As of this writing, we here in the United States, especially those of us that play the lottery, recently watched the Mega Millions lottery grow into the third largest jackpot in our country’s history.
As it grew, many of us envisioned ourselves as the ones to hit the jackpot. We went out and did the only thing within our control to help our cause. We bought more tickets than normal.
I know this is what I did.
It swelled to $1.28 billion. As we woke up that one faithful Saturday, July 30th, 2022 only to discover that the sole winner of that jackpot was not us, it was an epic crash back to Earth and reality. Soon after followed the usual affirmation that the next time it’ll be us – the life of a lottery player.
But not everyone participated in this colossal drawing or many of the massive drawings that preceded it. Even individuals who might have wanted to participate missed out on the chance at fortune.
Why? What stopped them?
I don’t think people realize this, but there are states in our country that don’t participate in the Mega Millions lottery. In fact, these states offer no types of lotteries at all.
A total of 8 states don’t have any kind of lotteries (a number I find surprisingly high), so I wanted to dig in and find out why.
Firstly, here’s a list of the eight states that don’t offer or participate in any form of lotteries:
Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
Hawaii
Mississippi
Nevada
Utah
Wyoming.
The reasons these states refrain from lotteries differ, but if you live in one of these states, you have no access to play a Mega Millions or Powerball jackpot (unless you do it online).
But I find the reasons why these states don’t participate to be most interesting. Let’s get into that a bit more.
Alabama, Mississippi, and Utah are all states where a bulk of the population rejects lotteries on religious grounds. Lotteries are seen as forms of gambling, which is not condoned by Christian religions.
In Alabama in 1999, an amendment to the constitution that would allow for a state lottery was voted down, with 54% of the voters opposing the referendum. Apparently, not much talk of adding a state lottery has taken place since.
In Mississippi’s case, it seems to be more about the competition with casinos rather than just purely religious reasons. Mississippi has casinos, so obviously it’s not just about gambling.
Utah bans all forms of gambling and has had no talks about introducing lotteries. Nothing in Utah’s history indicates any change in this outlook anytime soon.
Nevada has introduced proposals to bring lotteries to that state, but these proposals are continuously voted down. Similar to Mississippi, it seems that a lottery would be viewed as competition with the casinos.
And it should be noted that it is not the citizens of Nevada that are rejecting lottery proposals. It’s happening in the state senate and house of representatives. 24 times lottery proposals have died on the floors of one of these houses.
Wyoming is a state that seemingly encounters the least resistance to a state lottery. Lottery proposals have been presented and voted down. However, these votes are very close and the margin of defeat is very small.
As with Nevada, it seems the resistance is more within the political arena rather than with the citizens themselves. Maybe with a few changes in elected offices, a state lottery is in Wyoming’s future.
Alaska and Hawaii seem to believe that they don’t need a lottery. Both states are isolated. Neither seems to even have discussions about adopting a state lottery.
Hawaii politicians, in particular, argue that funds from lottery proceeds aren’t necessary to maintain schools and other public works. It’s unlikely that you will be able to play the Hawaii Powerball anytime in the near future.
Just for the record, anybody can participate in almost any state lottery. You just have to do it online. Whatever state lottery you wish to play, you’d need to log into that state’s official lottery website and follow the instructions.
You might want to play on a state website that isn’t mandating that you show your face publicly to pick up your winnings. Your neighbors in Wyoming will never know how you are suddenly driving around in a brand new Rolls Royce.