Lottery Games in India

Winning the lottery is everyone’s dream. It seem unachievable, yet we often hear about big lottery wins in the news. And it is possible to win. Statistically speaking, the probability is very low. But someone is always lucky and one day it could be you.

Let’s look at the lotteries that will truly change your life if you win the jackpots and how to play them. Also, let’s check out where to play them.

Best Online Lottery Sites in India

Before we dive into the various lotteries that you can participate in, let’s summarise the best online lottery sites you can access in India:

• Lotto India – Excellent Indian lottery where you can win at least INR 4.06 crore.
• TheLotter – Among the best true online lottery agents with tons of lotteries to play, including Powerball and Mega Millions.
• Lottoland Asia – Very good online lottery betting site, where you can bet on the outcome of many massive lotteries and win great jackpots
• Lotto247 – Good online lottery agent and lotto betting site that offers an interesting selection of online lotteries
• PlayHugeLottos – Well-established and trustworthy online lottery agent and betting site that’s been in business for over two decades
• LottoKings – Another good lottery agent and lotto betting site that makes it easy to claim your wins, includes online casino games as well

Which Lotteries can you play in India

Tons! Truly, there are a ton of lotteries you can play in India. You needn’t look any further than lotteries from India, if you wanted to play some great jackpots.

Lotteries are held by the states of Kerala, Punjab, Sambad, Goa, Sikkim, Nagaland, West Bengal, Arunachal and Mizoram. Among the lotteries you’ll be able to play online are:

• Win Win
• Holi Bumper
• Sambad Lottery
• Goa Lottery
• Lucky Four
• Dear Monthly Lottery (Sikkim)
• Dear Morning (Nagaland)
• Dear Day (West Bengal)
• Rajshree 1000

Not all Indian lotteries take place every week. Many are, in fact, seasonal, which is something you have to keep in mind when playing one of those lotteries. Tickets are not usually available throughout the year and once they become available, it may still some time until the draw takes place.

Also, many Indian lotteries can simply be played by buying tickets at a local outlet and some lotteries are not available across states. Best to check your state and the lotteries on offer there (if any) and stick with those if they appeal to you.

International Lottery Games

Much more interesting are the international lotteries that players from India can play. These carry jackpots that are significantly bigger than state lotteries in India and could easily lead you to become a crorepati.

They are also the lotteries we focus on:

• US Powerball
• US Mega Millions
• EuroMillions
• EuroJackpot
• Big Ticket
• El Gordo (Christmas lottery)
• SuperEnaLotto
• La Primitiva
• Mega-Sena
• Germany Lotto
• UK Lotto
• Irish Lotto
• France Lotto

We’ll be taking a closer look at some of these lotteries and how to play them in separate articles.

Let’s also look at the minimum jackpot sizes and the maximum known wins to date:

By the way, during the El Gordo lottery, which is considered the biggest in the world, over $2 billion are paid out. The maximum single jackpot is the amount as per above table. But the prize pool offers many more wins worth millions to plenty of other players who are participating.

Similarly, the EuroJackpot is capped at €90 million (or currency equivalent as per above). Once that jackpot size is reached, the jackpot doesn’t grow any further, but the following tiers are stocked up instead. That means players on the second winning tier may also win several millions, even if there happen to be multiple winners.

How to play International Lotteries

There are two ways in which you may play international lotteries. First of all, you’ll have to choose the site you wish to play at.

The best options are listed above. All of them accept Indian players, some even accept Indian rupees. We’ve reviewed each site for you to allow you to make the most informed choice when deciding where to play.

Keep in mind that these lottery sites work in different ways: some are true lottery agents; some only allow you to bet on the outcome of a lottery and some are a mix of both. Let’s take a look at the difference between the two ways of playing the international lotteries.

Lottery Agent

A true lottery agent allows you to play the lottery of your choice directly. That means, you select your numbers according to the rules of the lottery, confirm your selection and pay for your ticket(s). Then an agent working for the lottery site goes out and purchases a real-life ticket for you. Ideally, a scan of that ticket will then be uploaded to your account as proof of purchase.

In this case, you do really play the lottery and can claim your wins directly from the operator (more on that later, though).

Lotto Betting

If you bet on the outcome of a lottery, the actual selection of numbers you make won’t look different than when you are playing the lottery. In fact, most of the time it looks exactly the same. You select the numbers you hope will win, confirm your selection(s) and pay for your bet.

On the surface, it will be indistinguishable from playing the lottery for real. But your selection of numbers and the money you pay for your “ticket” is treated as a bet.

That means if you win, the lottery betting site will pay out your wins and you never have a ticket that would allow you to claim a jackpot from the actual lottery operator because you never played in the actual lottery.

Which one is better?

Honestly, for our money’s worth we’d prefer to play the real lottery instead of betting on it. Claiming a jackpot win is more of a hassle because you will have to get the ticket and potentially claim the prize is person (which could be in Europe or the US or somewhere else). But you’ll get all your wins in a lump sum paid out and that’s definitely a huge advantage.

What if I win?

As already mentioned, how your wins are paid out depends on whether you’ve played the actual lottery or if you simply bet on it. The difference can be significant, but we also found that different lottery sites handle things differently when it comes to paying out the wins, regardless of whether you played the lottery or bet on it.

First of all, if you are playing at a site such as Lotto247 or LottoKings, both options are available to you, but you won’t be able to choose whether you play the lottery or bet on it. On the surface it will look exactly the same. The difference will be obvious only once you win.

Winning the real lottery

This one is straightforward because a real ticket exists proving your win. Some sites, such as TheLotter, will send you your real ticket and then even buy you a place ticket to allow you to claim the prize in person (if that’s necessary).

Other sites may just go ahead and pay out the entire jackpot (or other high value prize you may have won) and they then go and claim the prize money with the lottery ticket to get the money back from the operator.

Either way, you get your prize money in a lump sum and that’ll be that for you.

Winning the lottery bet

If your lottery bet on the jackpot or another high prize tier wins, several options are possible, depending on the lotto betting site you played at:

• The prize is paid out 1:1, meaning you get exactly the same as the jackpot or prize tier you would have received if you had played the lottery for real.
• The prize is paid out as an annuity. Since you can’t claim the real jackpot, the lottery site and the insurance that pays out the prize, may decide to pay out the win in monthly or yearly instalments until the full sum is paid out.
• You receive a share of the prize pool. This happens when the real jackpot has been won by someone. In this case, your bet is treated as if two people won the jackpot, meaning you get half of it. Or, if the real jackpot is shared by two people, which means you (as the third winner) would receive a third of the jackpot value.

What to expect is usually lined out in the terms and conditions of a lottery site. Where possible, we will try and detail what to expect for each lottery site as we review them for you.

Recommended Lottery Sites

Depending on the lotteries you are looking for and whether you prefer a real lottery agent or a lotto betting site, we can make several recommendations.

• TheLotter – A real lottery agent, which allows you to claim jackpot wins and other high tier wins in person by sending you the winning ticket. They also have an excellent choice of games.
• Lottoland Asia – A lottery betting site, but with guaranteed payouts. No headaches here.
• LottoKings – A mix of lottery agent and betting, where you can also join syndicates. Great option if you want to increase your chance to win.
• PlayHugeLottos – Also a good mix of agent and betting site, where you get a good range of games.

Whatever your preferences, make sure to read our reviews and decide which options suits you best.