Buying Lottery Tickets Online: How Official State Sales Work

In a growing number of states, you can buy lottery tickets straight from the state lottery on its website or app. You set up an account, the lottery confirms your age and that you’re inside the state, and you buy draw game tickets, online instant games, or both. Seventeen states and Washington, DC, sell online in some form. Everywhere else, the store counter is still the official way to play.

Where the state lottery sells online

The official offerings fall into four groups:

• Draw games and online instant games (12): Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, DC.
• Draw games only (4): Connecticut, Illinois, North Dakota and Tennessee.
• Online instant games only (1): Delaware.
• Subscriptions only (1): New York sells online subscriptions for selected draw games.

Massachusetts is the newest, with online sales starting in July 2026. New Jersey is still working toward launching online sales. Texas went the other way: a 2025 state law bans online lottery sales.

The list keeps changing, so our state pages are the handiest place to check what’s available where you live.

How an official account works

You need to be in the state

Online lottery sales stop at the state line. The Michigan Lottery says you must be physically located in Michigan to make purchases, and the Pennsylvania Lottery says players must be located within Pennsylvania for online play. It’s about where you are when you buy, so a Michigan player visiting Ohio can’t buy Michigan tickets online from there.

Location checks keep going after you sign up. Michigan, for example, may ask subscribers to confirm their location to keep a subscription active.

Age and identity checks

Every state lottery that sells online sets the minimum age at 18. Expect to prove it when you sign up. The Virginia Lottery, for example, asks for the last four digits of your Social Security number to verify your age, and sends a code to confirm your email address. It may ask for more information to confirm your identity before you deposit from a bank account.

Your wallet and your limits

Official accounts come with built-in budget tools. Virginia lets you set your own daily, weekly or monthly deposit limit, and if you raise a limit, the change takes effect 48 hours later. In Michigan, subscriptions count toward your daily and weekly deposit limits.

Subscriptions

A subscription buys the same tickets for you automatically, which is handy if you play the same numbers every week. Michigan’s version is a good example:

• What you can subscribe to: online draw games including Powerball and Mega Millions.
• Who can subscribe: Michigan residents only.
• How billing works: the first purchase covers two weeks, then you’re billed weekly, one week ahead of the draws.
• How long it lasts: until you cancel. You can have more than one.
• Changing it: you can’t change the numbers or ticket count on an active subscription, so you’d start a new one instead.
• Jackpot Threshold: you can choose a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot level, from $100 million to $1 billion, and tickets are bought only once the jackpot reaches it.

A subscription can go on hold if your location isn’t verified or your card is declined, and Michigan sends an email when that happens.

Where couriers fit in

A lottery courier is a private company, separate from the state lottery. It takes your order online and has someone buy a paper ticket for you at a licensed store. State rules on couriers vary a lot:

• Banned (7): California, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. In Texas, courier sales are a Class A misdemeanor.
• Regulated (5): Arkansas, Colorado, New Jersey, New York and Oregon.
• No specific law: most other states with a lottery, which leaves couriers in a gray area.

Notice that Virginia sells tickets online through its own lottery but bans couriers. Our lottery couriers guide goes state by state. We don’t recommend or rank any courier.

What to look for in an official site

• The real lottery address: Start from your state lottery’s official website. Our state pages link to each one.
• Location and age checks: An official site confirms you’re old enough and inside the state.
• Budget tools: Deposit limits and similar tools are standard. When Massachusetts launched, its platform included play limits, win-loss reports, a session timer and cooling-off periods.
• Clear prize info: Look for how online wins are paid and how to claim bigger prizes. Our prize claim guide covers the basics.
• A plan for your spending: Our budget planner helps you pick a comfortable amount, and our responsible play page has more tips.

If a site offers to sell your state’s tickets somewhere the state doesn’t allow it, or doesn’t check your location, it isn’t the official lottery. Our scams guide shows other red flags.