Guide: Lottery Jackpot Value Score

Most states in the US are spoilt for choice when it comes to Lottery - for example, most states allow playing Powerball and Mega Millions, plus then have a state-wide lottery (e.g. Texas Lottery or Florida Lottery) and then have alternative state-wide options (e.g. Texas Two Step)

In fact, when you look at our State-Level Overview you can see it’s average to have five or six Lotteries to choose from.

When you consider the following, things start to get very confusing:

• Each lottery has a different size jackpot
• Each lottery has different probability of winning the jackpot
• Each lottery costs a different amount to play/bet on

Let’s input a couple of popular lotteries side-by-side to demonstrate the point:

Which lottery gives you the most Jackpot bang for your buck?

People often ask us... which lotto should I bet on or play if I want to:

• Have the best chance...
• To win the highest Jackpot...
• By spending the least amount

Tough eh! Time to dust off the High School Math text book and start working out some percentages? Luckily CompareTheLotto.com has done the hard work for you, and below we lift the lid on our trademark calculation for our Jackpot Value Score©

Jackpot Value Score©

((average jackpot size / odds of winning the jackpot) / cost to play) *100)

Now, let’s look at the same lotteries as above but with the Jackpot Value Score© worked out:

Note: The value calculations are based on average jackpots. The value could be better or worse depending on the live jackpots. As a jackpot goes over it's average jackpot it will become better value - i.e. You win more from the same stake and odds.

Now, when you look at pages like our Powerball or Mega Millions pages (or other State Lotteries) you can easily compare value.