Is It Legal to Buy Lottery Tickets Online?

Whether you can legally buy a lottery ticket online depends on your state and on who is selling. There are three very different kinds of seller, and mixing them up is where most people get into trouble.

Official state iLottery sites

An iLottery is the state lottery’s own website or app. You are buying directly from the lottery, the same as at a store counter. The Mega Millions FAQ lists the places where online purchase is possible: Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

New York offers subscriptions rather than full online sales. Rhode Island sells online through its own site. Pennsylvania’s iLottery launched on 22 May 2018, and its online draw games include Powerball and Mega Millions. We review the platforms on our lottery apps page.

Residency and geolocation

Online lottery sales are limited to people physically inside the state. Sites check this with geolocation, and many also verify your identity and age. Rhode Island’s iLottery, for example, requires identity checks and geolocation and does not accept credit cards. Being a resident of one state does not let you buy from another state’s site.

Age limits vary too, as covered in our responsible play guide.

Courier apps

A courier is a third party that buys a real ticket for you from a licensed retailer, scans it and stores it in your account. It is not the lottery. Whether it is allowed depends on the state. New York and New Jersey license couriers, while the Massachusetts Lottery says it does not license or regulate them. Our courier guide explains how they work and what they charge.

Texas and state bans

Texas is the clearest example of a ban. The state’s Lottery Commission banned couriers on 24 February 2025. A law passed that June, SB 3070, abolished the Commission, moved the lottery to the Department of Licensing and Regulation from 1 September 2025, and made online or app sales a class A misdemeanour.

New Mexico is also reported to have suspended courier service in March 2025 after an attorney general opinion. Because laws change, check your state’s page on our states section before you download an app.

Offshore and non-lottery sites

Some websites sell entries into foreign lotteries or let you bet on US draw results. These are not official, and your ticket may not be a real one in your name. The Powerball FAQ warns that lotteries may refuse to pay on tickets bought from any site other than their own.

An offshore site can be licensed and still not be legal for you. TheLotter, for example, is run by Lotto Direct Limited and licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority. That licence covers its Maltese operation. It is not a US state licence, and the site is not a US-licensed courier.

How to check before you buy

Start with your own state lottery’s website and look for an official online or app option. If you are considering a courier, check that your state is on its list and whether the state licenses couriers. Read the fee disclosure before you fund an account.

If the seller promises a prize you did not enter for, or asks you to pay to collect a win, stop. Our scam guide covers the signs. For a full list of the platforms and apps we have reviewed, visit state lotteries or compare options side by side on our compare page.

Keep in mind that online legality is a moving target. Several states in the list above added online sales only in recent years, and others have debated it without acting. Montana and South Dakota, for example, do not offer online or mail sales at all. If you are travelling, remember that geolocation will block you the moment you cross a state line, so a purchase that worked at home may fail on the road. Plan to buy before you go, or use the local options where you are.

If you are still unsure, a simple rule works well. Buy from the lottery itself where it offers online sales, buy in person where it does not, and treat every third-party service as something to research first. The official route costs the face price of the ticket, pays you directly and sits under your state’s regulator, which makes any problem much easier to resolve.