Most states have some form of lottery. I occasionally enjoy playing the lottery as a form of entertainment. $1 is not a large price to pay for a little day dreaming about what I would do with my giant jackpot which I fully realize I have virtually no realistic chance of winning. Lotteries are often criticized as being a rip off for the player.
I got data on the lottery payouts and state revenue for 2006 from the National Conference of State Legislature website. Its a few years old but I doubt the numbers have changed radically.
Nationally the average payout in prizes is 64.5% of the bets made. That means for every $1 spent on lottery games the players get back 64.5¢. Administration costs about 4¢ of every dollar. These are the costs spent to advertise the programs, make and sell tickets and pay lottery staff employees, etc. The remaining money left over after the prizes and administration is paid comes out to 31.5¢ of every dollar gambled. This money is kept by the state to use for roads and schools and such.
Here is a table with the % of funds that are paid out in prizes, used for administration and retained in profits by the state.
| Prizes | Admin | Proceed | |
| United States | 64.5% | 4.0% | 31.5% |
| Arizona | 59.2% | 8.6% | 32.1% |
| California | 58.0% | 4.6% | 37.5% |
| Colorado | 64.6% | 7.0% | 28.4% |
| Connecticut | 64.1% | 4.2% | 31.7% |
| Delaware | 55.1% | 1.1% | 43.8% |
| Florida | 63.1% | 3.9% | 33.0% |
| Georgia | 66.0% | 4.4% | 29.7% |
| Idaho | 63.1% | 8.5% | 28.3% |
| Illinois | 63.7% | 3.0% | 33.3% |
| Indiana | 64.9% | 6.3% | 28.8% |
| Iowa | 52.8% | 12.6% | 34.6% |
| Kansas | 61.7% | 10.8% | 27.5% |
| Kentucky | 64.0% | 6.3% | 29.8% |
| Louisiana | 53.6% | 8.8% | 37.6% |
| Maine | 67.6% | 7.5% | 24.9% |
| Maryland | 62.0% | 3.7% | 34.3% |
| Massachusetts | 77.0% | 2.0% | 21.0% |
| Michigan | 64.1% | 3.2% | 32.7% |
| Minnesota | 70.4% | 5.6% | 24.0% |
| Missouri | 66.8% | 4.0% | 29.2% |
| Montana | 55.1% | 19.1% | 25.8% |
| Nebraska | 60.1% | 11.9% | 28.0% |
| New Hampshire | 61.3% | 6.7% | 32.0% |
| New Jersey | 59.2% | 3.9% | 36.9% |
| New Mexico | 61.7% | 13.0% | 25.3% |
| New York | 61.2% | 4.2% | 34.6% |
| North Carolina | 62.3% | 7.5% | 30.1% |
| North Dakota | 52.0% | 16.1% | 31.9% |
| Ohio | 63.0% | 4.6% | 32.4% |
| Oklahoma | 57.2% | 6.9% | 36.0% |
| Oregon | 71.0% | 2.9% | 26.0% |
| Pennsylvania | 64.2% | 2.3% | 33.6% |
| Rhode Island | 78.5% | 0.5% | 21.0% |
| South Carolina | 66.0% | 4.0% | 29.9% |
| South Dakota | 78.1% | 1.3% | 20.6% |
| Tennessee | 66.7% | 5.6% | 27.8% |
| Texas | 64.5% | 5.2% | 30.4% |
| Vermont | 67.3% | 9.8% | 22.9% |
| Virginia | 60.0% | 5.0% | 35.0% |
| Washington | 65.2% | 7.5% | 27.3% |
| West Virginia | 56.4% | 1.5% | 42.1% |
| Wisconsin | 62.0% | 6.1% | 31.8% |
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