Buying lottery tickets is practically a pastime for New Yorkers — and it pays off.
The Empire State has had the most national lottery winners than any other state, with 43 Mega Millions and 12 Powerball jackpots, according to Casino.org.
And now Big Apple players have their dollars and dreams focused on Tuesday’s fifth-biggest $1.1 billion Mega Millions purse.
They also have their eye on Saturday’s $750 million Powerball jackpot — the ninth-largest in the game’s history — with Gothamites already spending $83.6 million on Powerball tickets, which is over 7% of the $1.07 billion spent across all participating Powerball jurisdictions, a state Gaming Commission spokesperson said.
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“New Yorkers have a long and lucky history when it comes to the lottery . . . [They] are rightfully excited about the astronomical jackpots of these games, and hopefully the lucky winners of both games are right here in the Empire State,” Brian O’Dwyer, the chairman of the commission, told The Post.
California has the second most Powerball and Mega Millions lottery wins combined, with 46 total jackpots, followed by Indiana, which has seen 41 winning tickets.
New York has amassed the most Mega Millions wins in the country, while Indiana has taken home 39 Powerball pots, the highest of all states, Casino.org found.
Wyoming, North Dakota and Mississippi have never seen a Powerball or Mega Millions winner.
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Almost $30 million of the total $83.6 million spent by New Yorkers on Powerball tickets in the past three months have gone toward aid to education, said O’Dwyer, who gushed that the Empire State “continues to be [home to] North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery.”
“In addition to creating thousands of instant millionaires over the past six decades, the New York Lottery has raised billions of dollars for New York’s schools — including $3.7 billion last year,” O’Dwyer said.
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Since the game’s first-ever drawing on Feb. 10, 2010, New Yorkers have spent $5.30 billion on tickets, which is almost 8% of the $69.63 billion spent across all states, the spokesperson said.
The five boroughs are home to 6,720 of the over 17,000 retailers that sell Powerball and Mega Millions tickets statewide. The borough with the most lottery ticket sellers is Brooklyn, with 2,078, followed by Queens (1,843), Manhattan (1,222), The Bronx (1,210) and Staten Island (367).
Just over a week ago, an Upper East Side deli clerk sold a $1 million Powerball ticket to a mystery person he described to The Post as “tall, handsome, quiet” woman in her 50s.
