Where $10 goes: lottery vs. online gambling
In the matched reporting states, $2.52 of every $10 in tickets goes to the state. On $10 of online sports bets, about $0.13 does. Counting only what players lose, the lottery sends the state about $8.60 of every $10; an online sportsbook sends about $1.48 and retains the rest for costs and profit.
Version 1 · Split bars
Version 2 · 100 dimes
Version 3 · Flow
Version 4 · Receipt
How this is figured
Lottery: prizes, operating costs and transfers to the state as shares of ticket sales, from the Census Bureau’s survey of state lottery finances for fiscal 2024, restricted to the states in each comparison. Operating costs include store commissions, vendor contracts and staff; the Census does not split them. Lotteries in Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia include video lottery terminals.
Online games: handle, gross gaming revenue and reported tax must cover all 12 calendar months of the same fiscal year as the lottery figures. The state’s share of bets is tax ÷ handle; its share of losses is tax ÷ gross gaming revenue. States without complete figures for all three measures are omitted; no national rate is substituted. Reported tax may include estimates and differs in coverage across states.
Matched reporting states: each game uses the fiscal-year window with the most complete reporting states. Both its lottery and online figures pool exactly those states and dates: 14 states for sportsbooks and 2 for casinos. The states and dates appear with each comparison. These samples are not national estimates.
Allocation: these figures show payments to players, government, and operating costs or revenue. They do not measure where recipients live or where money is subsequently spent. Online operator revenue after tax pays costs as well as profit.