How to Play Lottery Online in India in 10 Easy Steps
As an Indian resident, playing the lottery online is easy and convenient. You can choose from over 20 popular lotteries originating from a ton of different countries and win up to ₹5,000 Crore. In this guide, I will explain everything you need to know on how you play online lottery in India.
There are many lottery sites to choose from and while seemingly similar, important differences must be noted. A few things I suggest keeping in mind when choosing a site to play with is:
You must know that two types of lottery sites exist. One purchases real lottery tickets on your behalf and uploads them to your account. The other doesn’t deal with tickets. Instead, they let you bet on the outcome of the lotteries and pay out jackpot winnings through insurance. If you ask me, it doesn’t matter which of these options you choose – they are equally good.
To avoid the trouble of finding a suiting lottery site yourself, I would highly recommend any of the following:
Fill in your personal information and press “create account”
Creating a lottery account is much like creating any other account online. By clicking on “sign up”, “register”, “play now” or a similar button, you will be asked to provide details about yourself. This usually includes name, address, date of birth and e-mail. When signing up, keep the following in mind:
You may be required to verify your account through an SMS or an e-mail.
To avoid any inconvenience when cashing out, always use correct details.
3. Fund Your Account With Money
Find the menu and click on add funds
Select your amount, deposit method and press on deposit
Before you can purchase a lottery ticket, you need to have money on your lottery account. By going to the cashier, which is indicated by a rupee sign, deposit button or similar, this is quickly done. Many of the best lottery sites in India allow you to choose from several convenient methods:
UPI
NetBanking
Skrill
Neteller
Debit cards
Pick the method best suited for you, enter the amount you would like to deposit and follow the instructions. Usually, your money will be credited instantly or within a few hours, depending on the method you choose.
4. Decide How You Want to Play
Buy your own ticket
Buy tickets in a syndicate
Put simply, there are two ways to play the lottery online in India. You can play by yourself by buying one or several tickets into a specific draw, or, you can enter a syndicate. In a syndicate, several people pool their tickets together, which significantly increases the chances of winning. To play, you buy a share into the syndicate and whatever amount is won is equally divided among all syndicate members.
If you want to win more, play by yourself.
If you want to win often, play in a syndicate.
Do note that syndicates are not available at all lottery sites. You can, however, find them at Lottoland.
5. Pick a Lottery to Enter
Choose your favorite lottery
Playing at international lottery sites, there are many lotteries to choose from which are quite different from the government lotteries in India. They are easier to play, come with much bigger prize pools and most importantly, are a lot safer. There is never any hassle with getting your winnings.
Some of the lotteries you can play include the following:
US Powerball
MegaMillions
Eurojackpot
Cash4Life
SuperEnaLotto
German Lotto
All in all, there are over 20 lotteries to choose from. Unless you know the one you want to play, I suggest trying a couple of different ones. They all have their own draw days and some have draws more often than others.
Once you’ve picked a lottery, it’s time to choose the number of tickets you would like to play for the upcoming draw and pick your lucky numbers for each ticket. If you don’t have any numbers in mind, you can use a “quick pick” feature that will instantly choose random numbers for you.
In addition, some lotteries come with optional features. For instance, in the US Powerball you can add the Power Play option and in MegaMillions you can add the Megaplier feature. You need to consider if you would like these or not. Basically, they will boost your winnings if you win.
Before adding your tickets to a shopping cart, there are two more things that are good to know about:
Purchasing tickets into multiple draws in advance.
Subscribing to automatically receive new tickets.
More often than not, these two options allow you to get discounts. Instead of just buying your selected tickets for the upcoming draw, you can choose to pre-buy them for several draws. With most lottery sites, you can also tick a subscription box. Doing so, new tickets to any upcoming draws will be automatically bought for you for the selected period that you choose to subscribe.
7. Pay for Your ticket
Once you are happy with your selections, a button will allow you to add them to a shopping cart. You can now continue to repeat step 5 and 6 by playing additional lotteries, or, simply decide to checkout and pay for the tickets you have chosen. When paying, the cost will be deducted from your available account balance.
As soon as you’ve paid, you will receive a receipt of your purchased ticket which can be viewed under your account profile. Here you can see all of your tickets and the numbers you have chosen.
If playing with a site that acts as a messenger service, a real ticket will also be purchased on your behalf, scanned and uploaded to your account as soon as possible. This is usually done within a few hours.
8. Wait for the Results
All lotteries have their own draw days. You can see these when purchasing your ticket. Watching the draw live is normally only possible through a certain TV channel in the country in which the lottery is held. However, you may find that some lotteries are live-streamed online, such as the US Powerball. This can be viewed here.
Whether you can watch the draw live or not, the results from it will be posted on the lottery site shortly after. It doesn’t take long. Additionally, most lottery sites will also send you a notification to your e-mail if you happen to win.
9. Receive Your Winnings
Any winnings from a lottery are normally added to your lottery account shortly after the results are in. However, if you happen to win a big jackpot, you may have to wait for a while or even collect your prize in person from the official lottery organizer. This will vary from one site to another, depending on the type of service offered; if it’s lottery betting or you are provided with real, scanned tickets.
If it’s lottery betting, the lottery site will have to get in touch with their insurance company who will be the ones that are paying the prize. If a real ticket has been bought on your behalf, a person from the lottery site will physically have to pick up the prize for you.
As soon as any amount won has been credited to your lottery account, this can be re-invested into more tickets or easily cashed out. If you want to cash out, head to the same cashier you used to deposit with and choose the option that says withdraw. Enter the amount you would like to withdraw and confirm.
The lottery site will process your payment as soon as possible – usually within 72 hours. Once the money is sent from their end, it will either reach you instantly or within 2 – 5 bank days, depending on the payment option you have used.
Important to note is that a verification usually must be done on your first withdrawal request.
This verification includes providing the lottery site with a photocopy of an ID. It’s a process that exists to comply with regulations and laws. Put briefly, it’s a process that all legit and licensed gambling sites are required to follow in order to prevent fraudulent behavior and money laundering.
Can You Play the Lottery for Free?
The short answer is yes, it is possible. However, getting free entries into a lottery doesn’t necessarily come with no cost at all. If it does, you may still have to work a bit for it. To learn more, please refer to my full guide where I explain how you can play the lottery for free in India.
Mattias Fröbrant is a passionate iGaming journalist renowned for his comprehensive reviews of over 300 gambling sites in India. With a remarkable 17-year gambling experience and a background working for industry giants like Betsson Group, Mattias has earned recognition as a leading expert in the Indian online gambling field.
At GamblingBaba, Mattias’s commitment to providing accurate and easily digestible information shines through meticulously researched reviews, guides, and news articles. His strong belief in honesty and transparency ensures that readers receive the most reliable insights on the Indian gambling landscape.
