Can You Buy Lottery Tickets From Another State
- Can You Cash In Lottery Tickets From Another State
- Can I Buy Lottery Tickets From Another State Online
- How To Buy Lottery Tickets From Another State
- Can You Buy Lottery Tickets From Another State Income Tax
In December 2011, the US Department of Justice released a legal opinion on the Federal Wire Act. The opinion stipulated the act only applies to sports betting.
Can You Buy Lottery Tickets Online From Another State? Gambling laws can be tricky in the United States. US federal laws forbid gambling, but states have the right to allow lotteries— only within the state's borders. That's how you get places like Georgia and Illinois, which have laws that allow residents to buy tickets online. Several stores across the Valley and the state have sold some valuable lottery tickets in recent years! According to data obtained from the Arizona Lottery, a total of 46 tickets with winnings of. You can redeem a winning ticket from any type of lottery game to an authorized retailer when your prize is less than $600. Authorized retailers include stores and other establishments that sell lottery tickets in your state such as, convenience or grocery stores. Contact the State Lottery Office. You do not have to be a resident of New York to play NY Lottery games, but tickets can only be purchased from licensed retailers in the state. If you buy a lottery ticket in New York but reside in another state, you would need to return to claim any prizes.
This ultimately paved the way for individual states to allow lottery sales online. Since that time, five states have started online lottery sales programs. A handful of others are considering the idea.
- Green states have passed online lottery bills.
- Red states had online lottery, but suspended sales.
- Blue states had an online lottery bill in 2017.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania passed an expansive gambling law in October 2017. As part of the sweeping measure, the state authorized online casinos, online poker, and online lotteries. The first batch of online lottery games went live on May 29, 2018.
Pennsylvania currently participates in both Powerball and the MegaMillions lotto. These games are not available online yet. Instead, the only online offerings are instant win games. These online games are very similar to a real-life scratch-off game.
As part of the expansion, the Lottery also offers Keno, which also launched in May. It offers virtual sports as well.
Lawmakers hope over the course of the next five years, the lottery will bring the state roughly $250 million in revenue to primarily benefit the state’s seniors. However, legal troubles could sideline the project. Seven PA casinos banded together to sue the state over the iLottery, claiming the instant games are too similar to online slot machines.
Read more about the Pennsylvania Online Lottery.
Michigan
After a successful pilot program in the summer, the Michigan Lottery launched online lottery sales in the fall of 2014. At first, the online games available online were only Instant Keno and electronic online scratch-offs.
In January 2016, the Michigan Lottery began offering online sales tickets for its most popular draw games, including Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto 47, and Fantasy 5.
Lottery Consultant Digital Gaming Group released a report in December 2016 calling Michigan’s online lottery sales program a success. The report showed online lottery sales moved past $8 million a week as of March 2016. Meanwhile, brick and mortar retail lottery operations set all-time records.
Read more about the Michigan Online Lottery.
Georgia
After approval in the summer of 2012, and a bit of a false start, Georgia became the second state to offer online lottery ticket sales. Its lottery went online in November 2012. The Georgia Lottery Corporation offers online ticket sales for draw games, including Fantasy 5, Mega Millions, and Powerball.
Plus, there are also Keno games and a selection of games exclusive to Georgia Lottery website called Diggi Games. These interactive games constitute a hybrid of social games and electronic scratch-offs. Diggi Games include crosswords and bingo games.
Georgia is among the top states in the country in terms of per capita lottery sales. The state maintained that status through the introduction of online ticket sales.
Read more about the Georgia Online Lottery.
Illinois
Illinois launched a pilot program offering online sales of Lotto and Mega Millions tickets in March 2012. At that point, Illinois became the first state to offer online lottery ticket sales.
Illinois then added online tickets to the popular multi-state Powerball lottery in December 2012. The Illinois Lottery website later expanded to include Daily Lottery Games and Instant Games as well.
On March 31, 2014, the Internet Lottery announced online lottery sales totaled $36.9million in the first two years of the program.
Then, in March 2016, the pilot program was actually set to end if lawmakers failed to pass new legislation authorizing continued internet lottery sales. However, Illinois Lottery Communications Director Steve Rossi decided the Illinois Lottery would continue to operate online. After a detailed policy and law review, Rossi determined continued internet ticket sales were permissible under current law.
Read more about the Illinois Online Lottery.
Virginia
The Virginia Lottery has operated in Old Dominion since 1987, resulting in over $12.4 billion in payouts since that time. Now, Virginia has seen online expansion with its lottery.
While also tasked with overseeing recently legalized online casinos and sports betting, the Virginia Lottery introduced online instant games in July 2020, allowing players to purchase and even play online lottery games through the Virginia Lottery website. Access to these game via the lottery’s app should become available soon.
The Virginia Lottery boasts an array of online instant games, with themes ranging from simple reveal to crosswords to symbol-matching, not to mention blackjack, keno and lottery draw.
As the first online gambling site in the state, the Virginia Lottery has set the trend. And it is at the forefront of an online gambling revolution in Old Dominion.
Read more about the Virginia Online Lottery.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire joined the group of US states with online lottery after its governor signed a bill authorizing online lottery sales in July 2017. On Sept. 18, the New Hampshire online lottery went live. Operated by NeoPollard Interactive, it features several online instant win and draw games.
Mega Millions and Powerball tickets can be purchased online or through apps like Jackpocket, with either custom or quick number selection.
Kentucky
Kentucky became the next state to offer its lottery online in April 2016. The Commonwealth offers online sales of jackpot and daily draw games as well as instant play games.
Online ticket sales were actually approved by lawmakers in 2013. However, it took the state three years to develop a complex online ticketing system.
Kentucky also employs strict security regulations preventing players from withdrawing money deposited in a lottery account in accordance with money-laundering laws.
At the time of the launch, Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Arch Gleason claimed online lottery sales were a way to attract a younger demographic accustomed to conducting retail purchases online. He also maintained online sales were expected to help, rather than hurt, sales at 3,200 lottery retailers across Kentucky.
Read more about the Kentucky Online Lottery.
Minnesota
Can You Cash In Lottery Tickets From Another State
Minnesota was actually the first state lottery to offer instant-win games online. The Minnesota Lottery launched online sales on the first quarter of 2014 without any kind of legislative approval. In addition to electronic scratch-offs, the lottery offered Mega Millions, Hot Lotto, Gopher 5, and Powerball tickets online.
However, in May 2015, Minnesota lawmakers voted to make online lottery sales illegal, and the games were ultimately pulled.
That rollover jackpot is getting huge again, which tends to get people thinking creatively about what happens if you buy a Powerball ticket in another state… i.e. typically, can you escape paying your own states higher tax rate!?
Before I get into this, let’s be really clear and get this out the way:-
1. Are You Allowed To Buy A Ticket In Another state?
There’s no rule against it. If you’re on vacation in another state, you can play in that state. If you live near a state border and can easily reach a store in the other state, you can play. Even people from overseas can buy tickets too!
So you do NOT have to be a state resident to be able to play in that state, or indeed any state.
2. Who Pays The Prize?
The next thing to realise if you buy a lottery ticket in another state, is that you cannot claim the prize in your state. You have to claim from the state where you bought the ticket.
Yes, this even applies to multi-state games like Powerball and Mega Millions. This is because each state has it’s own lottery company that runs all the games that you can play there.
So for small prizes you can still claim from a store as normal – but it will have to be a store in the state where the ticket came from. Your local store will not be able to pay it. For larger prizes you will have to send in a claim form to the lottery company for that state where you bought the ticket.
3. What About The Tax Then?
Some people think they can beat the tax system by crossing state lines to buy their tickets.
“My state has higher tax than the neighboring state, so I’ll be cunning and get my ticket there. Then when I hit that massive Powerball jackpot I’ll save millions in tax…”
Wrong!
This kind of cunning lottery system to beat the tax man will not work anyway. And of course tax evasion will get you a jail sentence.
For a jackpot the lottery company will deduct the tax before you even get the prize anyway. So the federal and state taxes for the state where the ticket was bought will already have been paid before the money hits your bank account.
However, your state will want their state taxes too!
So you have to pay double tax?
Can I Buy Lottery Tickets From Another State Online
Well no, typically not. Because you will have already paid a chunk of state tax to the ‘other state’, your state will take this into account. So you only have to pay the ‘difference’. That is, the extra that you thought you were saving by playing in the neighbor state!
Then there are the smaller wins of course – taxes are due on these too of course, but not deducted in advance. You should be entering these as “other income” on your IRS returns anyway, but what if they are wins from another state? And can you deduct the cost of what you spent on tickets from those winnings?
This rapidly becomes a very confusing area as we’re talking about 47 different jurisdictions each with their own unique tax laws. Bottom line – get a tax expert to do your returns for you!
So Is It Worth Buying A Lottery Ticket In Another State?
How To Buy Lottery Tickets From Another State
Well not if you think it’s a cunning system to beat the tax – because it isn’t :-).
If it’s convenient though because you’re travelling, on vacation, there for work, or you would miss out on getting your ticket otherwise, then sure, why not.
Can You Buy Lottery Tickets From Another State Income Tax
If however you want to avoid any greater tax complications, then you might want to just stick to buying in-state. Your lottery company would prefer it that way too.