Helen James
AssociatedNews Network

Nobody matched all six numbers in the Power Ball draw on Monday night and the jackpot grew to an astonishing $1.73 billion, enticing thousands of people to buy a ticket for the next draw.

The Mega Millions prize is currently smaller, at $48 million, after a ticket sold in Texas hit the $360 million jackpot on Friday. Interest in this lottery game is strong, with ticket sales climbing by about $2.12 million between the Sept. 26 and Sept. 29 drawings alone.

And while everyone dreams of pocketing a life-changing amount, it turns out that the residents of some states spend much more on lottery tickets than others, with the sales in some regions exceeding three times that of others.

But Mississippi isn’t one of them. The population of almost three million bought $43 million Powerball tickets and $33 million Mega Million tickets between January and October. Per person, that’s $26.22 spent on both Powerball and Mega Millions.

Louisiana wasn’t much different: The states residents spend $25.60 per person.

The 2023 ticket sales of the two major lottery games in the U.S. calculated the per capita ticket spending for each state. Sales figures between Jan. 2 and Oct. 10 of this year were considered. This is what was discovered found:

With no winning ticket in Monday’s draw, Powerball’s jackpot has soared to $1.73 billion, the second-largest jackpot in U.S. history. The jackpot has been growing since July 19 when a lucky ticket won $1.08 billion. And although the jackpot was not hit on Monday, around 3.7 million ticket holders across the country won smaller prizes. While thousands of people are now buying tickets for the Wednesday draw, residents of some states are more dedicated lottery players than others.

According to SuperCasinoSites comprehensive study focused on the lottery sales for Powerball and Mega Millions, people in New Jersey, New Hampshire and Maryland spent nearly three times more on lottery tickets on a per-capita basis than those in Arkansas or Oklahoma, for instance.

Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 10 of this year, residents of New Jersey have spent $516,478,726 on tickets for the main Powerball and Mega Millions draws. In other words, lottery sales since the beginning of the year have reached an average of $55.77 per person, more than any other state. The spending in Arkansas and Oklahoma, on the other hand, has been only $19.48 and 19.75 per person on average.

These are the U.S. states where residents are spending the most on Powerball and Mega Millions in 2023:

1. New Jersey – $516,478,726 or $55.77 per capita
2. New Hampshire – $76,622,543 or $54.92 per capita
3. Maryland – $317,454,142 or $51.50 per capita
4. U.S. Virgin Islands – $4,357,962 or $44.18 per capita
5. Delaware – $44,897,787 or $44.09 per capita

These are the U.S. states where residents are spending the least on Powerball and Mega Millions in 2023:

1. Arkansas – $59,342,487 or $19.48 per capita
2. Oklahoma – $79,389,045 or $19.75 per capita
3. District of Columbia – $14,246,669 or $21.21 per capita
4. Kansas – $65,656,285 or $22.35 per capita
5. New Mexico – $48,170,667 or $22.79 per capita

Arkansas and Oklahoma are the two states with the lowest ticket sales in both lottery games, averaging a total per capita spend of $19.48 in the Natural State and $19.75 in the Sooner State in 2023. The statistics are telling here, and the states’ low jackpot winning rates over the years appear to have demotivated local players.

This is most true of Arkansas, which has only produced two jackpot winners in both lotteries history, the Powerball in 2010, and Mega Millions in 2017. As for Oklahoma, it has four Powerball jackpot winners, but none in Mega Millions.