by Niall Doherty- Updated: October 29, 2024
by Having spent 70+ hours researching and testing online lottery sites, I know the difference between a real online lottery and a lottery scam.
Today you’ll learn:
- The 3 different types of lottery site
- How to know if a site is a scam or legit
- Which sites are the most trustworthy
π€ Real Online Lottery or Total Scam?
There are many things I look at when reviewing an online lottery site.
Here are the 8 most important things to checkβ¦
- Type of lottery site
- Reputation
- Fees
- Licensing
- Years in operation
- Payment options
- Personal experience
- Verified winners
Type of Lottery Site
First of all, it’s important to know what kind of lottery site you’re dealing with.
Online lottery sites come in three flavors…
π Official Lottery Sites
Some lotteries allow you to play online via their official websites. Usually you have to be in the same state or country where the lottery operates.
Examples…
You can often tell if you’re dealing with one of these sites by checking the small print at the bottom of the homepage.
π¨βπΌ Lottery Agents
These sites have someone go into a store, buy a physical lottery ticket on your behalf, then send you a scan of your ticket.
You pay them a fee for buying the ticket, and you don’t owe them anything extra if you win.
This is usually the best option if you want to buy an official ticket for a lottery in a foreign state or country.
Examples…
π€ Lottery Betting Sites
These sites act as bookmakers and take your bets on the outcomes of popular lotteries around the world.
When you play the lottery with these sites, it’s like you’re betting on sports. But instead of betting on which football team wins a big game, you’re betting that certain numbers will come up in your chosen lottery.
You don’t get an official lottery ticket when you play the lottery this way, but the best betting sites offer the same odds and prizes as the official lotteries and are fully licensed and regulated. Jackpot winnings are usually paid from insurance policies.
The big advantage of using lottery betting sites is that they’re usually much cheaper than lottery agent sites, while giving you a chance to play and win the same prizes.
If you’re unsure what kind of lottery site you’re dealing with, look for an About or FAQ page. They should tell you there how the site operates.
Examples of lottery betting sites…
- Jackpot.com (review)
- LottoGo (review)
Reputation
I assign each site a reputation score based on our research and testing.
Taking into consideration:
- Presence and ratings on review sites
- Website security
- Customer reviews and complaints
- Expert reviews
- Customer service
Fees
I check how the fees charged by a lottery site compare to alternatives.
Some sites charge far more for the same service offered by competitors.
Licensing
Here we want to know…
- Is the site licensed by a recognized authority?
- Can the license be verified?
- In what states/countries is the license valid?
If a site doesn’t provide info about licensing or you can’t verify their license, that’s a big red flag.
Years in Operation β±
I like to see sites that have been around for 5 years or more.
If they’ve been in business that long, it’s a strong indication that they’re operating legitimately.
Payment Options π³
Look at the quality and quantity of options for depositing and withdrawing your money. Ideally a lottery site will offer a good selection of popular banking methods.
theLotter is an example of a lottery site that gets good marks here.
Personal Experience
For each site we review, we sign up and try to play at least one paid lottery.
Doing this with a site like theLotter boosted our confidence that it’s a legit service.
On the flip site, I tried playing a lottery via WinTrillions (reviewed here) and encountered significant issues, leaving us hesitant to recommend them.
Verified Winners π
It’s not unusual for an online lottery site to keep details of their winning players private, so I don’t dock them marks if they don’t list any such details.
However, if the names of winners are listed on a site, I try to verify the winnings via third-party news stories.
For example, youβll find several players listed on theLotter website who have won $1 million or more.
I verified and profiled two of them:
Aura Dominguez Canto
- Online Lottery Winner
- $21 million jackpot winnings
M.M.
- Online Lottery Winner
- $6.4 million jackpot winnings
Best Online Lottery Sites
Here are all the lottery sites my team and I have reviewed in-depth…
Improve Your Odds
Read our full series to get the facts about online lottery and improve your chances of winning.
There are people on Facebook who say they are lottery agents and tell you you’ve won millions. Are they legit? They ask for money.
They are definitely not legit. Always be suspicious when they contact you first. I would personally report those people as spammers on Facebook.
The health Canada COVID-19 lottery agency is contacting me via email telling me to collect my winnings and wanting to etransfer the money. How can I tell if this is legit or not
Did you ever sign up for such a lottery? If not, it’s a scam. And even if you did, it could still be a scam. Don’t send them your banking information unless you can verify that they are a legit company.