A single winning ticket sold in the Meadowlands helped push New Jersey’s Bergen County to the top of the state for lottery winnings during the first four months of the year.
According to an analysis of New Jersey Lottery data by Patch, Bergen County recorded more than $32.6 million in reported lottery winnings between January and April — the highest total of any county in the state.
Much of that total came from Lyndhurst, where a Cash4Life ticket sold Feb. 19 at Krauszer’s Liquor Wine & Food Store matched the game’s top prize. The win accounted for nearly $29 million of the county’s total reported winnings.
Lottery officials said Bergen County’s high numbers are tied more to population density and ticket sales volume than to unusual luck.
Dean Ialacci, public information assistant for the New Jersey Lottery, told Patch that areas with more retailers and stronger ticket sales naturally produce more winning tickets over time.
“This can make it appear as though there are more winners in different parts of the state, but odds per ticket always remain the same,” Ialacci said.
The New Jersey Lottery distributes millions of tickets through more than 6,000 retailers statewide. Stores that sell tickets more quickly receive additional inventory, increasing the likelihood that a winning ticket will eventually be sold there.
“As always, winning tickets are completely random,” Ialacci said. “When you see trends in winner locations, it’s likely due to sales patterns.”
The Meadowlands region, with its dense residential communities, shopping corridors, and high-traffic retail locations, has long been one of the state’s busiest areas for lottery sales. Bergen County municipalities regularly appear on state lottery winner lists, particularly when large jackpots are involved.
Still, experts say players often misread patterns in lottery results.
Rong Chen, a statistics professor at Rutgers University, told Patch that people frequently look for geographic “hot streaks” or winning patterns that do not actually exist.
“In theory and in practice, all combinations have equal probability of winning,” Chen said. “And there is no ‘memory.’”
Chen said no mathematical strategy can improve the odds of winning because every number combination has the same chance of being selected.
The only practical advantage, he said, may come after a win. Players who pick less common number combinations could reduce the likelihood of sharing a jackpot with other winners, though it does not improve their chances of hitting the numbers in the first place.
Even so, Chen acknowledged that lottery play is often driven more by emotion and optimism than by strict math.
“A perfectly ‘rational’ person will not buy a lottery ticket, because the expected gain is always less than the price of the ticket,” Chen told Patch. “But we are not rational.”