When you play lottery online, a portion of your ticket purchase goes to support state programs, organizations, and charities. Depending on your state, the money you spend might go to schools, the Special Olympics, or homelessness prevention. For this reason, you should only play lottery online at sites that are regulated by your state’s gambling authority. The best lottery websites will share their licensing information in the footer or bottom of their website or mobile app, and they’ll also use reputable payment methods to protect your personal details.
Licensed lottery websites will also offer plenty of games and promotions. They’ll let you access your state’s lottery games, as well as national games like Powerball and Mega Millions. In addition, you should be able to buy lottery tickets for instant-win scratchcards and keno. You should also find online lotteries that accept a variety of deposit and withdrawal options, including Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and ACH. Finally, the best lottery sites will also have two-factor authentication and password protection to prevent account sharing or misuse.
Some state-regulated lottery sites offer subscriptions that allow you to play on a recurring basis. To find one, check out your state’s official lottery website and look for a “subscriptions” link or something similar. You can purchase a weekly, monthly or annual subscription and cancel it at any time. Some of these sites will even scan your physical ticket and send it to you, so they’re a good alternative to purchasing lottery tickets at brick-and-mortar locations.