Where and How to Bet on the Lottery
While you are browsing through what Online Casinos have to offer, you may notice a few non-sporting events you can bet on, including the lottery.
Betting on the lottery became popular during the pandemic, and has remained so in 2021.
This guide will introduce you to how you can bet on the lottery, what the benefits are of doing so, and which of our recommended sportsbooks offer action on various lotteries.
If you want to start betting right now, you can skip past the guide to our section “Where to Bet on the Lottery” to find your next sportsbook.
Your average lottery tickets. As you’re about to see, it’s so much easier to just play it online!
What is Lottery Betting?
- Playing the Lottery
Betting on the lottery is not the same thing as playing the lottery. When you play the lottery, you purchase a ticket with a set of numbers on it. Various vendors sell these tickets offline, commonly convenience stores.
You can either use a “Quick Pick” process whereby your numbers are chosen for you, or you can choose them yourself.
If the numbers you picked are drawn, you win the payout.
Lotteries are run by states throughout the US. States either earmark the money wagered by participants for a particular purpose, or they put it in their general funds. There are also some multi-state lotteries.
- Betting on the Lottery
When you bet on a lottery, you do not purchase a ticket. Instead, you log into your account at your online sportsbook.
Once there, you place a wager on the outcome of the lottery.
You are not interacting with the state that runs that lottery in any way, and this is not equivalent to buying a ticket.
The party on the other end of your bet is the sportsbook.
If you win your wager, the sportsbook will give you a payout. If you lose your bet, it is the sportsbook that claims your stake.
Note that most sportsbooks only offer these types of indirect wagers. But occasionally, you may find a site that does let you play the lottery too (in fact, we will be recommending one to you later in this post).
Why Bet on the Lottery?
The days of a person picking out the balls are sure coming to an end fast!
Before we go over how to bet on the lottery, let’s go over some reasons why you might want to do it.
They may not be immediately obvious to you since, after all, you can just play the lottery.
What are Some Reasons to Bet on the Lottery Online Instead of Playing the Lottery in Person?
Here are a few advantages of betting on the lottery over playing it:
- You can place different types of bets on lottery outcomes.
When you play the lottery, there is only one type of bet you can make: you can wager on the specific outcomes for all of the numbers, and that is all. But when you bet on the lottery online, you might be able to place other types of wagers, like whether the first number drawn will be even or odd. So, lottery betting gives you different ways you can interact with the lottery and potentially win.
- Enjoy better odds.
Playing the traditional lottery involves terrible odds. The chances of you winning are almost nonexistent. But when you place bets on the lottery online, you might have a much better chance to win. With a bet on whether a number will be even or odd, for example, your chances of winning are 50/50.
- You can participate fully online.
Did you know that it is not possible to buy state lottery tickets online? You have to visit a lottery retailer in person in that state to participate. That is simply not convenient all the time, even if you live in that state. And if you happen to live elsewhere, obviously you cannot travel all the way to another state just to buy a ticket. But betting on the lottery at a sports betting website is 100% online. There is no travel required.
- Playing an out-of-state lottery may be inconvenient.
Let’s say you do manage to buy a ticket for an out-of-state lottery, perhaps while you are traveling. Then you win. Collecting your winnings and sorting out the tax implications may be a pain. You do not have to deal with those hassles when betting on out-of-state lotteries online.
- You can play with smaller stakes.
A typical price for a lottery ticket is around $2.00. But many sports betting websites have lower minimum stakes than that. So, if you want to spend less while wagering on lottery outcomes, betting on them at sportsbooks may be the way to do it.
Make sure you join up and see about claiming your FREE LOTTERY TICKETS!
Also, why don’t you take a look at How to Play War at your favorite casino?
Other Advantages of Betting on the Lottery
Above, we addressed some ways in which betting on the lottery at online sportsbooks can offer you a superior experience to playing the lottery in person.
Below are a few more general benefits of betting on the lottery.
It is fun, fast and easy. Sometimes you just want to wager on something without putting a lot of thought into it. Handicapping while betting on sports strategically can be fun and lucrative, but it can also wear you out now and again. So, take a break and bet on the lottery.
It gives you something different to do. If you get tired of your usual routine, trying something new can spice up your betting life. That is another reason to wager on the lottery.
If there is another lockdown, the lottery will still be available to wager on. During the previous lockdown that resulted in delays and cancellations for major sports, lottery betting was one of the few things that was still available at online sportsbooks. If it happens again, lottery betting will once again be around to keep you entertained.
How to Bet on the Lottery Step by Step
Now you know why you might want to try betting on the lottery. But how does it work? As you will discover, it is ridiculously easy. Let’s go over the steps.
- Open your sports betting account and navigate to the “lottery” page.
- Choose an event.
- Input a stake size and a wager.
- Wait and find out if you won.
Start by logging into your account on the sportsbook where you want to wager. Then, navigate to the section of the site that is dedicated to lottery betting.
You may see a selection of different lottery drawings available. These may include one or more state lotteries and drawings on one or more days.
Pick the event you want to bet on and expand it to see what wagers are currently offered.
Decide what bets you want to make and how much you want to wager on them. Input that information in your betting slips and submit them.
After submitting your betting slips, all you need to do is wait for the drawings to take place. When they do, you will find out whether you won or lost, and receive any payouts that are due to you.
What Strategies Can You Use for Lottery Betting?
As a sports bettor, you probably are used to taking a strategic approach to your wagering activities. You may spend a good deal of time handicapping before you place a bet.
As a result, that may be your first instinct when you start betting on the lottery. But a lottery is a game of pure chance.
People use all kinds of strategies when they play the lottery or bet on it indirectly on sports betting sites. Commonly, they choose numbers that have personal importance to them such as birth dates or other key dates in their lives.
They might also play numbers that won recently, or that have not won in many lottery drawings. Generally, they are trying to identify which numbers are “hot” and “cold” when using these techniques.
Some people also believe that Quick Pick numbers are most likely to be winners, so they always use the Quick Pick option.
Then there are folks that like to try and look for mathematical patterns in previous lotto outcomes (which may be imaginary or fleeting and coincidental), and choose numbers with similar patterns.
Yet another method is to choose a set of numbers, and then pick those numbers in every combination.
Hypothetically, the lottery should be random. If that is the case, we cannot expect strategies like the above to work.
But is it random?
Some people wonder about the “Quick Pick” numbers, as they are produced by a random number generator (RNG). And random number generators are technically pseudo-random.
US News & World Report says, “The randomness of these machines’ results can also be tested, but with more difficulty: it involves either buying large numbers of ‘Quick Pick’ tickets or collecting ticket information from a large number of people. Analyzing the frequencies of the numbers that were generated would reveal the degree of randomness of the Quick Pick process.”
The site continues, “Without these data, it can be illuminating to look at the number of Powerball tickets sold and the percentage of the 292,201,338 possible combinations that are covered by those tickets. These data strongly suggest that the Powerball computers are generating combinations with equal probability and thus at random.”
So, basically, yes, you can rest assured that the lottery is random, and that you are free as a result to choose your numbers to play or bets to place entirely at random too.
While it can be a bummer to realize that lotto “strategies” do not work, hey, at least that fact makes betting mindless and easy!
Where to Bet on the Lottery
You are probably excited to try your luck betting on the lottery now. But where can you do it?
Below are our top recommended websites for wagering on the lottery.
BetOnline.ag
BetOnline is a top US-facing sportsbook that has been in business for more than two decades. They also aim their services at customers in Canada.
There is a lot to love about BetOnline, including their reliable credit card processing, fast payouts, and 24-hour customer support.
In the sportsbook, click on “Other Sports” on the left to expand the list of available markets. You will see “Lottery” listed there.
The exact action available depends on what lottery drawings are coming up. But at the time of this writing, as an example, they are offering bets on the New York Lottery. You can wager on whether the first number drawn will be even or odd.
Not a member of BetOnline yet? This sportsbook offers a lot of great promotions, including a 50% Sports Welcome Bonus up to $1,000 on your initial deposit and a 100% First Time Crypto Bonus.
Other offers to take advantage of include a 5% boost to Bitcoin deposits, a 25% sports reload bonus, and a 35% crypto reload bonus.
We figure if you are into betting on the lottery, you might also enjoy casino games, so don’t miss the 100% Casino Welcome Bonus and the 100% Poker Welcome Bonus as well.
SportsBetting.ag
Not surprisingly, another place where you can bet on sports is SportsBetting. You might know that BetOnline acquired this site in 2012 and has been running it beautifully ever since.
SportsBetting was in debt at the time BetOnline bought it, but the company paid off the debts. That says a lot about their commitment to taking care of their customers!
Betting on the lottery at SportsBetting basically works the same way it does at BetOnline. Load up the sports betting interface, click on “Other Sports” to expand the list, then click on “Lottery” to see what is available.
As far as we can tell, SportsBetting offers the same action that BetOnline does.
You will also discover that this website offers the same basic list of promotions.
Intertops
Next up, we have another sportsbook that has been in business for more than 20 years. Over the many years we have worked with Intertops, they have consistently impressed us with respect to their fairness and transparency.
On Intertops, if you want to bet on the lottery, you will need to click on “Non Sporting.” Under “Non Sporting,” you will find lotteries that are available to bet on.
At the time of this writing, we see “United States” listed, followed by “Powerball Betting.”
Clicking on Powerball Betting brings up two options:
- US Lottery – Powerball: Pick the Powerball Number
- US Lottery – Powerball: Odd or Even Powerball Number
Betting on “even” or “odd” is pretty self-explanatory.
With the “Pick the Powerball Number” wager, you do not actually pick the exact specific number that you expect to come up. Instead, ranges of numbers are listed, and you can pick from them.
Intertops is one of the absolute best sites when it comes to promotions. In fact, you can choose your sign-up bonus here. Your options include:
- 200% up to $50
- 100% up to $100
- 50% up to $200
There are different rollover requirements for each of these, so you will want to read them carefully before picking your bonus.
Intertops also offers an array of other exciting promotions, many of them specific to particular sports and seasons. That means that they do change on a regular basis. But at the time of this writing, here is what is on offer:
- 4 x $100 NFL free bets
- Dive Into Our Weekly NFL Pool
- Win a Trip to Super Bowl LVI
- 25th Anniversary Party Giveaway
- $500 Present For Our Best Odds Hunter
- 20 x $50 Parlay Free Bets
- $1K Monthly Parlay Prince
- $20 Sign-Up Free Bet
- Refer a Friend, Earn Real Money
So, there is a lot of extra value to be had when betting on the lottery and sports over at Intertops.
BetAnySports
Our next suggestion if you want to bet on the lottery is to head to BetAnySports, sometimes just called “BAS.”
We are going to spend some extra time discussing BAS for reasons you will understand shortly. This site has a lot to offer the lotto gambler.
BAS may look familiar to you when you first take a look around. In fact, that is probably because you are wondering, “Wait, is this 5Dimes??”
It isn’t 5Dimes, but it is powered by the same software, so it looks about the same, and the features are about the same.
If you are a high roller, you will love it. If you aren’t, you’ll still love it.
If there were just one site we were going to tell you to head to for lottery gambling, it would be BAS!
Lottery betting is such a big deal here that “Lottery” has its own dropdown at the top of the site right next to the Sportsbook, Racebook, Casino, and other site sections.
But as you will see, lottery gambling at BAS is a bit different from what you may be used to at other sportsbooks. On this site, you can actually play the lottery.
Introducing its offerings, BAS writes, “Thanks for picking the NEW Betanysports Lotto900 where you can play Pick 3 or Pick 4 Lotto900 from any state plus most of Canada!
With exclusive Lotto900 offers your local corner store can’t come close to matching, Betanysports is your spot for all Pick 3 and Pick 4 Lotto900 tickets. You can play any state’s Pick 3 or Pick 4 lotteries – with 80% higher payouts.”
BAS continues, “A winning $1 Pick 3 pays out $900 and a winning $1 Pick 4 pays out $9000. Add that up and Betanysports Lotto900 pays out almost twice as much as your state Lotto900. You can play anything from a quarter to $100 on a Pick 3 and up to $25 on a Pick 4 play.”
One cool feature of Lotto900 is that you can choose whether to make your wager “straight” or “boxed.”
The riskier option is the “straight” wager. Your numbers and the lotto numbers have to be an exact match in order for your bet to win. This style of wager will give you the highest possible payout.
You can reduce your risk by choosing to make a “boxed” wager. If your numbers match those in the lotto draw in any order, your bet wins. Of course, the payout is lower.
Another feature in Lotto900 is “Quick Picks.” If you cannot come up with your own lotto numbers or you do not want to, the system can do it for you at random.
Do you like to play the same Lotto numbers over and over again? If so, you can add them to your Favorites. That means that you can play them in the future in one click rather than typing them in repeatedly.
Note that the profits you can make from a single drawing are capped at $100,000. You can place your wagers for specific drawing days up to a month before they happen.
Here are the payout tables for Lotto900:
- Lotto900 Pick 3:
| Combination | Example | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| Straight Any 3 digit number from 000-999 | 123 (exact order) | 900 to 1 |
| 6-Way Box Any 3-digit number with all different digits | 123 (any order) | 150-1 |
| 3-Way Box Any 3-digit number with 2 digits the same | 112 (any order) | 300-1 |
- Lotto900 Pick 4:
| Combination | Example | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| Straight Any 4 digit number from 0000-9999 | 1234 (exact order) | 9000 to 1 |
| 24 Way (Box) Any 4 digit number with all different digits | 1234 (any order) | 375 to 1 |
| 12 Way (Box) Any 4 digit number with 2 identical digits | 1123 (any order) | 750 to 1 |
| 6 Way (Box) Any 4 digit number with 2 sets of identical numbers | 1122 (any order) | 1500 to 1 |
| 4 Way (Box) Any 4 digit number with 3 identical digits | 1112 (any order) | 2250 to 1 |
Along with this Lotto900 game, BAS lets you wager on whether Mega Millions or Powerball will pick a jackpot winner.
These bets can be combined with others into your parlays.
Are there exciting promotions to take advantage of at BAS? Absolutely!
At the time of this writing, here are the bonuses and promotions we see available:
- The Less Juice Package
- 35% Free-Play Bonus
- FREE Lotto Tickets
- The Kickback Package
- The Casino Rebate Program
- The House Money Program
You get to choose any one of these promotions to be active in your account. Naturally, you are going to want to choose the “FREE Lotto Tickets” offer.
This offer actually comprises two different promotions:
- Lotto Rewards
- Lucky 100 Lottery Promotion
BAS explains, “The Lotto Reward program offers two types of rewards, the Lucky100 Reward for your initial deposit and the Lotto Reward with multiple percentages available for reload deposits, so you can benefit from this reward since the get go at account creation, or whenever you want to try it at our improved Lotto platform.”
The site continues, “The Lucky100 reward is available to new customers on their initial deposit only. All you need to do is make an initial deposit of up to $100 using any of our deposit methods available, and we will credit a 100% reward to your Lotto Reward Balance. Promo funds received are available for lottery use only. No other initial rewards apply.”
What about reload bonuses? BAS says, “For reload deposits, you may receive 5%, 10% or 15% Lotto Reward up to $150, credited to your Lotto Reward Balance to use in the Lottery Room only. Qualifying reload deposits must be between $100 and $1000. All deposit methods are eligible for this reward. No other reload rewards apply.”
You can find additional details regarding these promotions at the BAS website.
What is the Best Site for Betting on the Lottery?
Hands down with no contest, the absolute best site for wagering on the lottery right now is BetAnySports.
This is the only website we have found that offers action on lotteries in all states, and that even allows you to play the lottery and not just wager on it indirectly.
With features like Favorites and Quick Picks, BAS has gone out of its way to ensure ease-of-use and an experience that is smooth and enjoyable for regular lotto players.
Not only that, but this is the only site as of the time of this writing that we have found that is offering promotions specifically for lottery gamblers.
That said, the other sportsbooks we have talked about in this post do offer action that BAS doesn’t.
So, it makes sense to not only sign up at BAS, but at some of the other sportsbooks as well.
Bet on the Lottery Now
Betting on the lottery is a fun and easy diversion for when you want to take a break from handicapping your favorite sports.
We have just shared the top sports betting sites for placing bets on the lottery. To get started with lottery betting now, click on any of the links in this article to open your account and claim your bonus.
And You’ll Also Want to Read These While You’re Waiting for the Numbers to Drop!
