You Can Buy Lottery Tickets Online In These US States

Most states have lottery systems where people buy tickets containing random sets of numbers. If those numbers match the numbers determined by the lottery, then the person wins money. Each year, Americans spend plenty of money on these lottery tickets. In fact, using data from Casivo, GOBankingRates found that Americans spent $17 billion on lottery ticket purchases in 2023, averaging about $50 per person. States then spend that lottery money in various ways – though, per Lottery Geeks, education funding generally prevails, followed by health and safety, and infrastructure.

However, lottery policies are not equal across states. For instance, as of August 2025, states that don't allow the lottery in any form include Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Meanwhile, some states permit an official lottery but not online lottery sales. With that said, 27 states allow online lottery sales although each has its own set of rules. In general, consumers can buy online lottery items directly from the state, or use designated third-parties services that sell lottery tickets to authorized individuals. 

States that allow direct online purchases include Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, states that allow third-party sales include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Oregon. The only two states allowing both methods are New Hampshire and New York. And, in case you think your odds of winning will change buy using online tickets, in July 2024, a player in Illinois won $552 million via an online lottery ticket.

One common lottery game involves the state drawing numbers and people checking their tickets to see if the numbers match. In general, if consumers are able to buy online lottery tickets directly from the state, they can purchase this lottery ticket type (although Rhode Island is a lone exception for this lottery type). With that said, if you want to purchase online drawing tickets in New York, you must buy a subscription since online individual drawing lottery ticket sales are prohibited in the state. This involves opening an account, choosing select lottery games — and the number of tickets you want — and setting the length of the subscription (anywhere from two weeks to one year). The purchaser then receives an email confirmation that includes the numbers selected for them. New York is also unique in that it requires a subscription for other online lottery types as well, such as instant win and keno games.

When considering instant win tickets — where people pull tabs to uncover numbers and instantly see if they've won — many states that permit online sales also allow the sale of this game type online. However, there are some exceptions like Connecticut, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Tennessee. For keno-type lottery games, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Virginia permit online sales. However, if you're looking at scratch-off tickets, none of the states that sell online lottery tickets sell online scratch-off tickets. With that said, when it comes to third-party sales of online tickets, four states permit the sale of online scratch-off tickets: Colorado, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Oregon.