Massachusetts Residents Spend Most On Lottery Tickets

BOSTON, MA — Feeling lucky? If you live in Massachusetts, the answer is probably yes.

A new study ranked Massachusetts tops when it came to per capita spending on lottery tickets. On average, Massachusetts residents spend $933 per year on hopes of striking it rich, with five percent of Massachusetts residents reporting that they play every day, according to the study by GoBankingRates.

That's good news for the state, which reported lottery ticket sales of $5.09 billion in 2017. About 20 percent of annual sales are recorded as proceeds, which are distributed back to the state's municipalities.

Massachusetts topped Rhode Island, the second-place finisher on the list by more than $300 in average, annual per capita lottery ticket sales. In Rhode Island, residents spent an average of $626.11 per year on lottery tickets.

Nationally, the average person spend $288.06 per year on lottery tickets. The study does not include Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah, which do not have state lotteries.

The study comes as Massachusetts lawmakers consider legalizing sports betting, with Gov. Charlie Baker hoping to launch legal sports betting by mid-2020. In 2018, a Gallup poll found that 69% of Americans believe gambling is morally acceptable, the highest level in the 16 years Gallup has conducted the survey.