$158 Billion - ($53 Billion from casinos and mobile gaming apps + $105 billion in lottery)

 KEY POINTS

• Americans spent $108 billion on lottery tickets in 2022.
• You only have a 1 in 292 million chance of winning one of the largest jackpots.
• Putting a modest amount of money in an investment account each month can generate significant returns, though.

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With inflation still elevated, it's natural for people to look for an easy way to ease some of the financial pain. And focusing on finding a quick fix for your personal finances is understandable.

After all, home prices have increased nearly 30% since 2020, car prices are up, and last year consumers experienced the largest annual increase in food prices since the 1980s, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Even car insurance prices have skyrocketed recently.

Looking for a little financial relief has led many Americans to spend more on lottery tickets. But spending your hard-earned money on the lotto is almost always a losing battle, despite the promised potential of a huge payout.

Lottery ticket sales are on the rise

Spending on lottery tickets is up 20% from 2020, and ticket sales have topped $100 billion in each of the past two years. And last year, state lottery ticket sales reached an all-time high of nearly $108 billion, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL).

And if we look back over the past decade, it becomes even more apparent that Americans are comfortable spending an increasing amount on lottery tickets. Ticket sales were just $68.8 billion in 2012, compared with $108 billion last year, a massive 57% increase over 10 years.

Out of the 45 states that have lotteries, Florida sold the most tickets, with $9.3 billion in sales -- followed by California, with $8.9 billion in sales last year, according to NASPL.

In addition to rising inflation, another draw to lottery tickets may come from the size of some recent prizes. The largest single-ticket winning prize of $2 billion was awarded from the Powerball lotto just last year.

Those large jackpots do a good job of enticing more people to buy tickets, but the chances of winning are constantly working against you.

How to realistically turn a little money into a lot

Occasionally spending a few dollars on a lottery ticket certainly isn't going to break the bank. Many people only buy tickets when the jackpot reaches astronomical highs, which almost always doesn't work out well for them because the chances of winning the largest jackpots are far lower than games with smaller payouts.

The chances of winning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 292 million. A mathematics professor recently told the Associated Press that if someone bought a Powerball ticket three times a week for 80 years, they'd still be far more likely to get struck by lightning than to win the large payout.

But it's not just that the odds are stacked against you. It's also that when you spend that money on lottery tickets, you're taking it away from investment opportunities that have far better chances of making you money.

Let's say you spent $20 per month on lottery tickets over 30 years (totaling $7,200). If you opened a brokerage account and put $20 every month toward an index fund that tracked the S&P 500, you might earn a historical average rate of return of 8% per year -- giving you $27,400 at the end of the 30 years.

That's not an eye-watering amount of money compared to lottery jackpots, but it is far more realistic and achievable than hitting it big in the lotto. Sure, a few dollars here and there probably won't derail your personal finances. Just make sure you're putting far more effort -- and money -- into a real investment plan.

Americans gambled more money than ever before in 2021.

The nation’s casinos and gaming mobile apps rang up a record $53 billion in revenue last year, according to a report by the American Gaming Association. Revenue is up 21% from the previous annual record set in 2019, which was just before the pandemic forced much of the industry’s casinos to close for months.

Bill Miller, the president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, called 2021 a “remarkable” year during a press conference on Tuesday.

“Our incredible rate of recovery sets us apart from others in the hospitality sector and the broader economy,” says Miller. “I'm really optimistic about where we're headed. That optimism is rooted in our industry’s extraordinary recovery, topping $50 billion for the first time ever.”

The Las Vegas Strip is still king of gambling in America. The city brought in more than $7 billion in gross gaming revenue last year, according to the report. Atlantic City ranks number two with $2.6 billion in gross gaming revenue and the Chicagoland area come in third with just over $2 billion.

Across the country’s 34 gaming jurisdictions, 23 set records for full year gaming revenue in 2021.

While the boom in mobile sports betting garners most of the attention these days, in-person gambling still reigns supreme. Revenue growth was driven by in-person casinos, not mobile sports betting and iGaming (mobile card, slot and table games). Combined slot, table and physical sportsbook revenue hit $45.62 billion, or 85% of the total gambling revenue. Slot machines remain a sweet spot for casinos: revenue jumped 10% over 2019 for slots, while table game revenue only increased 1.1% during the same time.

Every market with physical casinos that feature slots, table games and in-person sports betting saw revenue increase from 2020 and 15 states beat 2019 gaming revenue.

While traffic is still down at casinos compared to pre-pandemic rates, an increase in consumer spending in most markets is carrying the industry to new heights. The average age of casino goers last year fell from 49 to 44 years old since the start of the pandemic.

Revenue from sports bettors is also on the rise. Last year, Americans wagered a record $57.22 billion on sports, up 165% from 2020, bringing in an all-time high in revenue of $4.29 billion.

The growth is mostly due to seven new markets between 2020 and 2021. Every market except one—Delaware—hit an annual wagering record. Currently, more than 100 million Americans can place a legal sports wager across 30 states. New Jersey, for the second year in a row, is the top sports betting market with $815 million in sports betting revenue. Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan, follow.