• Press Releases
    • Submit a press release
    • Read All
  • Contact us
Advertise
Bitcoinist.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Bitcoin
    • News
    • Price
    • Businesses
    • Acceptance
    • Technology
    • Investment
    • Regulation
    • Reviews
    • All Bitcoin News
  • Altcoins
    • News
    • Price
    • Ethereum
    • Ripple
    • Litecoin
    • EOS
    • NAGA
    • All Altcoin News
  • Tech
    • Blockchain
    • Security
    • FinTech
    • Price
      • Bitcoin Price
      • Ethereum Price
      • Binance Coin Price
      • Litecoin Price
  • Industry
    • Industry News
    • Press Releases
  • How to
    • Buy gift cards/mobile Top Ups with Cryptos
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • Best Bitcoin Wallet
    • Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • Why Use Blockchain Technology?
    • Bitcoin Cash ABC vs. Bitcoin Cash SV
    • How to Buy Cryptocurrency
    • How to do Crypto Gambling
      • Crypto Casinos
        • Ethereum Casinos
        • Solana Casinos
        • LiteCoin Casinos
        • DogeCoin Casinos
        • Live Crypto Casinos
        • New Casinos
        • Instant Withdrawal Casinos
        • Cash App Casinos
        • No KYC Casinos
        • VPN Casinos
        • Offshore Casinos
          • Crypto Casinos IT
          • Crypto Casinos ES
            • All Guides
          • Crypto Casinos JP
          • Crypto Casinos SG
          • Crypto Casinos MY
          • Crypto Casinos KR
          • No GAMSTOP Casinos in UK
          • No Cruks Casinos NL
      • Crypto Betting
        • No ID sportsbooks
    • Play Crypto Games
      • Crypto Poker
      • Crypto Slots
      • Crypto Blackjack
      • Crypto Crash Gambling
        • Aviator Sites
      • Plinko
    • Bitcoin Mining
    • Best Bitcoin Brokers
    • Best Bitcoin Forex Brokers
    • How To Earn Bitcoin
    • What is Facebook Libra?
    • Ripple and XRP: The Complete Guide
  • Events
  • Play Games
Breaking News: Will Trump Pardon Sam Bankman-Fried? Polymarket Odds Surge as Traders React to CZ’s Release
  • Bitcoin
    • News
    • Price
    • Businesses
    • Acceptance
    • Technology
    • Investment
    • Regulation
    • Reviews
    • All Bitcoin News
  • Altcoins
    • News
    • Price
    • Ethereum
    • Ripple
    • Litecoin
    • EOS
    • NAGA
    • All Altcoin News
  • Tech
    • Blockchain
    • Security
    • FinTech
    • Price
      • Bitcoin Price
      • Ethereum Price
      • Binance Coin Price
      • Litecoin Price
  • Industry
    • Industry News
    • Press Releases
  • How to
    • Buy gift cards/mobile Top Ups with Cryptos
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • Best Bitcoin Wallet
    • Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • Why Use Blockchain Technology?
    • Bitcoin Cash ABC vs. Bitcoin Cash SV
    • How to Buy Cryptocurrency
    • How to do Crypto Gambling
      • Crypto Casinos
        • Ethereum Casinos
        • Solana Casinos
        • LiteCoin Casinos
        • DogeCoin Casinos
        • Live Crypto Casinos
        • New Casinos
        • Instant Withdrawal Casinos
        • Cash App Casinos
        • No KYC Casinos
        • VPN Casinos
        • Offshore Casinos
          • Crypto Casinos IT
          • Crypto Casinos ES
            • All Guides
          • Crypto Casinos JP
          • Crypto Casinos SG
          • Crypto Casinos MY
          • Crypto Casinos KR
          • No GAMSTOP Casinos in UK
          • No Cruks Casinos NL
      • Crypto Betting
        • No ID sportsbooks
    • Play Crypto Games
      • Crypto Poker
      • Crypto Slots
      • Crypto Blackjack
      • Crypto Crash Gambling
        • Aviator Sites
      • Plinko
    • Bitcoin Mining
    • Best Bitcoin Brokers
    • Best Bitcoin Forex Brokers
    • How To Earn Bitcoin
    • What is Facebook Libra?
    • Ripple and XRP: The Complete Guide
  • Events
  • Play Games
Bitcoinist.com
No Result
View All Result
Breaking News: Will Trump Pardon Sam Bankman-Fried? Polymarket Odds Surge as Traders React to CZ’s Release
Lottery tickets

Bitcoin Too Risky? US Lottery Ticket Sales Exceed Entire BTC Market Cap

Christina Comben
by Christina Comben
6 years ago
·
Posted in Bitcoin, News, News teaser
Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Every year, US citizens spend north of $70 billion on state lottery tickets. That’s almost $8 billion more than the entire market cap of Bitcoin. And more than half of the entire crypto market as a whole.


US Citizens Spend Billions on Lottery Tickets

Comparison is a great way of putting things in context. Lose your wallet, arrive late to a meeting, miss a flight… These can all seem like catastrophic events when you’re living through the painful moment. But there’s usually a voice of reason from your partner, a caring relative or stranger, or simply just turning on the news. People are dying in Africa. Your problem is insignificant.

In a similar and yet totally off-the-topic sort of a way, the US state lottery spend does the same thing to crypto. In the US every year, they spend more than the entire market cap of Bitcoin on lottery tickets. Money that is simply shot straight into the drain.

The latest accurate information on just how much of their savings the hopeful masses plow into lottery tickets is from 2016, the latest year the US Census has data on.

And in 2016, some $80.55 billion was readily thrown away on what is to all intents and purposes just another tax, albeit one that citizens willingly pay.

US Spend on Lottery Tickets
US Spend on Lottery Tickets

In 2017, the number dropped a little with CNN placing it at approximately $73.5 billion.

Here’s another mindblower for you. About half of all US adults buy a state lottery ticket. Around five percent of them hold Bitcoin.

Facebook Active Users Make Bitcoin Look Tiny

And just one more comparison to give you food for thought. Despite gathering controversy over data usage and leaks, Facebook has almost 2.3 billion active monthly users around the world.

Facebook Monthly Users
Facebook Active Monthly Users

How many does crypto have? It hasn’t quite pierced 32 million. With Bitcoin Market Journal placing the number at 22 million Bitcoin wallets as of July 2018.

Okay, so Facebook had a headstart on Bitcoin of four years. It was also a free product until people realized they were paying with their data. But still, 2 billion+ for a social media platform compared with less than a third of a billion for a revolutionary neutral, sound money based financial system puts things into perspective.

Moreover, of the people who have actually heard of Bitcoin around the world, a recent video by Naomi Brockwell shows that the majority have no idea what it is.

What Does All This Mean?

Bitcoin may be all-consuming in the lives of many, but it’s barely a fly on the windshield of most people around the world. It’s still early days. However, let’s do the math:

According to the Washington Post, taking a state by state average on US lottery spend places the figure at around $600 per person per year.

If the average person had invested $600 in Bitcoin in January 2016, they would have scored around 1.25 bitcoin. By January 2018, that would have translated into $21,250.

Even if they didn’t cash in on their investment back then, they’d still have around $4,500 now–rather more useful than a pile of scraps of paper.

It’s interesting that Harvard professor Ken Rogoff compared buying Bitcoin to buying a lottery ticket. Even with fewer users than the most unpopular of social media platforms, and a market cap dwarfed by US lottery sales, the simple numbers alone prove this to be incorrect.

Not to mention the obvious fact that when buying bitcoin, everyone holding wins. When buying a lottery ticket, only one person in hundreds of millions of people wins.

With odds at something like 100 million to one, even your chances of riding a spontaneous ‘shitcoin’ pump are infinitely higher. Whichever way you swing it, lottery tickets are mathematically proven to get you rekt–and it’s still an $80-billion industry in the US alone.

Would you rather buy bitcoin than a lottery ticket? Share your thoughts below!


Images courtesy of Shutterstock

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.
ShareTweetShareShare

Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

For updates and exclusive offers enter your email.

I consent to my submitted data being collected and stored.
Christina Comben

Christina Comben

Follow

Full Profile

Related Posts

Bitcoin iPhone

An Internal War Is Raging For Bitcoin And A Hard Fork Could Be The End Case

5 hours ago
Биткоин

Биткоин подорожал на 4% за сутки: инвесторы усиливают позиции

11 hours ago
Trump

Trump Faces New Blow — Lawmaker Pushes Ban On His Crypto And Stock Trading

12 hours ago
Белият дом туит

Туитът за Белия дом на GameStop предизвиква интерес около WLFI, докато обемът скача до $222M. Ще бъде ли Maxi Doge следващата криптовалута с успех?

14 hours ago
มหานครโตเกียวล้ำยุคกับตึกเรืองแสงโลโก้ Bitcoin

แก้เกมด่วน! Metaplanet ใช้ Bitcoin ค้ำซื้อหุ้นคืน 500 ล้าน ดึงความเชื่อมั่นกลับตลาด

16 hours ago
Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s Warning Realized: Iranian Bank Goes Bankrupt, Millions Affected

22 hours ago
Please login to join discussion

Premium Sponsors

Press Releases

  • Белият дом туит

    Туитът за Белия дом на GameStop...

    14 hours ago
  • ...

    16 hours ago
  • Snorter Bot...

    5 days ago
  • ORIGIN Protocol's LGNS Achieves Historic Milestone: Liquidity Tops $194 Million, Reclaiming Title as Global Leader in DeFi

    ORIGIN Protocol’s LGNS Achieves Major Milestone...

    6 days ago
  • bonus kcex

    Bonus KCEX: promozione da $21.000 con un bonus deposito del...

    7 days ago

Bitcoin news portal providing breaking news, guides, price analysis about decentralized digital money & blockchain technology.

Bitcoin

  • News
  • Price
  • Businesses
  • Acceptance
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Regulation
  • Reviews

Altcoins

  • News
  • Price
  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Litecoin
  • EOS

Categories

  • Blockchain
  • Security
  • FinTech
  • Technology
  • Trending
  • Breaking News
  • Press Releases
  • How to

About Us

  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy
© 2025 Bitcoinist.com. All Rights Reserved.
  • Bitcoin
    • News
    • Price
    • Businesses
    • Acceptance
    • Technology
    • Investment
    • Regulation
    • Reviews
    • All Bitcoin News
  • Altcoins
    • News
    • Price
    • Ethereum
    • Ripple
    • Litecoin
    • EOS
    • NAGA
    • All Altcoin News
  • Tech
    • Blockchain
    • Security
    • FinTech
    • Price
      • Bitcoin Price
      • Ethereum Price
      • Binance Coin Price
      • Litecoin Price
  • Industry
    • Industry News
    • Press Releases
  • How to
    • Buy gift cards/mobile Top Ups with Cryptos
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • Best Bitcoin Wallet
    • Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • Why Use Blockchain Technology?
    • Bitcoin Cash ABC vs. Bitcoin Cash SV
    • How to Buy Cryptocurrency
    • How to do Crypto Gambling
      • Crypto Casinos
      • Crypto Betting
    • Play Crypto Games
      • Crypto Poker
      • Crypto Slots
      • Crypto Blackjack
      • Crypto Crash Gambling
      • Plinko
    • Bitcoin Mining
    • Best Bitcoin Brokers
    • Best Bitcoin Forex Brokers
    • How To Earn Bitcoin
    • What is Facebook Libra?
    • Ripple and XRP: The Complete Guide
  • Events
  • Play Games
Advertise

© 2025 Bitcoinist. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy Center or Cookie Policy.