Some states win the lottery more often than others, but data shows that there is no such thing as a place with better odds in the United States. We have collected official data and statistics to compare states, find out why they have more jackpots, and shared the truth with you.
With that information, you will be certain of how to plan your next ticket purchases while still maintaining the best winning odds.
- Playing in a different state does not improve your chances of winning.
- Culture, sales, and income influence numbers, but luck plays a major role.
- Some states have many Powerball winners but almost no Mega Millions jackpot.
- Playing regularly and with as many tickets as possible is the best strategy.
Contents
Can the State Influence the Odds of Winning the Lottery?
The state cannot influence the odds of winning the lottery simply because the tickets sold by its vendors and sites have the same effect as any other. Therefore, you have the same chances to become a lottery winner playing on different lottery sites as a New Yorker with a favorite local shop.
We may conclude that there are differences in the distribution of jackpot prizes due to mere luck and coincidence. Due to its nature as a chance game, it is extremely unlikely for all states to share very similar numbers in terms of paid jackpots.
Measuring Lottery Wins by State Wins
Other than only speaking about true lottery odds and whatnot, we prefer to bring actual data on lottery wins by state before we dive into the reasons behind them.
In the table below, we considered the two huge lotteries that truly matter for that evaluation, Powerball and Mega Millions, based on Jackpocket’s data for 2025 here and here.
| State | Jackpot Winners (from debut to 2025) |
|---|---|
| New York | 56 |
| California | 49 |
| Indiana | 41 |
| New Jersey | 36 |
| Missouri | 33 |
| Ohio | 25 |
| Georgia | 23 |
| Pennsylvania | 23 |
| Minnesota | 23 |
| Florida | 22 |
We know players could ignore the fact that the lottery runs by randomness and direct their purchases to New York, which could be a bad idea due to state lottery taxes. Before doing that, mind that some states had more wins for Powerball than Mega Millions, and vice versa.
Indiana has the most Powerball wins with an impressive number of 39 jackpots. However, it had only 2 Mega Millions jackpots in the same time span. If there were any form of luck, it would have to affect other lottery games, too.
Before you start to fable about a special local luck towards a single lottery, we brought a full explanation on the reasons why some states win the lottery more often.
How Do Some States Have Most of the Lottery Winners?
Some states have way more jackpot winners than others due to pure luck. Given that any ticket can win the lottery, the ZIP code, location, or jurisdiction of the purchase has zero influence on the results.
On the other hand, there are factors that increase the possibility of a state winning the lottery more often than others, even if by far, and we summarized them below. None of them can guarantee a win, but they most certainly help us understand why outliers exist.
Total Participating Population and Ticket Sales Volume
When the state’s population is bigger, there will be more people purchasing tickets. We can easily link more ticket sales to a possibly higher number of jackpot winners.
New York is a great example. It had 55 jackpot winners by 2024, according to the New York Post, which is impressive and could lead us to imagine they concentrate most prizes. However, that is roughly 8% of all prizes paid. The same source revealed New Yorkers had spent $5.3 billion by the same time, which is almost 8% of all money spent in all participating states.
Therefore, although it has a great jackpot record, that number is perfectly balanced with ticket sales compared to other states and nothing unbelievable. As we know well, the more tickets are purchased, the higher the chance of a prize coming out in that state.
While that helps, it is not a guaranteed reason for a state to win the lottery more often. Massachusetts had the highest number in lottery sales per capita in 2023, two times higher than the second state, Georgia.
However, with an impressive number of $1,024.91 per capita, it had only 11 jackpot winners by 2024, which is one-fifth of New York and its average expenditure of $404.63 per capita. Despite having a much smaller population, that state’s culture has the lottery as a popular hobby, making people play it a lot more and compensating for the small population.
We cannot forget that we are considering jackpots only. If we look at data on prizes per capita, once again, the most sales reflect more prizes. Massachusetts does have an appealing $764 in prizes per capita versus $427 in prizes in Georgia, the second place.
Higher Income
It is possible to correlate higher income with more ticket sales, which we saw above, may influence the possibility of having a lottery jackpot.
While that is logically correct, it is not a perfect correlation. Once again, that is due to the randomness of the lottery, as no contributing factor is actually a win guarantee.
Using the data provided by Stats America, the District of Columbia had the highest income per capita in 2024, with $108,233. However, that state is not among the states that win the lottery more often.
On the other hand, Massachusetts, which does not have many jackpot winners but has the most lottery prizes per capita, is in second place with $93,927. Other states with a lot of jackpots, like New York, California, and New Jersey, appear in the top 10 at #5, #6, and #7, respectively:
| State | Personal Income Per Capita (2024) | Jackpot Winners (by 2024) |
|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $108,233 | 11 |
| Massachusetts | $93,927 | 11 |
| Connecticut | $93,235 | 9 |
| Wyoming | $85,945 | 0 |
| New York | $85,733 | 56 |
| California | $85,518 | 49 |
| New Jersey | $84,071 | 36 |
| Washington | $83,938 | 7 |
| New Hampshire | $82,878 | 12 |
| Colorado | $82,705 | 3 |
Length of Participation and Lottery History
Another factor that plays a big role in the number of jackpots a state may have is its history with the two biggest lotteries in the United States. Some states have been offering them for a decade or more, while others have only recently joined the MUSL (Multi-State Lottery Association) games.
Mississippi is a great example, with zero jackpots won and having joined it only in 2020. While there are already a few years to account for, that is not really a lot, considering how often a truly big jackpot comes out.
The big ones, New York and California, on the other hand, have both been offering them for at least 10 (Powerball) and 20 years (Mega Millions). Besides, the state with the most Powerball jackpots, Indiana, has been offering it since 1990.
Socioeconomic and Cultural Factors
There are hidden factors that may not be obvious but can have a huge impact on lottery sales and, therefore, on total jackpot wins.
We may start with religious beliefs, which prevent people from participating, mostly in conservative states. Some exaggerated examples can be found in Alabama and Utah, which definitely fit in that category and do not have state lotteries..
Another characteristic that pops up to the eyes and correlates well with New York, California, and New Jersey is the urban vs. rural demographics. Urban areas are logically more prone to buying lottery tickets due to how easy it is to find a retailer versus rural zones.
On top of those two characteristics, there is one that can be linked to both of them: cross-border lottery purchases. Due to the absence of lotteries for any reason, people often cross the state border to buy tickets or simply do so when they are out there.
It is possible to find data supporting that people with higher income are proner to purchasing lottery tickets, as per this article by Gallup. According to their survey, 53% of people in the upper-income level of $90,000+ in annual income (numbers from 2016) play the lottery, against 40% of people earning $36,000 or less. Therefore, richer states tend to purchase more tickets.
We could go on and relate age, as elderly people are known for playing the lottery the most, and other socioeconomic and demographic factors. There are many of them, and, like other characteristics, they only help understand why some states may have a better ratio.
The New York Case: The State That Wins the Lottery More Often
The state of New York has the most lottery jackpots among all when we consider the same two big and popular lotteries. It has such a comfortable gap that it could take years for a state to outrank it, and it may even never happen.
Among the discussed factors, we are sure that these were helpful, if not decisive, in its large number of jackpot winners:
- Important participation: New York has a significant expenditure on lottery tickets that is fairly proportional to its representation in jackpot wins.
- Higher income: New York is one of the richest states in the United States, with a GDP of $2.297 trillion in 2024, only behind California and Texas. Its GDP per capita of $117,332 allows more money to be spent on the lottery.
- Lottery history: With a long history of participation in the Powerball and Mega Millions, New York State has had time to accumulate victories.
- Urban area: Only 12.6% of New York State is rural, according to the official rural census. A bigger urban population can be linked to more participation in lotteries.
The States That Win the Lottery the Least
There are states that are on the opposite side and have collected few to no jackpots across their history. By now, we have understood that no characteristic can ensure they will get a single jackpot and that luck is the most important factor. These are the unluckiest states that do offer lotteries these days:
| State | Total Jackpots (From debut to 2025) |
|---|---|
| Wyoming | 0 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 0 |
| North Dakota | 0 |
| Mississippi | 0 |
| Vermont | 1 |
| Arkansas | 1 |
| Puerto Rico | 2 |
| South Dakota | 3 |
| Colorado | 3 |
| Oklahoma | 4 |
Besides Mississippi that has only recently added lotteries, we can acknowledge that states like Wyoming, North Dakota, and U.S. Virgin Islands are clearly at a disadvantage to others due to their small population. We are looking at the less dense states, with higher rural population, and therefore fewer ticket sales.
In other words, the “unlucky” states for the lottery also have good reasons behind their history. However, it would also be fine, although unlikely, if they had everything to win but had never won a single prize. It is all about luck after all.
Random Chance and Statistical Clustering
The lottery is a perfect game of chance in which nothing we do can have an influence on the results, especially not the federative unit you are in. As described with precision by Professor Singh to The U.S. Sun. news, “There is no other way to increase your chances other than just buying more tickets,”
The explanation is simple statistical clustering, besides all those reasons that sometimes correlate with the states with the most lottery jackpots. In this context, it means that, due to randomness, clusters (groups) can occur because the jackpots have to go somewhere.
Those clusters are the states in which the jackpots occur. Not because they have something special, and especially not because the lottery is biased towards them. It is simply out of luck and because the right tickets were bought there, which is a chance thing, but increases with more ticket sales!
Can You Win the Lottery By Buying Tickets Anywhere?
You can win the lottery regardless of where you buy the tickets. It is not necessary to cross the border to buy in a state with more lottery wins because that has zero impact on your results.
Besides the fact that we revealed factors that do help those states achieve high numbers and that the lottery is pure luck, you might end up making a bad choice. For example, New York, with 56 jackpots, has awful taxes of 10.9%, while Wyoming, with 0 jackpots, would not take a single penny in the form of state taxes.
Of course, California is also free of taxes and has more jackpots, but you got the message. Focus on having fun and playing with whichever numbers and wherever you like. Your chances will remain the same.
FAQs
Where do most lottery winners come from?
New York has the most Mega Millions winners with 43 lucky draws and Indiana is the top one for Powerball with 39 big prizes. In terms of all lottery prizes per capita, however, Massachusetts has way more than any other state, with $764 per capita.
Is the lottery rigged for some states?
There are many security layers and protocols that ensure no fraud occurs. Also, there are independent auditors and other states that are not willing to be negatively affected.
Can the political side of a state help I win the lottery?
There is no possibility that the political group in power in a state could impact the results of a lottery game, especially not one that has the same drawing for all participating states.
Why do blue states win the lottery more often?
Blue states (democratic majority) win more often due to the combination of factors impacting ticket sales and the statistical clustering we explained in this article.
Why do some states win more Powerball or Mega Millions jackpots?
Given the fact that lotteries are random and that those two lotteries share nothing when it comes to drawing, those differences are simply expected.
