List of luckiest lottery cities revealed — and where to buy in California

Good news for Californians wanting to press their luck, the Golden State is America’s luckiest state when it comes to National Lottery Day, according to a new analysis of lottery data.

The study, conducted by gambling information website Casino.org using historical lottery data obtained through Freedom of Information requests, reviewed more than 7,000 winning scratch-off and lottery tickets sold nationwide on July 17 between 2020 and 2024.

During that five-year span, more than $41 million was claimed from winning tickets sold on the annual date.

Rather than ranking locations by the size of jackpot prizes, researchers focused primarily on the number of winning tickets sold on July 17, making the findings a measure of how frequently players won on National Lottery Day rather than where the largest jackpots were hit.

California topped every other state, recording 2,195 winning tickets sold on July 17 during the five-year period — the highest total in the country.

Los Angeles also claimed the No. 1 spot among U.S. cities, with 198 winning tickets sold on National Lottery Day over the same timeframe. Those tickets paid out a combined $433,892 in prizes.

The city’s streak of luck has continued in recent years. According to the analysis, 45 winning lottery tickets were sold in Los Angeles on July 17, 2025, alone.

Researchers also identified Los Angeles’ luckiest retailer. H & T Unocal #2, located at 475 S. Ave. 60 in Highland Park, produced the most winning tickets in the city on July 17, with players collecting a combined $38,920 in prizes from tickets sold there since 2023.

While Los Angeles ranked first for the number of winning tickets, it was not the city that produced the largest total prize payouts. That distinction went to Danvers, Massachusetts, where July 17 winners claimed a combined $2.6 million during the five-year period.

Other cities topping the list for prize money included Orangeburg, South Carolina ($2.005 million), Tampa, Florida ($1.123 million), Delray Beach, Florida ($1.034 million), and Frisco, Texas ($1.033 million).

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The analysis was commissioned and compiled by Casino.org, which says it used exclusive Freedom of Information requests to collect historical lottery-winning data from across the United States. The website, founded in 1995, provides gambling news, casino reviews and betting guides, and says its rankings are based on more than 7,000 winning lottery and scratch-off tickets sold on July 17 over the last five years.

Although the findings highlight historical trends, they do not suggest that any particular city, retailer or state is more likely to produce future winners. Lottery games remain games of chance, with each drawing or scratch-off ticket carrying the same odds regardless of where it is purchased.