2 million at peak.
September 6, 2025, Powerball delivered the largest jackpot to date of $1.8 billion split between two winners. Leading up to this draw, the search interest for lottery once again rose more than twice compared to the baseline the month before. From 15 million to 37 million during the peak.
October 12, 2023, is when the third-largest jackpot in U.S. history was drawn. A single winning ticket won $1.765 billion. The search interest prior to the win rose from 30 million to 43.68 million searches.
Across these timelines, it’s clear that American interest in the lottery rises as soon as jackpots exceed the $1B mark. But that’s not the only spike in interest. Holidays bring a festive desire to gamble on the lottery.
Christmas effect: lottery interest doubles
Apart from the less consistently timed interest spikes around large jackpots, interest in the lottery follows clear seasonal patterns. Search activity consistently drops in late winter and spring, then reaches a new peak just in time for Christmas.
During the holidays, Americans treat the lottery as part of the festive ritual, combining nostalgia and family-centered tradition. In Christmas week of 2024, lottery-related searches jumped to 32 million, up from 15 million the month before. That’s a 2.1-fold increase, making Christmas the strongest seasonal spike of the year.
Holiday scratch-off promotions, year-end rollovers, and increased ticket gifting often fuel this spike.
Methodology
To find out which U.S. states love the lottery most, we evaluated each state's engagement with lotteries using two core components: search interest and lottery spending per adult. Because only 35 states publicly report 2024 lottery sales and three states don’t participate in lotteries, the index covers only states with complete and available data.
Data sources
- The adult population data was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Google Search Volume reflects monthly queries related to the lottery.
- Lottery ticket sales data were sourced from the most recent publicly available 2024 lottery sales data from individual state lottery reports
Metrics calculated
- Search intensity = Search volume / Adults per state
- Spending intensity = Ticket sales / Adults per state
Statistical approach to normalize data into an index
To ensure that each factor is accounted for in a statistically appropriate way, we converted each metric into a z-score to identify values above and below the state average. Positive z-scores reflect above-average obsession, while negative z-scores show lower-than-average interest or spending. The combined scores form the final obsession index that determines the rankings. All scores are available in the full dataset.
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