'Luckiest state,' Florida has had 16 Powerball jackpot winners in the last 20 years
Florida has been crowned the luckiest state in the U.S.
A report released by betting app Slot Tracker revealed that the state has had 16 Powerball jackpot winners in the last 20 years, all winning an average of $175 million each. The state has seen a whopping $2.8 billion in total Powerball jackpot wins.
How is the 'luckiest state' calculated?
Slot Tracker collected data from the official Powerball website and World Population Review to narrow down three categories for each state to be assessed with:
Each state’s total amount of payouts for Powerball jackpot wins, from 2003 through 2023
Number of jackpot winners
Average jackpot winnings per winner
Lottery luck score is a weighted average of the percentile rank for those three categories, according to Slot Tracker. So although one state may have more Powerball jackpot winners than the other, if that state has a lower payout, it won't rank higher.
For example, Pennsylvania has had two more Powerball jackpot winners than Florida in the last two decades. But because the state's payout is significantly lower than Florida's, Pennsylvania isn't considered a luckier state.
In the same way, just because a state has a high payout, it doesn't necessarily mean it will rank higher than a state with a lower payout and more lottery winners. Both California and Tennessee's average payouts per jackpot winner are higher than Florida's, but neither rank higher than the Sunshine State.
Here's the list of the top 10 luckiest lottery states, in order of rank:
Florida
California
Missouri
Tie
New York
Tennessee
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Indiana
Iowa
Arizona
Florida Lottery results for today: Fantasy 5 ticket worth $127,323
What states have the most Powerball jackpot winners?
Here are the top 10 luckiest states, ranked by the number of Powerball jackpot winners they've had in the last 20 years:
Pennsylvania - Sixth luckiest state, 18 winners
Florida - Luckiest state overall, 16 winners
Indiana - Eighth luckiest state, 13 winners
California and New York - Second and fourth (tied) luckiest states, 12 winners each
Missouri - Third luckiest state, 11 winners
Wisconsin - Seventh luckiest state, 9 winners
Arizona - 10th luckiest state, 8 winners
Tennessee - Fourth (tied) luckiest state, 7 winners
Iowa - Ninth luckiest state, 6 winners
What state has the best lottery payout?
Here are the average jackpot payout amounts, per winner, for each of the luckiest states, ranked by overall luckiness:
Florida - $175,471,014
California - $318,118,971
Missouri - $101,257,081
Tie
New York - $113,392,457
Tennessee - $236,717,421
Pennsylvania - $58,517,605
Wisconsin - $122,636,316
Indiana - $76,390,557
Iowa - $158,998,234
Arizona - $117,848,147
How much money has each of the luckiest states paid out in Powerball jackpots over the last 20 years?
Here are the total Powerball jackpot wins for each of the top 10 luckiest states for Powerball payouts, ranked by overall luckiness:
Florida - $2,807,536,222
California - $3,817,427,655
Missouri - $1,113,827,892
Tie
New York - $1,360,709,488
Tennessee - $1,657,021,944
Pennsylvania - $1,053,316,890
Wisconsin - $1,103,726,846
Indiana - $993,077,243
Iowa - $953,989,403
Arizona - $942,785,174
Lianna Norman covers trending news in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at lnorman@pbpost.com. You can follow her reporting on social media @LiannaNorman on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Powerball millions: Florida ranked 'luckiest' for jackpots and numbers