Abstract
This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ticket sales for the Powerball and Mega Millions lottery games. Using data by state and drawing, I find a significant decline in sales, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. Next, I examine whether state stay-at-home order policies coincided with the decline in sales and find that sales were significantly lower when such an order was in place. Further, the impact of policy on sales is found to differ based on political preferences. Stay-at-home orders reduced sales by roughly 6% in states that voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, while the effect in states that voted for Hillary Clinton was more than doubled, at around 14%. The relationships between unemployment claims and COVID-19 cases in a state and lottery sales in that state are explored.