National Lottery Day is July 17th!
In recognition, LouisianaBets.com has decided to break from Louisiana sportsbooks to examine how Louisiana stacks up to other states in terms of luck playing the lotto. Using Powerball.com’s Media Center, we compiled a list of the top ten Powerball participating states according to the number of winners they’ve produced.
So, where does Louisiana slot in?
Luckiest Lottery States
How Lucky is Louisiana?
Turns out Indiana residents are the luckiest of all, with 39 Powerball winners hailing from the Hoosier State. Meanwhile, at number two, Missouri has seen 31 jackpots claimed within state limits. Minnesota is the third luckiest state, with 22 winners since the Powerball lottery began in 1988.
For its part, Louisiana didn’t begin offering Powerball until 1995. Still, there have been 17 winners since that time.
The two most recent Powerball wins occurred during a five-month span between October 2017 and March 2018 — including a $191.1 million ticket that paid out as the biggest lotto prize in Louisiana history. However, in both cases, the recipients chose to keep their identities a secret.
Likewise, the winners of $50 million in May 2013 and $85.7 million in July 2010 granted legal representatives the power of attorney to accept their lucky tickets.
It’s not uncommon for lottery winners to opt out of sharing their identity with the public — especially in recent years. The Powerball prize has brought a significant amount of unwanted attention to its recipients. Many have become both the target of scams and also had their identity impersonated by scammers. And this sudden influx of money has been known to harm even the closest personal relationships.
The last Louisiana resident to put their face to a Powerball win was Emilia Delgado who scored $34.1 million in 2008. At the time, the forty-five-year-old Kenner resident was working as a neonatal nurse.
It was part of another lucky run for Louisiana lottery players. In less than a calendar year, the state saw three winners. Prior to Emilia’s win, William Heid Jr. hit a $15 million payday in September of 2007. Then, Carl Hunter, the owner of a construction company who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina, was awarded $97 million in January of 2008
Now the Powerball jackpot is approaching new highs once again. Will it go to a Louisiana resident for the first time in over five years? Now's as good a time as ever to try your luck at the Powerball or on one of the best Louisiana sports betting apps.
Author
Jeff Parker is an entertainment writer for LouisianaBets.com. A writer for film, television and the internet, Jeff is a life long movie buff, with a Masters Degree in Popular Culture. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works full time as documentary filmmaker and producer.
