CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – What would you do if you won the lottery?

According to a new study by CasinosSweeps.com, West Virginia is in the top 10 of states most obsessed with the lottery.

To collect the data for this study, researchers created a list of how many times per month over the last year residents of each state searched terms related to the lottery. This list included more than 140 terms, including all major national lotteries, as well as phrases such as “where to buy lottery tickets near me,” or “What are the chances of winning the lottery?”

The study used the search volume, or number of searches for a specific term in a search engine within a specific timeframe, with a volume per 100,000 searches.

The Mountain State came in eighth place on the list with a an average monthly search volume of 18,763 lottery searches per 100,000 searches. Along with national games such as Powerball, Mega Millions and Lotto America, West Virginia Lottery also has drawings such as the Daily 3 and Daily 4, along with a wide variety of scratch-off games.

According to West Virginia Lottery’s website, the state’s Lottery Amendment was added to the State Constitution following a ballot vote that gained 67% voter approval on Nov. 6, 1984, and the passage of the Lottery Act in April 1985 by the West Virginia Legislature. Then-Governor Arch Moore, Jr., signed it into law that May.

The WV Lottery website says on the first day of lottery sales in the state, Jan. 9, 1986, more than 1.5 million tickets were sold.

The study found that Massachusetts residents are the most obsessed with the lottery. According to researchers, the state had an average monthly search volume of 24,510 lottery searches per 100,000 searches.

According to the study, Rhode Island comes in second with an average monthly search volume of 24,276 lottery searches per 100,000 searches. The Ocean State is followed by New Hampshire at 21,813 searches, Delaware at 21,680 searches and Wisconsin at 21,530 searches rounding out the top five.

Also above eighth-place West Virginia on the list are Maryland in sixth place at average monthly search volume of 19,171 lottery searches per 100,000 searches, and South Carolina at 19,046. Rounding out the top 10 are Nebraska at ninth with 17,560 searches and Iowa at 10th with 17,137 searches.

“Lotteries and sweepstakes have been popular throughout history, particularly across the U.S. Unlike other countries, each state has its own lottery, while allowing players to also participate in multi-state games,” said a spokesperson for CasinosSweeps. “The largest jackpot won on a single ticket was $2.04 billion from a California player in 2022. Despite U.S. lottery winnings being considered taxable income, this is still a life-changing amount. Winnings such as this draw people to play the lottery and the opportunity to support state services more directly.”