How to Buy a Lottery Ticket

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Last Updated: December 17, 2024 Fact Checked

Lottery tickets are an easy, accessible way for expert gamblers and novices alike to compete for a massive prize. For first-timers, the prospect of buying a lottery ticket and making a bet can be the source of jitters, but with a good understanding of lottery rules and realistic expectations, lottery tickets can be stress-free sources of fun. Note, however, that, like all forms of gambling, when you bet on a lottery ticket, you stand to lose your money, so don't bet anything you can't part with! See Step 1 below to begin.

Part 1

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Buying a Basic Lottery Ticket

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Buying in Person

1
Determine how much you want to spend before you leave. When it comes to buying lottery tickets, it's generally best to budget out the money you intend to spend before you even see your ticket. Doing this allows you to be an educated gambler by limiting your spending — this way, there's less of a chance that you' ll feel tempted to bet more money than you can stand to lose.
- In addition, if you're not 100% sure about whether the lottery is legal in your state or country, you may want to check online.^{[1]
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  PubMed Central
  Journal archive from the U.S. National Institutes of Health
  
  Go to source} In the United States, 43 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have lotteries.
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Go to a grocery or convenience store. If lottery tickets are legal in your state, you'll generally be able to buy them at grocery stores (especially large chains), convenience stores, and gas stations. Though not every single one of these locations will carry and sell lottery tickets, many will. A good general rule is, "if you can buy cigarettes at this place, there's a good chance you can buy lottery tickets".
- Many lotteries have online tools that can help you locate licensed retailers. For instance, the California State Lottery's online retailer locator allows you to search for vendors near any given address in the state.
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If necessary, provide proof of your age. Like smoking, drinking, and other forms of gambling, playing the lottery is usually something that isn't legal until someone reaches a certain age. This can vary from state to state and country to country. In the United States, the most common minimum age for playing the lottery is 18, though exceptions exist. When you attempt to buy a lottery ticket, you may be asked to present identification in order to prove that you're old enough to legally play.
- For a list of lottery-playing ages in every U.S. state and territory, click here.
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Pick your numbers. All lotteries are different, but most share certain qualities when it comes to how you make your bet. Generally, if you want to buy a lotto ticket, when you get to the store, you'll ask for your desired ticket (many states and countries have more than one lottery game for you to choose from), then pick the numbers you want to bet on. This is usually done by marking the numbers in a grid on an official lottery playslip. When you've picked the numbers you want, give your playslip back.^{[2]
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- As an example, let's look at the Powerball Lottery, a lottery played in most U.S. states that often has a very high jackpot amount. To bet on this lottery, you'll need to pick five numbers from 1-69 (without repeating) and one number from 1-26. On the playslip, you'll see a grid with the number 1-69 and another section with the numbers 1-26. Mark five numbers in the first section and one in the second as directed, then turn your playslip in.
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Alternatively, use a random betting option. If you're in a hurry or you simply don't care which numbers you pick, most modern lotteries allow you to let a computer randomly pick a number for you. Usually, in this case, there will be a box or section on the playslip for you to mark to indicate that you accept whatever set of numbers the computer picks for you. If you pick this option, you don't have to indicate any numbers on the playslip.
- For example, the Powerball Lottery gives you the option to select "Quick Pick" on your ticket, which will assign you five random numbers from 1-69 and one from 1-26. You can also limit the Quick Pick to just the first set of five numbers or the final 1-26 number.^{[3]
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Indicate whether you would like to play multiple draws. When you buy a lottery ticket, you don't find out if you've won right away. Instead, you have to wait for the official lottery drawing, in which a set of winning numbers are chosen at random. If you pay only the base price for your ticket, it will expire after one draw and you'll have to buy a new one if you want to play again. However, many lotteries allow you to pay for more than one draw at once. In other words, if you buy a set of ten draws at ten times the price of a normal ticket, you'll be able to use your set of numbers for ten drawings in a row.
- Most lotteries that allow you to do this will have a space on the playslip for you to mark to indicate how many draws you want to pay for. For instance, in the Powerball Lottery, this section is labeled "Advanced Play" and contains the option to indicate two through eight or ten consecutive draws.
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Buy your ticket. When you've finished filling out your playslip, give it a quick review to ensure that everything is filled out exactly how you'd like it. Then, turn it in and pay for your bets — keep in mind that, for multiple draws, each draw will be the price of an additional ticket. You'll be handed a ticket (which serves as your receipt) in return. You may need to sign the back of this ticket to validate it.
- Don't lose this ticket — it's proof that you purchased your specific set of lottery numbers.
- If you notice any mistakes on your ticket, don't attempt to erase and rewrite them, as this can interfere with the computer's ability to read the ticket. Instead, most tickets will have a space for you to mark "Void" or "Cancel". Mark this box, then carefully re-make your selections on another section of the playslip.
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Wait for the draw. When you've purchased your set of numbers and have your ticket with you, you can leave. Now, all you need to do is wait for the next official drawing. Different lotteries have their drawing at different dates and times — you can find the next drawing for your lottery by asking the clerk at your preferred retailer or checking your lottery's official website. Drawing results are displayed on official lottery websites and, for small local lotteries, sometimes on public access television.
- For instance, for the Powerball, drawings occur every Wednesday and Saturday at about 7:59 PM Pacific Time.^{[4]
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  Research source} The cutoff for each draw is at 7:00 PM on the day of the draw. Tickets purchased after this point count towards the next draw.
- If your numbers match the numbers drawn perfectly, you've won! If they match partially, you may have won — check your lottery's official payout rules for more information.
- If you miss a draw, don't forget to look up the results online! Lottery tickets (including Powerball tickets) usually do expire. If you have a winning ticket, especially for the jackpot prize, it is best to consult a financial adviser before claiming your prize.

Buying Online

1
Visit a reputable online lottery vendor. If you don't live somewhere where the lottery is legal but you still want to play, consider buying tickets online. Many online lottery vendors offer a service where you pay the site to buy a ticket for you. If you win, the site sends you your winnings. Using this system, it's relatively simple to play in lotteries in places you don't live. However, before exchanging any money, you'll want to ensure that the site you're using is reputable and professionally-run. Online lottery sites aren't well-regulated, so it's smart to use a website review repository like Sitejabber to find good sites or try one of the reputable sites below:
- Lotteryuniverse.com
2
Review your state or country's legal situation. The legal situation surrounding the process of buying and selling lottery tickets online is a murky, nebulous one, especially in the United States. Technically, state lotteries only have the legal right to sell their tickets within the state's borders. Online lottery vendors get around this hurdle by acting only as "service agencies" — you give them your money, they buy the ticket for you legally, then send you your money if you win. It's not hard to guess that this practice is the subject of some legal controversy, so double-check the local laws where you live before spending any money on online lotto tickets.
- At the very least, you'll want to ensure that you're old enough to legally play the lottery. Minimum lottery-playing ages in the U.S. are available here.
- Note that some U.S. states, like Illinois, have recently allowed online lotto ticket sales.^{[5]
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Because most online lottery ticket services allow you to buy tickets at face value, they sometimes try to make money by requiring their users to register an account with the site and pay a subscription fee. This fee is usually fairly cheap — often on the order of $10 per month — and is often reduced if the user pays for an extended membership. Some sites offer the ability to buy tickets for free but offer extra features to paying members.
All online lottery ticket vendors should give you the ability to pick precisely the numbers and options you want on your ticket as you normally would. First, pick your numbers, then choose the number of draws you'd like, then choose any additional options and proceed to the checkout phase.^{[6]
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Pay for your ticket. Like almost all online retailers, online lottery vendors allow you to review your order on a "checkout" screen before confirming your payment information. Make sure everything is in order, then proceed to input your payment information, address, and personal information as required.
- Most online lottery vendors will require a valid email address so that they can notify you when you win prizes. Additionally, in the U.S., state lotteries will require you to provide an in-state address.
After you make your order, your payment account will be debited the cost of your purchase and you'll be sent a confirmation of your order via email. At this point, all that's left to do is wait. If your ticket wins a prize, you will be notified and you'll have the option to cash out your winnings.

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Exploring Your Options

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1
Try scratch-off tickets. One extremely common, easy-to-play alternative to the traditional lottery ticket is the scratch-off. Though these types of tickets are often not technically part of a state or country's official lottery, they are still frequently referred to as "lottery tickets", "scratch-off lottery tickets", and so on. These tickets, which usually are sold in vending machines, take the form of small, brightly decorated cards with portions that can be scratched off to reveal whether or not you've won a prize underneath. The payouts for these types of tickets are usually fairly small, especially compared to large lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions, but, at around $1-$20 per ticket, they do offer a quick, fun way to play for cash that virtually anyone can afford.^{[7]
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- All scratch-off tickets are different, so consult the directions on your scratch off to learn how to play. Most involve scratching off some (or all) of the scratch-able surfaces to reveal numbers which can win you a prize if they match a designated "winning number"
- While scratch-offs may not always be run or sanctioned by your state or country's official lottery, in most cases, you do still have to be 18 years or older to play.
2
Try pull-tab tickets. Another quick, easy way to play the lottery is to buy a pull-tab ticket. Pull tab tickets are played by matching the numbers on the back of the ticket to one of the winning combinations on the front. Usually, the numbers on the back of the ticket are hidden behind a perforated paper tab which must be broken open to view them. If the back of your ticket contains any of the winning combinations on the front, you win. Like scratch-offs, pull-tabs are fairly cheap (as low as $1 or less) and have fairly small payouts.^{[8]
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- As with scratch-offs, these types of tickets are often sold out of vending machines. Unlike scratch-offs, the vending machines that sell these tickets often (but not always) appear old-fashioned, featuring metal construction and a simple coin-operated mechanism for getting your ticket.
3
Try Keno. Keno is a type of game that resembles traditional lottery-style gambling. Some states offer Keno games as part of their official lottery, while, elsewhere, Keno can be played in casinos and gambling houses. Though there are many different regional varieties of Keno, the most common version involves picking from 1-20 numbers between 1 and 80. Each additional number you pick costs you more money. At the end of the betting period, 20 random numbers are drawn from the pool of 80. The more numbers you chose that match the ones picked, the more you win (though there are often special prizes for hitting zero numbers as well).^{[9]
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- Keno can have especially "long odds" — in other words, it can be extra-unlikely that you'll win with this game. Depending on the rules of a given Keno game, the casino's mathematical advantage can be as high as 25-35%. The official odds for picking all 20 numbers perfectly in a standard Keno game lie somewhere around 1 in 3.5 quintillion! Generally, guessing between 2 and 8 numbers correctly offers the greatest chance of a payout.
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Try Pick Three/Pick Four. Many lotteries in the US and Canada offer the option to play a quick variant on traditional lotto games called "Pick Three" (or, in Canada, often "Pick Four"). The rules are simple — simply pick three numbers from 0-9, then choose whether you want to play your numbers in the exact order you picked them, or in any order. The former option is cheaper, but offers slimmer odds of winning. Finally, pick your bet, choose your number of draws, and turn your ticket in, as you would with an ordinary lottery ticket. Check the next drawing — if your numbers match in the order you chose, you win!^{[10]
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- Pick Four plays identically, but with four numbers instead of three.
- Note that Pick Three/Four drawings often occur multiple times per day.
5
Remember that "the house always wins!" It's important to remember that, no matter which lottery game you choose, your odds of winning money in the long-term are practically non-existent. Like the games in a casino, lottery games are mathematically designed to make money for the person or agency running the lottery at the expense of the people playing the game. While someone will occasionally get lucky and become fabulously rich from a lucky jackpot win, this is obviously very, very rare. Never spend money on the lottery that you can't afford to lose — odds are that you'll end up losing it. Below are just a few additional things to keep in mind when playing any lottery game:
- No set of numbers is luckier than any other. The lottery is completely random. Any single set of numbers is just as likely to win as any other, no matter whether it's just come up or has never come up before in the history of the lottery. In other words, "1,2,3,4,5,6" is just as likely to win as six random numbers.
- Your odds don't get better the longer you play. If you've been playing the lottery for a long time, you're not "due" to win. You're just as likely to win the next time you play as the very first time you played (which is to say, not very).
- Remember that, in the United States, lottery jackpots are subject to a high amount of tax. For example, a $600 million Powerball jackpot, when taken as a lump sum, will net you about $377 million after taxes. Don't let outrageously high payout amounts trick you into spending lots of money on the lottery.^{[11]
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Where can I buy a lottery ticket?

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You can buy them at gas stations, convenience stores, and some supermarkets like Stop and Shop.

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How much does a lotto ticket cost?

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It depends on where you live and what sort of ticket you are buying. The basic ones are usually between $3 and $5.

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What time do lotto tickets go on sale?

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it depends on the time of the year. For example, if it's around New Year's, it will go on sale around midnight.

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Tips

Lottery tickets have a very slim chance of winning, especially when it comes to the jackpot. For instance, winning the Powerball jackpot has a chance of about 1 in 292,000,000.^{[12]
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Warnings

Don't overspend. No matter how much money you spend, you're not likely to win the lottery. Try to view the lottery less as an investment and more as form of personal entertainment.

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Gambling is a addictive activity. Please gamble responsibly.

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