Some Of The Biggest Bets In US Are Being Made By California Lottery Players

The Golden State bets big, really big, on state lottery games, new data shows.

California lottery ticket sales totaled $9.28 billion during 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report published Wednesday.

The sales ranked as the highest in the country, followed by New York, Florida and Texas, respectively.

According to Patch's number-crunching, people spent $235.74 per capita on California lottery tickets during 2024.

In New York, per capita lottery sales were $447.47. In Florida, they totaled $380.39 for the year. The total was $267.89 in Texas, and the ratios in other states were similar.

Lucky state?

Lottery jackpots have been running large in California.

California Lottery recently announced a $15 million Scratchers win in Cloverdale and a $10 million SuperLotto Plus win in Orange County.

Nearly every U.S. state operates a lottery, and the public is shelling out more and more money on the games of chance. Nationwide, ticket purchases totaled roughly $105 billion in 2024, the Census Bureau said in its state survey, double the amount in 2008.

Some of that increase stems from states that have recently created public lotteries, such as Arkansas, Mississippi and Wyoming. But most states implemented the games as revenue-producing tools during the 20th century.

California lottery profits supplement public education funding.

According to California Lottery, lottery profits have generated more than $48 billion for the state's public schools since 1985. California Lottery raised more than $1.9 billion for education in the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year.

The only states without a lottery are Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah.