South Dakota and Delaware Spend the Most Per Capita on Lottery Tickets (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-13)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-13 was: 

Using the answers of our past two weeks, we can divide a States lottery ticket sales by its population to determine:

• Which States sell the most lottery tickets per capita?
• Which States sell the fewest lottery tickets per capita?
• Do you think sales are based on population alone?
• Or, are sales based on the desire of people wanting to win a jackpot prize?

To answer the above, we referred to the Lottery Sales and State population links in the previous posts, and found that:

• The top 5 States (1-5) that spend the most on lottery tickets per capita are: South Dakota, Delaware, Massachusetts,  New York, and Georgia. The next five (6-10) are: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio.
• The States spending the least on lottery tickets per capita are: Idaho, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, and North Carolina.
• Based on the results of these rankings, we clearly conclude that sales are not based on State populations. For example, South Dakota spends approximately $0.853 per person on lottery tickets, but it ranks in the bottom 5 States in population. Whereas, California, who has the largest population, only spends $0.097 per person on tickets. 
• Observing the above results, we realize that a State's overall desire to win a jackpot prize plays an important role in the amount of lottery tickets that are bought in a State. Desire to win is important in the top 5 States and others. For example, Vermont spends $0.170 per person verses $0.155 in Texas.

JL.....

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Are Lottery Sales Based on State Populations? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-13)

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lottery Sales in General.

Our Trivia Question #2010-13 is: 

Combining the trivia questions and answers of the past two weeks, we can now determine:

• Which States sell the most lottery tickets per capita?
• Which States sell the fewest lottery tickets per capita?
• Do you think sales are based on population alone?
• Or, are sales based on the desire of people wanting to win a jackpot prize?

Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

We will provide the correct answer next Monday, August 30th, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

JL.........

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California and Vermont Have Largest & Smallest Lottery Populations (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-12)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-12 was: 

To help us understand whether states with the largest populations sell the most lottery tickets, we need to identify various State populations. So, last week, we asked:

• Which lottery selling States have the largest population? (most amount of people)
• Which States have the smallest population? (the least amount of people)

Based on the 2009 revision of the WorldAtlas.com , we found that:

• The top 5 States (1-5) ranked by biggest Population are: California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. The next five (6-10) were: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina.
• And, the States with the fewest number of people (ranking 43-50) were: Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. (Note that since neither Alaska nor Wyoming sponsor a state lottery, we have expanded this list to include the bottom five states that do have a lottery). 

JL.....

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• Which state has the smallest population? (greenanswers.com)

What States Have the Largest Population? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-12)

Image via Wikipedia

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lottery Sales in General.

Our Trivia Question #2010-12 is: 

Continuing with last weeks theme, we now wish to identify which Lottery States have the biggest and smallest population.  This will help to give us a better understanding of whether lottery sales are purely a function of demographics or desire to win. So, we ask:

• Which lottery selling States have the largest population? (most amount of people)
• Which States have the smallest population? (the least amount of people)

Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

We will provide the correct answer next Monday, August 23st, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

JL.........

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New York Consistently Leads Yearly Lottery Sales (Lottery Trivia Answer 2010-11)

Last Week's Trivia Question #2010-11 was: 

Since lottery income has become an important source of hidden tax revenue, more and more States have been under pressure to increase sales and generate income. But, we wondered if the income received is simply a function of the population of the State. To help understand this, we first asked ourselves to identify:

• What are the top 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the most money)
• What are the bottom 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the least money)

Based on information from Data360's 2006 Lottery Sales by State, we find the answers.

• In order of yearly sales, the top 5 Lottery Sales are in: New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, and California.  Near these are: Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Michigan.
• The bottom 5 States, i.e. those with the least Lottery sales are: Idaho, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana, and North Dakota (the lowest).

Data for these answers can be confirmed by visiting the NASPL Sales and Profits Page which summarizes sales for Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008 as well.

JL.....

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What States Sell the Most Lottery Tickets? (Lottery Trivia Question 2010-11)

Image via Wikipedia

This week's Lottery Trivia Question is about U.S. Lottery Sales in General.

Our Trivia Question #2010-11 is: 

Lottery sales has become an important revenue generator for most U.S. States. Obviously, we assume that the states with the largest population sell the most tickets and make the most amount of money. To determine whether this is true or not, we ask::

• What are the top 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the most money)
• What are the bottom 5 lottery revenue generating States? (those making the least money)

Enter your answer by leaving a Comment to this post below. Leave your name, and if you have a website or blog, provide it's URL and name.

We will provide the correct answer next Monday, August 16st, and will post your name and a URL link back to your site.

JL.........

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Our New Template

Last week, after months of reviewing a variety of background images, we settled on Google's Template Designer Simple Template with the bookshelf background.

We chose this for a few reasons:

• The classic color scheme.
• The title font.
• The bookshelf background provides a collective series.
• We liked it.

While the look may be a bit more professional and classic, our articles will always be progressive and informative.  Playing the lottery with the intent of winning a jackpot requires research and strategies. We hope that our articles continue to inspire you and help you fulfill your dreams.

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Huge Disparity in California's Mega Million Payouts

Image via Wikipedia

In last Friday's Mega Millions drawing, nobody won the jackpot, but 4 separate tickets matched all five of the white balls and claimed the 2nd place price. Two tickets were sold in Illinois, 1 in New York, and 1 in California.

Typically, the payout for this prize level is $250,000. This is true in all states except California, which determines the prize levels on a pari-mutuel basis. So, while 3 of the 4 winners will each receive $250,000, the one winner in California will only get $182,348.

That's a difference of $67,652 or 27% less!

In theory, one can argue that pari-mutuel payouts are most beneficial to players. But, looking at the 9 different drawing results for the month of July 2010, seven paid out substantially less than $250K, and only two paid out more than $300K.  The highest allocation was $342.9K, but there were no winners that time, so nothing was paid out.

While California's calculation of payout may be correct, I believe that players in California who win big prizes actually lose a lot of money to the State. Remember, the State sets the prize breakdown and doesn't share the leftover money with the players. So one must ask the question:

Where Does the Mega Millions Money Really Go?

JL......