Search
Close this search box.

20 Exciting Lottery Facts & 7 Surprising Stats

Facts about winning stories, the real odds of winning the lottery, and also parts of the lottery history can be quite interesting to know. The lotteries are not only a luck game that can change your life for good. They can be a source of cultural information and surprise the most curious players with their statistics. That said, we assembled 20 lottery facts that you must know and surprising stats.

The Most Incredible Lottery Facts

With the lottery facts we assembled here, you will learn information that is not only curious but also important to know if you ever become a winner. You can also check out the lottery winners’ stories if you are looking for inspiration.

1. Record-Breaking Loss Due to the Loss of Lottery Tickets

Lottery Facts & Stats

According to the Huffington Post, an outstanding prize of £63.8 million was lost after the expiration of the deadline of 180 days applicable to any Euromillions prize. Had the player a valuable source like our website, where you can check the Euromillions results, that could have been avoided.

The ticket had been bought for the drawing on June 8, 2012. Without anyone coming forward to claim it within 6 months, the money went to the National Lottery Good Causes, an addition to the £29 billion that had already contributed to the lottery-funded charity. It remains the biggest loss due to an unclaimed ticket, and we will possibly never know the reason.

2. ‘Lottery’ Is a Multicultural Word

Perhaps you have already noticed how the word “lottery”, or simply “lotto”, is similar in many countries with very distinguished local languages. The also simple reason behind that similarity is the common roots for that word in all the languages: the Germanic.

It evolved to the Dutch loterje, the old English hlot and the word lotto that became the Italian lotteria. That is why everyone understands what we are talking about when we mention the best modern luck game. If you want to know more, read our brief summary of the lottery history.

3. You Can Play the Lottery in the Vatican

The papacy used to be not fond of lotteries, threatening the faithful with ex-communication if they participated in what was considered a vile game. That was until 1732 when Pope Innocent XIII permitted lotteries, which resulted in the Roman Lottery. Less frequent than the lottery games we are used to, the lotteries occur now and then. Still popular, its tickets can be purchased at licensed retailers, but you cannot play the lottery online there.

4. The Lottery Probably Started in Northwest Europe

Lottery Facts & Stats

If we consider the beginning of the lottery when tickets were given in exchange for the promise of cash prizes for the luckiest people, then we are talking about the 15th century.

Back then, the first public lottery might have happened in L’Ecluse, the modern Sluis, Netherlands. That first drawing offered the equivalent to $170,000 in our current money value and sold more than 4,000 tickets. As practiced by lotteries since earlier times BC, the lottery raised funds for government projects.

The oldest continuous lottery is in the Netherlands, but the second oldest started in the 19th century in Spain. It is what we know today as El Gordo.

5. The British Museum Is Supported By Lotteries

Back in 1753, almost two hundred years after the first lottery in England with Queen Elizabeth herself drawing the numbers, a new lottery was formed. Its purpose was to create the British Museum. It was a successful venture, and the museum is still helped to this day with lottery funds via The Heritage Lottery Fund.

6. There Were Ancient Forms of Lotteries Before Christ

While it is true that lotteries started to pay cash prizes in the 15th century, it was already a thing in Ancient Rome and also began in China with the Han Dynasty, both BC periods. Back in that time, prizes were items, or land, instead of cash prizes. Of course, it was a primitive form of the lottery with the drawing of simple lots.

7. Lotteries Were Always Patriotic in the United States

Lotteries Were Always Patriotic in the United States

Well-known names like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were responsible for setting up lotteries to support patriotic and government projects in the United States. In 1776, lotteries were founded by the Continental Congress to fund the Colonial Army. Considering that local and multi-state lotteries continue to fund social projects, playing the lottery in the US is a patriotic act.

8. The Majority of Lottery Winners Do Not Quit Their Jobs

Winning the lottery sometimes sounds like a synonym for not having to work anymore. In some cases, that does not seem to be what happens. The paper Gambling Windfall Decisions: Lottery Winners and Employment Behavior, from 2009, surveyed lottery winners from Sweden to screen how many of them had quit their jobs. Surprisingly enough, only 12% were no longer working in their previous jobs.

Of course, there are some limitations to what extent we can consider that study since not all lottery prizes allow you to live from the resulting income. Even so, it is not rare to find stories of millionaire winners who kept doing what they love. 

9. Chances of an Accident or Lightning Struck Vs. Winning the Lottery

Chances of an Accident or Lightning Struck Vs. Winning the Lottery

The risk of a fatality in a car accident is 1 in 6,700, while the odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 500,000 every year. Now, if we compare the odds of winning at least $250,000 by finding yourself as a winner in the Jackpot Triple Play results, we find the impressive number of 1 in over 3.1 million.

As for popular worldwide games like Cash4Life, which you can play from anywhere using lottery agents or betting sites, you get the odds of 1 in 21,8 million. Powerball? More like 1 in 292.2 million. Still, people win it quite often, and it is all about luck.

10. China Launched a Lottery to Audit Taxes

When simply enforcing tax laws does not work, it is necessary to be creative. In order to make clients request the tax receipt from businesses, China converted each receipt into a free lottery ticket with prizes up to $725. Since you could win a prize just for asking for a receipt, with zero cost, people started to do it. That was a smart move!

11. Lottery Tickets – the Favorite Form of Spending Money in Entertainment in the US

According to The Attlantic, a total of $70 billion was spent in lottery tickets in 2014 in the United States. And that is because not all the 50 states allow it, only 43 of them. That would be $300 per adult, more than what they spend in all the 50 states on sports, culture, video games, and movies.

12. Voltaire Found a Lottery Loophole – They Do Not Exist Anymore

Are you familiar with the famous philosopher Voltaire? Well, he and the mathematician Charles Marie managed to identify a loophole in the French national lottery. Back then, without the RNG software and technology that we have today, that was still possible. An error in the calculation allowed anyone to profit from the prize even after purchasing all the tickets. It was a considerable amount, considering that it allowed Voltaire to comfortably focus on his writing after that.

13. Generosity Already Made Lottery Winners Poor

When you win a jackpot prize, it may seem like you will never run out of money. However, giving small portions to close friends or relatives, including parents and/or children, can bite a considerable portion of the prize. While some winners do get poor for spending more money than they should, generosity has already made winners poor again.

14. There Is a Person to Check Your Ticket in the UK

Our readers who already play and claim online lottery winnings from the comfort of their houses will never experience the same level of surveillance found in the UK. Winners from the United Kingdom receive visits from agents who check their IDs and lottery tickets to verify them. Only after that, the winners are able to receive their money.

That system has some advantages, such as a high level of security and the possibility of receiving financial advice in sequence.

15. Purchasing Winning Tickets Illegally Cancels Your Winnings

Purchasing Winning Tickets Illegally Cancels Your Winnings

If you purchase a winning lottery ticket through any illegal means, you will lose your prize. As reported by the SeattleNews, it happened to a woman in Oregon back in 2005. She purchased the ticket with the credit card of a dead person, more precisely her boyfriend’s mother, who passed away. The result? She lost $1,000,000 and $12,000 in illegal purchases with that card, and everything went to the Medford Police Department.

16. Annuity and Lump-Sum Payments Impact Your Total Prize

Some of the most rewarding lottery games in the world, such as the recordist Mega Millions, allow you to decide between an annuity and a full cash prize. It is important to know the lottery fact that the advertised jackpot is only paid as the total of the annuities – it may vary from 20 to 30 years of annual payments.

Of course, that is in addition to the taxes applicable in the country and deducted from the prize. It helps if you have a complete lottery tax calculator to help you determine how much money you can get.

17. Lotteries are a Voluntary Type of Tax

It should be clear through experience and by reading some of the lottery facts above that the government takes a portion of the proceedings. It does not matter if it controls the lottery directly or licenses entities to do so. Money from ticket sales is often redirected to investment in education, social projects, sports, and other departments.

Therefore, considering that only a tiny portion of the winners actually win a prize, it is a very efficient way of collecting money. It is considered by many to be a voluntary tax that you pay, hoping to be one of those winners.

18. You Cannot Tip Lottery Staff

It does not matter if you have a superstition that you can win if you give money to others or if you are really happy about a prize. You cannot give money to the lottery staff. They are simply prohibited from accepting, and they have no control over the lottery results in any case.

19. Anonymity Can Be Maintained Via a Trust

Many lottery players wish to remain anonymous after winning a lottery prize. Unfortunately for them, not all countries or provinces allow it. In such cases, there is a way of preserving anonymity in a legal way and still claiming the prize. In some jurisdictions, winners can hire a trust that will claim the prize for them and appear for the public, while the winner remains unknown.

20. Many Lotteries Contribute to Charity

Not all of the lottery proceedings are directed to the official departments or ministries of the government responsible for the games. Some charitable entities command some of the lotteries in countries, such as The Health Lottery in the UK, and use the revenue for charity purposes. In fact, the UK is one of the countries with a considerable number of charitable organizations responsible for lottery games, operating under a license.

Most Incredible Lottery Fact: Anyone Can Win the Lottery!

Some people can win the lottery with the first ticket they have ever bought in their life, while others are finally graced after 30 years of playing continuously. While several lottery strategies are out there promising to improve your odds, the truth is that everyone has an equal chance regardless of what they do.

The only way that you are never going to stand a chance is if you never play the lottery. Therefore, if you are a regular player, you have the same chances of anyone buying the same number of tickets, and that is the most important lottery fact.

7 Interesting Lottery Stats For You

  • The global lottery market is expected to reach the impressive mark of US$433.7 billion by the end of 2026.
  • Americans spend more on lottery tickets than on any other type of entertainment.
  • 110 tier-2 prizes were claimed in Powerball due to fortune cookies in 2005.
  • Women who won the lottery are less likely to marry.
  • The average score for happiness and satisfaction in life is higher among lottery winners, according to a 2006 study.
  • A study by the University of Warwick showed that winners of prizes above £500 became more supportive of right-wing parties.
  • Indiana, United States, represents around 10% of all Powerball jackpot winners.

Keep Up to Date With the Lottery Facts and Results

Our goal here at LotteryTexts is to keep you updated when it comes to the lottery results, but we also want to bring exciting lottery facts while you wait for your chance. Now that you have gathered some knowledge connected to playing the lottery, its history, and also about winners worldwide, do not forget to check the drawing results.

References

https://www.marketresearch.com/QYResearch-Group-v3531/Global-Lottery-Size-Status-Forecast-13203990/

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/lotteries-americas-70-billion-shame/392870/

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1629878

https://worlddatabaseofhappiness-archive.eur.nl/hap_bib/freetexts/tunney_rj_2006.pdf

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2014/twerp_1039_oswald.pdf

https://news.gallup.com/poll/163973/work-even-won-millions.aspx

Powerball

USD 935 Million!

Next draw: Saturday, Mar 30, 2024