Despite nationwide economic uncertainty, local market consumer research firm Scarborough reveals insights
into the demographics and local markets for which dreams of winning big are
high. According to this new study, 39% (or 91 million) of all American adults
18+ have purchased a lottery ticket in the past 30 days.
Baby Boomers
(ages 45-64) accounted for the largest proportion of lottery ticket purchasers,
with 37% of all those saying they had purchased a ticket in the past 30 days
falling in this age group. Gen X (30-44) was the next largest group at 29%,
followed by Gen Y (18-29), at 18%, and the Silent Generation (65+), at
16%.
Though lottery ticket purchasers were 16% less likely than all
Americans to hold at least a college degree, 62% were employed either full- or
part-time, and more held white collar jobs (37%) than blue collar (25%).
Accordingly, one-third of lottery ticket purchasers (33%) had an annual
household income of $75,000 or more.
Of this population courting lady
luck, 34% purchased only scratch-off tickets, 31% purchased only non-scratch-off
tickets, and 35% purchased both kinds of tickets. The top local market for
scratch-off ticket purchasers is Buffalo, NY, with just shy of half the
population (49%) purchasing a ticket. The top local markets for non-scratch-off
ticket purchasers are Orlando, FL, Providence, RI, and Tampa, FL
(38%).
Buffalo also ranks as the top local market for purchasers of any
type of lottery ticket in the last 30 days, at 57%. Following Buffalo are
Providence (56%), Albany, NY (51%), Pittsburgh, PA (50%), New York, NY (50%),
Boston, MA (49%), Harlingen, TX (49%), Miami, FL (48%), Rochester, NY (48%),
Orlando (48%), Syracuse, NY (48%), Flint, MI (48%), and Detroit, MI
(48%).
The local markets least likely to purchase lottery tickets are Las
Vegas (13%), Salt Lake City (8%) and Honolulu (5%).
When it comes to
media usage, nearly three quarters (74%) of lottery ticket purchasers listened
to five or more hours of radio in the past five days, and 83% watched 10 or more
hours of TV in the past seven days. Fifty-eight percent of these potential big
winners read one or more newspapers in the past seven days, with 42% saying they
generally read the Sports section Monday through Friday.
Nearly three
quarters (73%) of lottery ticket buyers have accessed the Internet in the past
30 days -- right about the national average. Of this Internet-friendly group,
more than a third (37%) spent 10 hours or more per week
online.
Source: Scarborough Research, 01/30/12