I recently requested from the NJ Lottery a list of all the big prize winners, from 1988 to 2008. The winner’s location information is reported by ZIP Code, so I now have a map of the winners plotted out across the state and region.
Among the values mapped for each ZIP code area are the number of winners within, the total amount won, and a location quotient value that highlights areas where the number of winners in each ZIP code is far greater than the average distribution of winners throughout the state. Clicking on the map will highlight the ZIP code area selected, provide a summary of the statistics I have recorded, and allow you to see the entire list of winners by game, amount won and date.
So, here’s the Top 5 ZIP codes by number of winners, total amount one, and by location quotient ratio. The links will bring you to the Geography of Luck page.
Number of Winners
Amount Won
- 07070: $180,832,210.10
- 08221: $129,030,839.52
- 07010: $97,466,773.00
- 07002: $82,966,249.31
- 07090: $65,758,689.67
Location Quotient
- 07842: 22.2007 (2 winners in a ZIP code of 47 people for a total of $1,374,417.60 won.)
- 07428: 17.6869 (2 winners in a ZIP code of 59 people for a total of $20,000.00 won.)
- 07970: 15.4585 (8 winners in a ZIP code of 270 people for a total of $318,703.00 won.)
- 08036: 14.6081 (7 winners in a ZIP code of 250 people for a total of $288,700.44 won.)
- 07846: 9.6618 (1 winner in a ZIP code of 54 people for a total of $20,000.00 won.)
The location quotient is the (number of winners in ZIP/total number of winners)/(number of people in ZIP/total number of people).
I’m still working on some additional functionality, so if you think of any way I can improve this (or any other map on NJ State Atlas), please let me know in the comments, or by leaving feedback on Get Satisfaction. This project is done entirely in my spare time, so please be understanding if something is broken or not-quite-yet-perfect.
I just tested the page on IE 6 and the ability to select a ZIP polygon is not working. I will do some testing and hopefully have a fix soon. It looks like the problem is just limited to Internet Explorer.
You will be reinforcing all sorts of undesirable behavior if you continue to bend over backwards to accommodate IE6 users.
were these locations the places where they lived, or bought?
I think that there is something very wrong with the way the big Lottery winners are never in the Essex County as many stores are always flooded with people for all drawings from pick4 to pick6 and the scratch offs are the worst when. it comes to top prizes