% of Population Which Play the Lottery?

Reply #34

WSN1 — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:43:56 GMT

See here is a perfect example of an extreme swing within the 2 posts...Guesser, is around people where only 1 out 3.5 people buy a ticket. and Jarason is thinks that 9 of 10 buy tickets. Whose right, Whose wrong...I say the possibilities are that they both are correct. it has to do a lot with location, communities, experience and perception. Overall you have to settle on a midpoint. However, the midpoint is not where everybody experiences, but its more in line with the global communities. The Bi... [ More ]

Reply #33

WSN1 — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:33:12 GMT

Yes Guesser, the category receiving the most vote is without a doubt less than 30%, however,

is not the overall average of the general consensus of all voting, 12 vote out of 43 currently

running is not the general consesus. Take a closing at the stats...Let me know if you need me to breakdown the statistical average further. There are couple ways to look at this information, However, the ballpark would still be about 50%.

Heck one quick way to look at it is currently, there are 43 votes, 19... [ More ]

Reply #32

jarasan — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:24:13 GMT

The key is any level. I think approximately 10% of the population doesn't feel the need or urge to play 'cause they got plenty'o moolah $$$$$$ so I said the remaining 90% play the lotteries. 90% play at least occasionally if the opportunity is there and the jackpot is big enough . I figure I play lottery for 10-15 people. About half the people I know play at least once a month or so when the pots get big, a lot go to the casinos, the horsies, or play the poker weekly. Support your local lot... [ More ]

Reply #31

guesser — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:04:38 GMT

Where did you come up with that when most folks picked 'less than 30%' ??

The question was not 'how many people have purchased a lottery ticket at some point in their lifetime ?', it was 'what percentage of people play the lottery ?'

That said, think about it: You are at a Mall, a Grocery Store, sitting in traffic..... look around: how many folks do you seriously think buy at least one ticket for EVERY drawing ? I would be very hard-pressed to think that number is over 20%, I'd say i... [ More ]

Reply #30

WSN1 — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 21:59:34 GMT

Well it looks like the general consensus is 50-55% of the population, plays the lottery, based upon this poll. Thanks for your input everyone

Reply #29

pumpi76 — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:08:13 GMT

I say between 10-15 percent of the population plays the lotto all the time and also believe that less than 20% have played the lotto at one point or another...

Reply #28

Coin Toss — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:15:25 GMT

That brings up some good points. Can their be anything truly accurate when figuring percentages of any state's lottery players? There is no way of tellig how many people come in from other states, for one thing.

And as you mentioned, states with a large 'snowbird' population would have to take that into account but at best that could only be a guess.

Reply #27

justxploring — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:22:01 GMT

True, but then the very large percentage of people who aren't included in the census because they are undocumented might make up for that difference....or not! One of the other things that really throws off the population stats is the amount of people who only live here part-time. Many other states have part-time residents, but I'm sure states like AZ and FL have a much higher percentage. (However, I agree CT that we can't include children.

Reply #26

Coin Toss — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:17:52 GMT

KYFloyd

Florida has a population of about 16 million. As an average about 1 in 13 people bought one of the raffle tickets, but as you say, averages don't always tells us anything useful.

That's assuming all 16 million are legally eligible to purchase raffle tickets (or lottery tickets). If we reduce the 16 million by those under age (not every place in FLa. is St Petersburg ) then it's going to be a lot less than one in 13, no

Reply #25

WSN1 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:06:24 GMT

Well, upon further review of everyone's feedback from all over. I think certain communities alter the balance one way or the other. When I posed the question it was for the Lottery online and offline, regular or occassional players. Their are Billions of dollars spent online as well as offline. The general concenus so far on this thread is in the range of 40-60%, so all those who have voted 50% are on the money of the general concenus. Although, I am being influenced by comments Im still a hard... [ More ]

Reply #24

lottolaughs — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:44:44 GMT

Good one,cjones!

The more I think about it, yes, there are BILLIONS of dollars being spent on lotteries but NOT billions of people buying tickets, assuming the average customer spends more then a buck and as we all know, most do. So I'm tending to lean more towards the 50% range now or even lower, like cps said, probably around 40%.

Reply #23

cjones — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:24:43 GMT

I think the percentage is fifty or higher.People are looking for that american dream for a few dollars.Now if you excuse me i have to go buy a ticket.

Reply #22

KY Floyd — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:05:29 GMT

Florida has a population of about 16 million. As an average about 1 in 13 people bought one of the raffle tickets, but as you say, averages don't always tells us anything useful. In reality, at most 1 in 13 people bought a raffle ticket, but since plenty of people bought more than 1 less than 7% of people bought raffle tickets. It was probably less than 5%, which would work out to an average of about 1.5 tickets for each person who bought any.

One thing useful we can figure from those number... [ More ]

Reply #21

justxploring — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:41:51 GMT

I voted 75%, but maybe I just want to convince myself that I'm not so different! I meet people everyday who say they never buy tickets, but I'm guessing they might pick up a few when the jackpot is very high. When Florida had that Raffle in Nov for New Year's Day, the 1,250,000 tickets were sold out in about a week.

Regarding the article from the government, averages are deceiving. Men women walk on 2 legs. Dogs, cats, horses and other animals walk on 4 legs. So would that mean the... [ More ]

Reply #20

WSN1 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:24:36 GMT

Keith u CT are getting Crunk! that was too funny

Reply #19

cps10 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:22:08 GMT

Isn't that the truth? Here is a funny thing. I was at a Catholic church in Ohio and on their bulletin was advertisements for those tobacco, booze and lottery joints...was comical.

Reply #18

WSN1 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:21:50 GMT

CT.....Hilarious

Reply #17

Coin Toss — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:17:18 GMT

You guys in the Bible Belt know what I mean, I'm sure.

I'm thinking of those discount tobacco marts (Kentucky) that sell cigarettes, liquor, lottery tickets, and have flyers for the local churches in their windows.

And of the 26% of the U.S. population that still smokes, 99% of that 26% live in the Bible Belt.

Reply #16

cps10 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:22:51 GMT

CT

I agreed...I said 40%. For every person that plays the lottery, I know of 2 that don't. So that being said, that makes it about 33%, but 40% was close enough.

And I DO live in the Bible Belt...Fort Mill, SC...our neighborhood backs up to the old PTL of Jim Tammy Faye Bakker fame.

Reply #15

lottolaughs — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:10:31 GMT

You're right, I always forget about online gambling! And the young people,yes, everything is geared towards them. Get 'em hooked while they're young! They ARE the ones that spend the money.

Reply #14

WSN1 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:07:46 GMT

Coin Toss, Although I now live in the Bible Belt, I was born and raised in the windy city of Illinois

Reply #13

LOTTOMIKE — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:05:10 GMT

i say 50 percent....

Reply #12

WSN1 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:02:53 GMT

I think the source, I found is a little dated, considering that online gambling has grown dramatically over the last 10 years and younger people are getting involved, so I think it would still be higher than that data supports and if you read further in the link it alludes to that possiblity altering it's stats. So, I still think 75% is a good mean

Reply #11

lottolaughs — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:35:49 GMT

Good info,WSN! Thanks! And very interesting. So even 75% is too high. But that page was dated in 1995 so can we really go by that today? Or did you find the rest of the data you stated from somewhere else

Reply #10

Coin Toss — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:35:05 GMT

WSN1

Interesting stuff but not everyone here agrees totally, sounds like it may have come from an anti-lottery or anti-gambling source.

I voted 40% going by the people we know (granted I'm in the northern tier of the Bible Belt . Most people we know don't play at all (or say they don't )

PS

Since living here, I can no longer ay Bible Belt with a straight face.

PPS

My 40% vote is meaning those who play regularly. As the consensus oin this thread states, I think most people h... [ More ]

Reply #9

mind — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:20:46 GMT

I agree with Jap69 i think 90% of the people at one time let it ride

Reply #8

WSN1 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:20:32 GMT

Well this is what I found from the following link: http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/97/03/Chapt3.html

Lottery Players are Widespread. Lotteries are the most popular and broadly played form of gambling despite having the lowest payout. A large proportion, about 50 to 60 percent of adult Americans play legal lotteries in lottery states. Two-thirds of these play regularly, which means that about one-third of the adults are regular players. Heavy players are about 10 percent of all lottery players.1... [ More ]

Reply #7

lottolaughs — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:14:15 GMT

Couldn't seem to find an answer to the percentage question from a quick search on Google. It seems they judge more state by state then on the whole which would make sense. The more I think about this, the more curious I'm getting. Could be we come to find out we're all way off base

Reply #6

vt8366a — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:36:04 GMT

i picked less than 30% because i think that most people think that the odds are so high that it is a waste of money to play. i am just going by my own life , none of my friends play . i would guess that probably about 50-60% have played at least once. i think that most of the lottery tickets are purchased by the same core group of people in a paticular area with a scattering of tickets purchased by new players .

Reply #5

WSN1 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:19:19 GMT

I like your 75% estimate..and assessment. .I think this poll will have that as the median score. Yeah, im sure there are some studies recorded on the net, and maybe even within LP's archives that has these %s. hmmmm

Reply #4

lottolaughs — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:13:16 GMT

I picked 75%. Probably between 75 and 80%. I know quite a few people just among my family, friends and relatives who never play the lottery. When I worked in my neighborhood liquor store years ago there were quite a few players, but the SAME few players all the time. I agree that 80 to 90 have probably played at least once in their life, but on a regular basis? That's a toughie.

I'm sure there's some data somewhere that can give you an idea.

Reply #3

WSN1 — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 23:49:57 GMT

Guesser, I meant all levels, everyone, However, I would be interested to see your breakdown of both groups as subtotals

I personally think that about 80-90% of the population has played the lottery at some point in their life, for whatever reason and style of play and the other 10-20% dont play the lottery or just dont gamble at all.

dK

Reply #2

JAP69 — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:00:39 GMT

I went 90%

I would think that that percentage of the population have purchased at least one ticket in their life.

The other 10% are people who would not gamble at all.

Reply #1

guesser — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:40:19 GMT

Because unlike us, most people know the odds are astronomical.

There is a difference between 'playing the lottery', and 'playing the lottery'.

Do you mean folks that study it, or play the same numbers (birthdays, etc.) and play at least one game every drawing, or do you mean someone that sticks 10 gallons of gas in their car, runs in and buys a pack of smokes and 'oh by the way' snags a quick-pick at the same time

% of Population Which Play the Lottery?

WSN1 — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:24:22 GMT

I would also, like to know why you made you pick your selection

dK