How Many People Play the Lottery

Lotteries around the world continue to be played by hopeful punters in their quest to become the world’s next grand prize winner. Categorically speaking, the younger people, aged eighteen to thirty-five, play less than those over the age of fifty-five. There are a few reasons that have been identified. The younger age group doesn’t find lottery play to be as interesting or action packed as they would like to see. The older group has been accustomed to playing for a lengthy period of time and has more expendable cash at their discretion.

While there is no hard data to provide specific information on the number of people that actually play, we can provide some estimates. In the US, approximately 183 million people play the lottery at least one time per year. The total ticket sales in the US eclipse seventy billion dollars each year. Over thirty-two million people in the UK play the National Lottery each week and buy an average of three tickets each time, despite the chances of winning being just one in fourteen they still spend their hard earned money. We can get an exact number of players in Spain’s El Gordo Christmas lottery. There are 180 million tickets sold for a prize pool in this lottery that exceeds two billion dollars.

The truth is that we cannot calculate an exact number of players in any lottery simply because of the many options available. You cannot divide the dollar amount of tickets sold by the number of tickets sold because of the various amounts eligible to play. For example, in Powerball, you have the option of the basic ticket or the added cost of adding a multiplier for an additional cost. Multiple ticket purchases by single individuals also influence the calculation.