Ignition Casino study ranks Rhode Island ‘luckiest’ US state; Hawaii last

Rhode Island tops a new “luckiest states” ranking from Ignition Casino, with New Jersey and New York close behind, as East Coast states dominate the upper tier of the operator’s index.

Ignition Casino said its scoring model combines four weighted inputs for a total of 100 points: lottery jackpot “wins” (40 points, based on Powerball winners since 1992 and Mega Millions jackpot winners since 1996 per 1,000,000 residents), “gaming” access (30 points, based on casinos per state and population density per casino), “anomalies” (20 points, based on $1bn+ weather-loss events since 1980 plus weather-related injuries and deaths over the past 10 years), and “superstitions” (10 points, using Google Trends scores for “lucky charms”, “horoscopes”, and “win the lottery”).

On the overall table, Rhode Island scored 58.7, followed by New Jersey (56.5) and New York (54.9). Michigan and Delaware tied at 54.3, while Ohio (50.6), South Dakota (49.8) and Maryland (49.0) rounded out the top eight.

At the bottom, the study ranked Hawaii as the “most unlucky” state with a total luck score of 5.2, followed by Utah (7.4) and Tennessee (9.9). Texas also placed in the bottom five at 11.4, driven in part by a low “gaming” score (1.2) and a low “anomalies” score (1.1) in the operator’s methodology.

The component tables highlight how different factors drive outcomes. New Jersey led the “wins” category with a wins score of 21.6, while Nevada topped the “gaming” category at 29.9 based on 231 casinos and 13,439.9 people per casino. Connecticut led the “anomalies” category at 12.2, while Wyoming ranked first on the “superstitions” measure with a superstition score of 7.9. Ignition Casino cited sources including the US Census, Powerball and Mega Millions winner data, the American Gaming Association for casino counts, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information for disaster losses, injuryfacts.nsc for weather-related harm, and Google Trends.