As Wednesday’s PowerBall jackpot tops $400m, a new Gallup poll is poking holes in the widely held theory that poorer, less educated Americans are more likely to buy lottery tickets.

A telephone survey of 1,025 US adults in the month of June showed 49% of participants bought a state lottery ticket in the past 12 months. The figure is up from a historic low of 46% in 2007 but well off the 57% peak of the mid- to late-1990s, despite seven more states launching lotteries since that period.

Around 40% of participants who earned less than $36k per year had played the lottery in the past year, compared to 56% of those making between $36k and $90k, and 53% of those making over $90k.

The numbers were slightly more balanced in terms of education level, with 47% of those holding a high school diploma or less playing the lottery, compared to 53% of those holding a technical or college degree, while post-graduates scored lowest at 45%.