What is Lottery?

A lottery game is defined as a contest or a gambling game (in some cases is held for raising money as charity) in which tickets are sold and prizes are drawn. Lotteries are very popular nowadays and they can come with various formats and methods of drawings. This gambling game is believed to be first operated in 205 and 187 B.C. during the Dynasty of Han in China but was recorded as the first lottery in Sluis, Netherlands in 1434. With advances in technology especially with the availability of internet nowadays, there are more and more on-line lottery tickets purchasing services, making it easier for many people who are interested in buying a lottery ticket.

How many people play lottery?

There haven’t been a fix number of people who play the lottery games in the world. However, it has been estimated that every week there are over 200 million of people joining Euro Millions, one of the most widely played lottery games worldwide. The lottery games are held publicly in more than 100 countries on all the continents in the world. In a study held in US, at least 57% of the adults reported that they bought lottery tickets.

How much people spend on lotteries?

It was found in 2010 that in US alone, the lottery sales reached up to $58 billion that year with New York contributed the most with the lottery sales of US $ 6.2 billion and Massachusetts at the second place with the total ticket sales of $4.2 billion.

In 2001, Japan reached the total ticket sales of $7.9 billion ($US) in Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank Lottery. Following these were the U.K. national Lottery, Loterias y Apuestas del Estado of Spain,Lottomatica of Italy, and France's La Francaise des Jeux. Canada reached the total sales of $7.2 billion ($Can).

How about in UK?

In a more detail survey on Euro Millions lottery game in the UK, someone can spend about £3.00 each week with the purchase of 2 lines in the game whereas lottery ticket sales are of £ 2.80 in average per person per week.

Euro Millions sales in each country are shown as below (Euro):

1. France 866 million
2. Portugal 580 million
3. UK 478.6 million
4. Austria 80 million
5. Ireland 59.1 million
6. Belgium 28 million
7. Luxembourg 21.8 million
8. Switzerland 4.91 million

The biggest lottery Jackpots

Each continent provides such big prizes as shown in the following figures of the largest prizes ever won in lotteries:

The demographics on online lottery

70% out of the adult population in UK play in any of the National Lottery on a regular basis as well as 33% of the adult population in France who play regularly at least once a week. The percentages on the proportion of male and female players and ages in those 2 countries are as follows:

How about the statistic on the lottery ticket sales?

There have been more than 200 million people joining in the online lottery games and previously, there were only less than 1.5 million online players in which the sales were less than 1% out of the total ticket sales. However, the number has now been growing by 60.9%.

It can be compared with the total sales made by the Swiss lottery company which made 28 million online transactions in the same year.

Which countries are best penetrated by online sales?

The following countries have been best targeted for online sales of lottery tickets:

1. Malta 78.1%
2. Sweden 74.9%
3. Denmark 69.4%
4. Netherlands 65.9%
5. United Kingdom 62.9%
6. Finland 62.5%
7. Germany 59%
8. Luxembourg 58.9%
9. Portugal 58%
10. Austria 56.8%