As gaming expands across the United States, we should see an increase in the number of states that offer an online lottery. Currently six states offer online lottery games and those are Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Kentucky.
Online lottery games are basically virtual scratch-off tickets, which is why a lot of states will have their own spin on crossword games like Cashword and their own spin on Bingo scratchers and all of those games that you are used to seeing in a convenience store or gas station.
With a lot of different technological options, however, you will also see some of the popular titles that you’ve seen in other gaming establishments, like Wizard of Oz, Gold Fish, Wheel of Fortune, and also some Keno variations.
The states with online lotteries also allow users to participate in the big lottery drawing like the Lotto, Mega Millions, and Powerball. You no longer have to wait in line to buy your tickets when those jackpots get big. You can just get your numbers virtually and be entered in the drawing.
With the Instant Play Games, the websites and apps offer demo modes so that you can learn the games before you sign up and play for real money. The state lottery programs offer sign-up bonuses for depositing and take several different types of deposit methods, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, PayPal, ACH or e-check transfers, or a Play+ account.
For most of the online lottery games, denominations start as low as 10 cents and go up to a max of $20, except for the multi-state lottery jackpot drawings.
Before we dig into each state, one last thing to mention is that the lottery apps for Android devices will need to be downloaded from the lottery website for each state because the Google Play Store does not allow for online gaming apps to be listed. There are apps for different state lotteries to check whether or not your tickets are winners, but in order to play games online, you will need to download the Android apps from the specific state’s lottery website. The Apple Store will have the apps for iOS users.
Here are some more details on each of the six states and their iLottery programs:
Pennsylvania iLottery
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is actually the newest jurisdiction to the party. Pennsylvania began its online lottery sales through the PA iLottery in May 2018. An expansion of gaming in Pennsylvania signed into law in the fall of 2017 included online lottery, along with online casinos and online poker.
Pennsylvania launched with Instant Play scratchers and Instant Draw Play games, but expanded to include the ability to play the Mega Millions and the Powerball.
Monies from the Pennsylvania lottery go to help out the state’s older residents and that is true of both the physical scratchers and jackpot drawing tickets and the online games as well.
Michigan iLottery
The Michigan Lottery has actually offered online sales since the fall of 2014. Less than a year and a half later, Michigan expanded from allowing Instant Keno and scratch-off tickets to accommodate those that wanted to play the lotto drawings, including the Powerball and Mega Millions.
Michigan’s list of online offerings includes Digital Scratch Tickets, Digital Lottery Tickets, Virtual Instant Lottery Games, Digital Draw-based Games, Match-Style Games, eInstants, Digital Instant Tickets, and Online Scratch Offs to go along with those big, multi-state drawings.
Monies from the Michigan lottery are put back into the state’s education system. The Michigan Lottery website is updated with new games each week and the testimonials on the website are proof that players have won and have won big.
Checkout our Michigan iLottery Bonus Code
Georgia iLottery
The state of Georgia was one of the earliest to adopt online lottery sales. The first state to the party was Illinois, but Georgia was only a few months behind and officially launched in November 2012. The Georgia Lottery is another one of those that is part of both the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots and numbers for those two drawings can be purchased online.
Georgia has partnered with Diggi Games to offer its interactive scratch-offs, including favorites like crosswords, bingo, Starship Keno, and other familiar titles that you’ve seen in the gaming world like Cleopatra, Wheel of Fortune, DaVinci Diamonds, Siberian Storm, and Little Green Men.
The Georgia Lottery goes to benefit education initiatives in the state, including tuition grants and scholarships and pre-K education for four-year-olds to give them a good start heading into grade school.
Illinois iLottery
Illinois has the longest-tenured state lottery in the United States. The state went online in March 2012, but actually started with a pilot program of just the state Lottery drawing and Mega Millions. By December 2012, Illinois increased its selections to feature Daily Lottery Games and Instant Games.
In Illinois, you can purchase draws on an individual basis or you can create subscriptions to regularly buy tickets for the Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto, Lucky Day Lotto, Pick 3, and Pick 4. You can also play the Instant Win games once you get an account set up.
The Illinois Lottery contributes to education and other social initiatives, including the Common School Fund and the Capital Projects Fund.
New Hampshire iLottery
New Hampshire went online with its lottery in September of 2017, just a few months after an expansion of lottery gaming was signed into law. Like the other states, New Hampshire also participates in the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot drawings and numbers for those two lottery events can be purchased online.
The New Hampshire iLottery includes a lot of e-Instant Games, including Instant Football Payout, Slapshot!, Treasure Bay, Blackjack Doubler, and Queen of Diamonds. Their selections are less numerous than some of the other states, but new games are added all the time and their denominations actually go as low as a penny or a nickel, so you can really have some low-risk fun.
The New Hampshire Lottery is actually the oldest legal lottery in the United States and goes to benefit New Hampshire schools.
Kentucky iLottery
The Commonwealth of Kentucky went online with the lottery in April 2016 after three years of hashing out details and creating plans. Kentucky actually approved an expansion of the lottery in 2013, but the process still isn’t all that streamlined. In Kentucky, deposited funds cannot be withdrawn, however, winnings can. Winnings in a player’s iWallet can be direct deposited or sent via check, but the initial deposit amount cannot be taken out. The minimum deposit is $10.
Keno, Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky for Life, and Kentucky Cash Ball 225 are the drawing games that can be played, but a lot of Instant Play Games are also available.
The Kentucky Lottery contributes to the Commonwealth with money for education, including college scholarships and grant programs.
