COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio is among the states most affected by lottery and sweepstakes scams, according to a recent study.

Vegas Insider, a sports betting information website, compiled lottery and sweepstakes fraud data from the Federal Trade Commission spanning from January 2020 through June 2025. To determine the worst states for the scams, the platform analyzed the total money lost and the number of scam reports per one million residents in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Ohio ranked as the fourth-most impacted state by lottery and sweepstakes, registering $34.6 million in losses and 2,152 reports per one million residents over the five-year period.

“The state’s active sweepstakes scene gives scammers easy cover to pose as ‘second-chance drawings,’ charging bogus processing or

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