17 Fascinating Worldwide Lottery Facts & Figures

17 Fascinating Worldwide Lottery Facts & Figures

Posted: Monday, Feb 11,2019 | Time: 06:10 am | Edited by: The Lottery Lab Staff | Updated: June 11, 2024

There are all sorts of fascinating lottery related facts and stories that can blow your mind. As we build tools to help lottery players enjoy the game more thoroughly, our researchers have collected some fascinating facts and figures about the lottery from all over the world. Some of the instances are so fascinating that you won’t believe they actually happened-

1. A survey claims that 99% of the American lottery winners kept playing after their numbers came up. Out of them, 70% were sure that they are going to win again.
2. According to statistical data released by MUSL (multi-state lottery association), American winners don’t claim an astonishing $2 billion worth of lottery winnings every year. Most of these winnings are lower tier prizes whereas it is rare that the jackpot prize goes unclaimed. The reason is that people don’t even bother to check their number if the jackpot-winning ticket isn’t sold in their town or state.
3. Men tend to enjoy lotteries more as compared to women. According to a survey released in 2013, 55% of males were positive about lotteries as opposed to only 42% of women.
4. According to a survey, only 48% of British workers kept working their day job after hitting the jackpot. Whereas, American winners seem happier with their day job as 62% of American winners kept their job after hitting the jackpot. 67% of the Americans said that they would like to keep their day job even after hitting a lottery jackpot worth $10 million.
5. Do you think that lotteries are fun? Well, based on where they put their money, Americans would tend to agree with you. According to data released by MUSL, in 2016 Americans spent about $80 billion on lottery tickets; which is more than the amount they spent on movies, books, music, video games, and sports tickets put together.
6. A Dublin-based syndicate spent 6 months to buy all possible combination of the Irish lottery. They bought $1,061,900 worth of They managed to purchase 80% of the possible combinations which was enough to make a profit of approximately $401,450 after taxes and other expenses.
7. In the 1970s, a Canadian couple named Allen and Violet Large donated every single cent of their jackpot win worth $11.2 million. Most of their winnings were donated to hospitals.
8. It is still a debatable question about lottery winnings: does hitting the jackpot really make you happier? A survey of winners found that the answer was ‘Yes’ with 55% votes in favor saying that the win had improved their mood, whereas 43% of the votes state that it made no difference. There were 2% unfortunate votes which stated that they were better off before winning the lottery jackpot. This special group of people actually consider their winning to be the worst thing ever happened to them.
9. In a fantastic sequence of luck, an Aussie trucker named Bill Morgan was declared legally dead for 14 minutes after a crash but came back to life miraculously unharmed. To celebrate this incident, he bought himself a scratch-card and won a car worth $27,000. It doesn’t end here! When a TV crew asked him to buy another scratch-off lottery ticket to recreate the moment, he ended up winning another cash prize worth $250,000!
10. What’s better than winning the lottery for the Christmas holidays? How about winning a lottery prize with all your family, friends, and neighbors too? That's what happened in the tiny town of Sodeto, Spain, where every resident bought shares in the same winning numbers on the Spanish Christmas Lottery. Only one person, a Greek resident, didn’t share the Spanish good fortune with the lottery.

11. In1984 a New Yorker didn’t have change for a tip at a restaurant. He solved his problem by promising a share of his lottery ticket. When he won $6 million, he kept his word and gave the waitress half of his winnings. Good vibes.
12. What’s the first thing you’ll do after winning a lottery jackpot? Quit your job? Buy a fancy car? Buy a luxury house? Well, a couple from Chicago took the concept of remaining anonymous after a lottery win to the next level. After hitting a jackpot worth $30 million, they continued their jobs and didn’t even tell their two teenage kids about their win.
13. This is an exciting incident when a record 110 people claimed the second prizes between $100,000 and $500,000 in the Powerball lottery draw. Officials became suspicious of this win and ran an investigation. It turned out that most of the winners played the numbers they found on their fortune cookies manufactured by the same company and ended up playing the same numbers.

14. A North Carolina Man asked his wife to pick up a couple of Powerball tickets.  She decided to teach him a lesson by purchasing $10 “Carolina Millions” tickets to prove that lotteries are a waste of time. Long story short, they ended up winning a million dollars!
15. Not only common people, but celebs also find it exciting to try their luck once in a while by playing the lottery. Pop Queen Madonna played the lottery and managed to win €120,000 on the Italian SuperEnaLotto which she donated to a charity which builds schools in Malawi.
16. Lottery draws are often hosted by glamorous TV presenters flanked by serious-looking accountants but for England’s first official lottery, it was held on entirely another level. The lottery draw was hosted by none other than Queen Elizabeth I, 450 years back.
17. It is safe to say that the lottery was at least partly responsible for the founding of the United States. King James, I granted the Virginia Company of London authority to hold a lottery to raise funds for a great exhibition and used the profits from this exposition to create Jamestown, the very first English colony in the new world.