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Updated: February 13, 2024

4 Comments

Real Online Lottery or Total Scam?

8 ways to know if an online lottery site is fake or legit

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
Real online lottery or lottery scam

🤔 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 checkโ€ฆ

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…

🏅 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.

👨‍💼 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:

🤑 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.

Reputation

I assign each site a reputation score based on our research and testing. 

Taking into consideration:

  • Presence and ratings on Trustpilot and BBB.org
  • 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 ⏱

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 💳

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 🏆

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, youโ€™ll find at least nine 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 Iโ€™ve reviewed in-depth so far:

Lottery Site Rating Review
TheLotter
4.6/5
TheLotter review
Lotto Agent
4.5/5
Lotto Agent review
LottoSmile 1
4.2/5
LottoSmile review
Jackpot.com
3.3/5
Jackpot.com review
LottoKings
2.7/5
LottoKings review
WinTrillions
1.7/5
WinTrillions review
BuyLottoOnline
1.4/5
BuyLottoOnline review
Multilotto tbd Multilotto review
Full list of best online lottery sites ยป

Check if a lottery site is fake or legit

Wondering about a lottery site we haven’t reviewed yet?

Tell us about it in the comments and I’ll let you know if it passes our sniff test.

Improve Your Odds

Read our full series to get the facts about online lottery and improve your chances of winning.

About The Author
Niall Doherty โ€“ Founder and Lead Editor of eBiz Facts Born and raised in Ireland, Niall has been making a living from his laptop since quitting his office job in 2010. He's fond of basketball, once spent 44 months traveling around the world without flying, and has been featured in such publications as The Irish Times and Huffington Post. Read more...

4 thoughts on “Real Online Lottery or Total Scam?”

  1. 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.

    Reply
  2. 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

    Reply
    • 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.

      Reply

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