If you consider yourself an unlucky person, you now have permission to blame it on Texas.
A new ranking from online sports book BetUS listed the top 10 unluckiest cities in the country, with Texas happening to sweep - and this time, taking six of the top 10 spots isn't much of an honor. The ranking accounted for a few different factors to measure unluckiness across the 100 most populous cities in the U.S.: the number of casinos within 25 miles of the city center, the number of Mega Millions and Powerball winners, FEMA disaster exposure and lightning-strike survival rate.
Overall, nine Texas cities cracked the top 20, with Arlington at No. 18, Plano in the 14th spot and Laredo coming in just above. Corpus Christi rounded out the top 10 at No. 7, and two more Dallas-area cities inched towards the top - Frisco and McKinney in 6th and 5th places, respectively. That's not the end of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex's woes, though. Taking the silver and bronze spots were Irving and Garland.
According to BetUS, Irving in the third unluckiest city in the U.S. because it has no nearby casinos and has never produced a Mega Millions or Powerball winner, "leaving locals with few opportunities to test their luck."
"Even though everyone has survived disasters like lightning strikes, Irving's lack of lottery luck and high relative disaster exposure rate of 150.3 make it one of America's unluckiest cities," the ranking continued. The City of Irving's website lists severe storms, tornadoes and hail as typical natural disaster threats, but also mentioned its attractiveness to multinational corporations and major events as a reason why the city has been targeted in the past.
Garland took the No. 2 spot for many of the same reasons.
"Like the city at the bottom of the [top three], Garland doesn't have any nearby casinos or jackpot winners, and it also has a high risk of disasters. Although everyone has survived lightning strikes, this wasn't enough to make up for the other missing signs of luck," the ranking states.
While Dallas-area cities were six of the nine Texas cities listed overall, the top spot went to the the plains. Lubbock was named the country's unluckiest city amid lots of Texas competition. BetUS bestowed the title because Lubbock "does not have any nearby casinos or lottery jackpot winners, and it faces one of the highest disaster exposure rates at 140.2."
The takeaway? Living in Central Texas is looking even better. Meanwhile, Houston actually managed to come in at No. 10 on the list of the country's luckiest cities.
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This article originally published at Texas ranks near No. 1 among America's unluckiest states.