18 Surprising Things Americans Spend Less Money On Per Year Than Lottery Tickets

The average American adult spent $432.28 on lottery tickets in 2023.

Does that sound like a lot? Less than you thought? More?

According to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL), U.S. lottery sales reached $113.3 billion in 2023. Divide that mammoth total by the American adult population in 2023 according to the U.S. census (262.1 million), and you get our average …

$432.28.

So let’s get some context for that number. Lottery Geeks combed through spending data among American adults to find surprising categories that received less wallet share on an annual basis than lottery tickets.

Smoking

Average: $206.11

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. household spent $371 on smoking and tobacco-related products in 2022 (its latest year of data). And there were 1.8 adults per household, on average.

So … 371 divided by 1.8 … and you get your average-American-adult spending total of $206.11.

Perhaps some of these spenders also bought a couple lottery tickets during trips for smokes?

Reading

Average: $65

C’mon America. This is a little sad. Is this because you’re all borrowing from the library? It isn’t. Well, numbers from the same Bureau of Labor Statistics report say the average U.S. adult spent just more than a third as much as smoking on reading and less than everything else on this list. This category includes both books and e-books on e-readers.

Toilet paper

Average: $182

For some reason this feels a bit low. But TUSHY polled 2,000 Americans in 2020 to get this figure, so we’ll roll with it. 

And for toilet paper-related studies, yes, we’re going to trust the figures from bidet manufacturer TUSHY.

Pet food

Dog food average: $339

Cat food average: $310

This confirms that Americans love the potential of making money more than their pets. Right? 

Per data from Forbes Advisor, dogs cost their adults an average of $339 per year for food and cats are a bit cheaper at $310. This is an average, of course, as larger breeds are going to cost more. And brands vary in price greatly, too.

Movie and TV streaming services

Hulu: $215.88 

Netflix: $185.88 

Hulu costs $215.88 per year if you don’t want any ads. And the standard no-ad version of Netflix costs $185.88 per year. Combine both of these and you’re still spending less ($401.76) than the average adult spent in 2023 on lottery tickets.

Music streaming services

Apple Music: $131.88 

Spotify Premium: $143.88

Let’s stay on the streaming train — this time with music. 

Apple Music costs $10.99 per month and Spotify Premium costs $11.99. For the year, that comes out to $131.88 and $143.88. Again, combine these two ($275.76) and you’ve still got plenty of room to spare before you reach $432.28.

Video games

Average: $218.24

Americans spent $57.2 billion on video games in 2023. 

So, divide that by the 2023 U.S. adult population (who would have spent the vast majority of that $57.2 billion), and you get $218.24. Of course, there are some video games out there now where you can actually make money … or even lose money.

But that’s another discussion for another day.

Ice cream

Average: $74.79

How in the world are American adults spending this little on ice cream? This is the most shocking number. By far. But we’ll trust Statista on this one.

Bank fees

Average: $329

This just makes you angry, right? 

First of all: What the heck are bank fees? These are things like service fees, inactivity fees, account closing fees, etc. Anyway … Americans spent $329 to basically have access to their own money in 2020, so you can bet it’s a similar number nowadays too.

Sorry for ruining your day, by the way. Hey, you could always switch to a credit union.

Laundry and cleaning supplies

Average: $169.83

The fact that Americans spend 154.5% more on lottery tickets than they do on products to literally keep their clothes and house clean is a bit upsetting. This total is from 2022. At least it’s a bit higher than 2014, when we spent $147.55 on average.

Haircuts

Average: $198

Per an Advanced Dermatology survey in 2022, women reported spending $228 per year on haircuts and men reported spending $168. You know … so they can look good holding their Cash 4 Life checks.

All types of meat

Beef: $162.78

Pork: $123.89

Poultry: $112.78

Fish and seafood: $98.89

These totals are based on 2021 numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, because that year’s data includes a breakdown of spending on specific meat groups. This means the average U.S. adult makes more convenience store lottery ticket trips than Taco Bell runs, right?

Fresh produce

Fresh fruit: $210

Fresh vegetables: $182.22

First of all: Yes, let’s all process that the average American adult spends more on lottery tickets and games than they do fruits and veggies. But let’s also acknowledge that the average adult spends more on fresh produce than any individual meat group. That feels like a mild surprise.

Candy

Average: $101.11

Yeah, winning $20 on a scratcher is sweeter than a box of Milk Duds. Makes sense.

Dairy products

Average: $295.55

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, Americans like lottery tickets more than butter. And yogurt and sour cream.

But in all seriousness, there’s a lot that can fit in the dairy category, so it’s interesting to still see the average U.S. adult spending much more on lottery tickets.

Alcohol

Average: $323.89

Before reading this story, would you have believed the average American adult spends more than $100 more on lottery tickets than alcohol per year? It’s true. And it’s eye-opening, for sure.

Cereal and bakery goods

Average: $395.56

Kind of odd that the Bureau of Labor Statistics combines croissants and Cap’n Crunch but we won’t quibble with the statisticians. Either way, Big Breakfast is making less off of U.S. adults than state lotteries.

Life insurance

Average: $288.33 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics officially labels this category as “life and other personal insurance.” Whatever is included in that (we’re guessing it’s mostly life insurance premiums), it’s undeniably funny that American adults spend more on random-odds chances at money and life-altering sums of money, than they do on insurance policies for their actual lives.