Revealed – Where Most Louisiana Lottery Winners are Purchased
Tonight lottery players across Louisiana will plunk down their money and take a chance at claiming the estimated $87 million dollars up for grabs in tonight's Powerball lottery game. Those same players might do the same thing on Tuesday, except they'll be playing for an estimated $104 million dollars in the multi-state Mega Millions game.
Dreaming about winning the lottery is nothing new for folks in Louisiana or any other state in the nation for that matter. It's our dreams of instant financial freedom that keep us laying down our dollars two or three at a time just for the chance to make that dream happen.
And for many players in Louisiana, those big wins do happen. Granted it's been a while since our state had a Powerball jackpot winner and Louisiana has never had a Mega Millions jackpot winner. But still, lottery games have paid Louisiana players quite a bit in winnings over the past decade or so.
Like most games of chance, players are always looking for an edge when it comes to "increasing their odds". Unfortunately, your ability to move the odds in a multi-state lottery game such as Powerball or Mega Millions is minuscule if at all.
There are some people who believe "the big jackpots are only won at small stores". Well, it might seem that way but it's not true. You'll find just as many Circle K and Racetrac sold winners as you will tickets sold at the Mom and Pop kind of places.
There are some people who believe that winning tickets are only sold in small towns. Well, judging by the number of winners the Louisiana Lottery has already seen in Greater New Orleans and Baton Rouge this year, I'd say that's a myth as well.
Now it is true that about 2/3rds of all winning tickets for all lottery games are sold along the I-10 corridor. That's true for two reasons. One, there are more people in that part of the state. And two, religious sensibilities lean a little more toward playing the lottery in South Louisiana than they do in parts of north Louisiana.
Y'all did know the Louisiana Lottery has an interactive map that posts all the big wins in the state, right? The map is available right here. The map shows all draw-style game winners of $500 or more and all scratch game winners of $500 or more, both over the last 60 days.