Global Lottery Market Size Stats 2017–2022

Lotteries have been a part of human history since its beginning. Different forms of lotteries were recorded in the Old Testament; Roman emperors offered them for entertainment; French kings used them to balance state deficits; and modern states rely on lotteries to finance an important part of their public works. Lotteries are now a big business, involving more than 100 countries and 200 jurisdictions, and even in countries where traditional betting and casino-style gambling is outlawed, lotteries remain legal. This has led to a rise in lotteries’ share of overall gaming industry, from 2.3% in 2013 to 4% in 2016 and its current 29% share of the global gaming revenue.

Global lottery sales crossed the $300 billion mark for the first time in 2017. Lotteries have become the most popular form of gambling, by the Americans in a 1999–2000 survey and in a 2008 Gallup poll, as well as by the British, Canadians, Norwegians, and Thais.

Because of lotteries’ ubiquity, people do not consider them a form of gambling; women in the U.K. defended their lottery gambling as a leisure activity; students who bought scratch cards and state lottery tickets did not see themselves as gamblers [18]; and young people did not perceive buying lotteries and scratch cards as a form of gambling.

Not only is the lottery no longer viewed as gambling, gambling itself is no longer looked upon as a vice but as a refuge for women from the sense of alienation, a forum of social support for older adults, a social activity for relaxation, passing time, and getting away for the day.

With nearly half of all U.S. adults saying they play the state lottery at least once a year, it’s not surprising that the collective revenue for the US online gaming market topped $306.5 billion. In fact, Americans have been spending more money playing the lottery than on books, video games, and tickets for movies and sporting events combined since 2015 onward.