America’s Luckiest States, From Massachusetts to West Virginia
The Daily Beast finds the 13 states with the most luck.
If ever there were a day to strike out in search of a few four-leaf clovers, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on Saturday, March 17.
With our favorite quasi-Irish holiday in mind, we wanted to find where the luckiest people are. What better way to do that than with data on the ultimate game determined by luck: the lottery, in which the odds of hitting the jackpot on some games can be as small as 1 in 175 million. To compile our list, we took into account state lottery winnings (from 2010) and Publisher’s Clearing House winnings (from 2011) on a per capita basis; we also accounted for the Total Powerball winners in each state, also on a per capita basis. Population numbers come from the 2010 Census.
Read on to find out in which 13 (of course) cities America’s luckiest people are living. (Hint: move to Massachusetts!)
Population: 1,847,352
Total Powerball winners: 1,040,204
Powerball winners per capita: 0.56
State lottery winnings: $273,008,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $58
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $0
Walter Bibikow / Corbis
Population: 4,317,737
Total Powerball winners: 2,200,583
Powerball winners per capita: 0.51
State lottery winnings: $421,914,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $98
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $0
Henryk Sadura / Getty Images
Population: 5,733,779
Total Powerball winners: 1,978,000
Powerball winners per capita: 0.34
State lottery winnings: $1,034,157,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $180
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $0
AP Photo
Population: 9,612,759
Total Powerball winners: 2,660,552
Powerball winners per capita: 0.28
State lottery winnings: $2,129,144,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $221
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $10,000
Stephen Morton / AP Photo
Population: 12,662,926
Total Powerball winners: 6,001,907
Powerball winners per capita: 0.47
State lottery winnings: $1,867,081,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $147
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $20,000
William Thomas Cain / Getty Images
Population: 3,561,486
Total Powerball winners: 1,492,722
Powerball winners per capita: 0.42
State lottery winnings: $608,755,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $171
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $0
Population: 1,316,255
Total Powerball winners: 809,440
Powerball winners per capita: 0.61
State lottery winnings: $138,907,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $106
Publishers Clearing House winnings: #10,000
Joel Page / AP Photo
Population: 18,674,425
Total Powerball winners: 11,064,189
Powerball winners per capita: 0.59
State lottery winnings: $2,346,162,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $126
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $20,000
Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel / Getty Images
Population: 891,791
Total Powerball winners: 628,467
Powerball winners per capita: 0.70
State lottery winnings: $72,537,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $81
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $0
Population: 19,303,930
Total Powerball winners: 8,001,230
Powerball winners per capita: 0.41
State lottery winnings: $3,951,226,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $205
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $5,000
AP Photo
Population: 8,756,104
Total Powerball winners: 4,503,566
Powerball winners per capita: 0.51
State lottery winnings: $1,469,691,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $168
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $0
Bill Kostroun / AP Photo
Population: 1,053,846
Total Powerball winners: 767,472
Powerball winners per capita: 0.73
State lottery winnings: $144,264,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $137
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $5,000
Population: 6,514,611
Total Powerball winners: 2,011,670
Powerball winners per capita: 0.31
State lottery winnings: $3,174,890,000
Lottery winnings per capita: $487
Publishers Clearing House winnings: $0
AP Photo
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