How to Buy New York Lottery Tickets Online

The New York Lottery does not sell individual lottery tickets online directly to the public. However, it does sell subscriptions online for Mega Millions, New York Lotto, and Cash4Life only.

Additionally, New York permits individual ticket sales for all games via third-party lottery courier apps. In fact, New York is one of just two states that regulate lottery couriers (the other being New Jersey).

Four lottery courier apps are registered with the state and offer New York Lottery games online:

Licensed New York lottery apps are available to players 18+ and physically present within state lines. Each has its peculiarities and unique features, but the purchasing process is similar across the board:

• Sign up for an account and deposit funds
• Select a NY Lottery game
• Choose your own numbers or “Quick Pick” for auto selections
• Optional: Add lines or enter additional drawings in advance
• Confirm and pay for your order

Whenever a lottery courier receives an order, it takes the following steps:

• Purchases the requested ticket(s) from an authorized NY Lottery retailer
• Notifies the customer via e-mail and in-app notification that it has completed the purchase
• Uploads a confirmation receipt and photos of the physical ticket(s) to the customer’s account
• Notifies the customer via e-mail and in-app notification if they win money

Registered lottery couriers in New York may claim prizes worth up to $599.99 on behalf of customers and pay the winnings directly to their accounts. Withdrawal options vary but typically include transfers back to the original deposit method and electronic banking.

If a customer wins a prize worth $600 or more in New York, their lottery courier will contact them to arrange the secure delivery of the physical ticket.

New York Lottery App Review

The official New York Lottery app (iOS and Android) does not offer online ticket sales, but it is chock full of features otherwise.

Players can use it to scan tickets for winners, set custom jackpot alerts, play in-app games to generate lucky numbers, and more:

• Scan NY Lottery tickets with the app to check for winners*
• Set custom notifications for jackpots and new promos
• Find your lucky numbers by playing free lucky number generator games and looking up the winning numbers on special dates like your birthday, anniversary, etc.
• See the latest promos
• See the winning numbers for all games
• Retail locator and map
• View every game’s rules, odds of winning, and remaining prizes

*Players have complained about the ticket scanner’s reliability for years. It checks tickets successfully more often after a recent update, but many players still report trouble getting the camera to focus properly so it can scan the barcode.

The New York Lottery app would be best-in-class if its ticket scanner worked properly. To start, the app just looks good. Most state lottery apps look decent, but the NY Lottery app is a big step above all the rest. That’s not just an aesthetic note – the app’s bold, contrasting colors aid in navigation by highlighting buttons, menus, and key information.

Furthermore, the NY Lottery app is surprisingly fast. For example, the retail location finder instantly populates a street map of your local area with nearby lottery retailers and never slows when moving around, zooming in, or zooming out.

That said, if your primary motivation for downloading the NY Lottery app is to scan tickets, it’s not worth the time, especially because players must sign up for accounts to access the scanner.

New York Lottery App Screenshots

New York Lottery Games

New York Mega Millions

Players can buy Mega Millions tickets online in New York through lottery courier apps or in person at any authorized retailer for chances to win jackpots that occasionally breach the $1 billion mark.

The New York Lottery sells Mega Million tickets until 10 PM local time every day. Tickets are $2 each or $3 with the Megaplier option, and drawings occur Tuesdays and Fridays are 11 PM.

For more about Mega Millions, including how to play and the odds of winning, see our detailed guide here:

• How to Play Mega Millions

New York Powerball

All registered lottery courier apps offer Powerball tickets online in New York for $2 per play ($3 with the Powerplay feature). This is the only other draw game in New York with prizes that frequently breach $100 million and occasionally $1 billion.

Powerball holds drawings every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 PM local time, with a ticket cutoff time of 10:00 PM. Any Powerball tickets purchased in New York after 10:00PM on a drawing day will enter the following drawing.

Learn more about Powerball here:

• How to Play Powerball

New York Cash4Life

Cash4Life is New York’s other big multijurisdictional game, featuring a compelling top prize of $1,000 a day for life.

See our Cash4Life guide for complete rules, odds of winning, where to watch the drawings live online, and answers to frequently asked questions:

• How to Play Cash4Life

New York Lotto

• Drawings: Wed & Sat at 8:15 PM
• Ticket Purchase Cutoff: 8:00 PM
• Ticket Price: $1 for two plays
• Starting Jackpot: $2 million
• Record Jackpot: $90 million
• New York Lotto Odds (Any Prize): 1 in 92.05 in each panel

New York Lotto is a straightforward draw game with mid-sized jackpots and five prize levels.

Unlike most draw games, NY Lotto does not offer fixed payouts. Instead, each prize level represents a percentage of total ticket sales divided equally among all winners at that level.

The lowest and highest prize tiers are always at least $1.00 and $2 million respectively, but prizes at all other levels vary based on ticket sales and the number of winners.

New York Lottery Numbers

• Drawings: 2:30 PM and 10:30 PM daily
• Ticket Purchase Cutoff: 2:15 PM and 10:20 PM
• Ticket Prices: $0.50 or $1 per play
• Top Prize: $500 on a $1 play

New York Numbers is a Pick 3-style game in which players pick three numbers from 0-9 and choose a wager type. If the lottery draws numbers that fit one of the wager’s winning outcomes, players receive instant prizes ranging from $50 to $500 on a $1 play.

New York Lottery Win 4

• Drawings: 2:30 PM and 10:30 PM daily
• Ticket Purchase Cutoff: 2:15 PM and 10:20 PM
• Ticket Prices: $0.50 or $1 per play
• Top Prize: $5,000 on a $1 play

New York Win 4 is identical to Numbers, except players pick four numbers instead of three. That one additional digit significantly expands the variety of wagers players can place and prizes they can win.

Players have a 1 in 10,000 chance to win the top prize ($5,000) on a $1 play, but they can also build combination wagers to drastically improve their odds if they’re willing to up the ante:

• Straight play ($1): Pick any four numbers and win if they match the winning numbers in the exact order. For example, if you pick 5-9-3-1, you win if the drawing picks 5-9-3-1 in that order. 1 in 10,000 odds.
• 4-Way Combination ($4): Pick a number that includes 3 identical digits. For example, if you select 5-5-5-1, you win if the lottery draws three 5s and a 1 in any order. 1 in 2,500 odds.
• 6-Way Combination ($6): Pick a number that includes two pairs. For example, if you select 7-7-8-8, you win if the lottery draws two 7s and two 8s in any order. 1 in 1,667 odds.
• 12-Way Combination ($12): Pick a number that includes one pair. For example, if you select 1-2-9-9, you win if the lottery draws a 1, a 2, and two 9s in any order (e.g., 1-2-9-9, 9-1-9-2, 9-9-2-1, etc.). 1 in 833 odds.
• 24-Way Combination ($24): Pick any four numbers using all unique digits. For example, if you pick 1-9-4-5, you win if the lottery picks the same numbers in any order. 1 in 417 odds.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are two ways to win the lowest prize ($50) on a $1 play with odds of 1 in 100:

• Front Pair ($1): Pick any four numbers and match the first two digits of the lottery’s number. For example, if you pick 6-5-4-1, you win if the lottery draws any number starting with 6-5.
• Back Pair ($1): Pick any four numbers and match the last two digits of the lottery’s number. For example, if you pick 5-9-2-8, you win if the lottery draws any number ending in 2-8.

New York Numbers also offers various wagers with middling payouts between $50 and $5,000.

New York Quick Draw

• Drawings: Every four minutes 23.5 hours a day
• Down Time: No drawings from 3:30 to 4 AM local
• Ticket Prices: $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, or $10 per game
• Top Prize: $100,000 on a $1 play
• Watch It Live: NY Lottery Livestream

Quick Draw is the New York Lottery’s standard keno game, with drawings every four minutes and a couple of twists to keep things interesting.

Players make three choices to begin a basic Quick Draw game:

• How much to wager, ranging from $1 to $10
• How many numbers (spots) to play, ranging from one to ten
• Pick a number between 1-80 for each spot (or let Quick Pick select random numbers)

Every four minutes, the lottery draws 20 random numbers from 1-80. Players can win anywhere from $2 to $100,000, depending on how many spots they played and matches they got.

For example, a 1-spot game pays $2 if players get at least one match, while a 10-spot game offers the following payouts:

• 10 Matches: $100,000
• 9 Matches: $5,000
• 8 Matches: $300
• 7 Matches: $45
• 6 Matches: $10
• 5 Matches: $2
• 0 Matches: $5

Players who want to get the best Quick Draw odds should pick the 3-spot game, which offers a 1 in 3.86 chance to win any prize but a relatively small top prize of just $55.

If you want to try for bigger prizes and still get pretty good odds, the 7-spot game offers a 1 in 5.46 chance to win up to $5,000. In comparison, the 10-spot game offers a 1 in 9.05 chance to win up to $100,000.

Quick Draw also offers several optional features:

• EXTRA: Double your wager to multiply your winnings by a random multiplier from 1x to 10x.
• Multi-Draw: Play up to 20 consecutive Quick Draw games with a single ticket
• Party Play: Select this option to buy an identical ticket for your cashier
• Money Dots: Pay $1 to activate a secondary game based on the 60 remaining numbers NOT selected in the last drawing – participation in Quick Draw is not required; see our Money Dot explainer below

New York Money Dots

• Drawings: Every four minutes 23.5 hours a day
• Down Time: No drawings from 3:30 to 4 AM local
• Ticket Prices: $1 per game
• Top Prize: $50
• Watch It Live: NY Lottery Livestream
• New York Money Dots Odds: 1 in 13.33 (any prize)

Money Dots is a $1 game played every four minutes, immediately following Quick Draw. Players can buy standalone Money Dots tickets or select the Money Dots option at the bottom of any Quick Draw entry to participate.

Here’s how it works:

• Players receive eight random Quick Pick numbers
• After the 20 Quick Draw numbers are drawn, the remaining numbers receive prize values of $0, $5, $10, $20, or $50.
• One MONEY DOTS number is drawn
• If the MONEY DOTS number matches a number with a prize value of $5, $10, $20, or $50 AND one of your eight Quick Pick numbers, you win that amount

The odds of winning any prize in Money Dots are 1 in 13.33.

New York Pick 10

• Drawings: Daily at 8:30 PM
• Ticket Purchase Cutoff: 8:00 PM
• Ticket Prices: $1 per play
• Top Prize: $500,000
• Watch It Live: MSG Network
• New York Pick 10 Odds: 1 in 17 (any prize)

Pick 10 is a simplified keno-style game with once-daily drawings in which players select exactly ten numbers from 1-80.

The New York Lottery draws 20 numbers every evening, and players who either match zero numbers or 6+ numbers win the following prizes.

^{*If there’s ever a drawing in which more than ten players win the top prize, each winner will receive an equal share of a $5,000,000 jackpot.}

New York Lottery Take 5

• Drawings: Daily at 2:30 PM and 10:30 PM
• Ticket Purchase Cutoff: 2:15 PM and 10:20 PM
• Ticket Prices: $1 per play
• Top Prize: $57,575.50 (estimated)
• Take 5 Odds: 1 in 8.77 (any prize)

New York Take 5 is a standard draw game in which players select five numbers from 1-39 and win if they match at least two numbers in the next drawing.

All prizes except the lowest (a free play for matching two numbers) are determined by total ticket sales and the number of winners at each level. Thus, the following prizes are just estimates and can vary significantly from day to day.

New York Scratch-Off Games

The New York Lottery consistently has roughly a hundred scratchers on offer at any given time at prices ranging from $1 to $30. Top prizes vary significantly, ranging from $50 to $10 million.

Visit the New York Lottery online here to view all available scratch-offs, their top payouts, and the number of prizes remaining.

New York Lottery Online Subscriptions

The New York Lottery’s online purchasing options are limited to subscriptions to three draw games:

• Mega Millions
• Cash4Life
• New York Lotto

Players physically present within state lines can visit the NY Lottery’s official subscription website to sign up for accounts, pick a game, and pay ahead to enter every drawing for periods of two weeks to one year.

Note: If you choose your own numbers when purchasing any subscription, those will remain your numbers for the duration of the subscription. There’s no way to change your numbers or cancel a subscription once you’ve paid for it.

How to Claim New York Lottery Prizes

Winners can claim New York Lottery prizes via several methods, depending on the prize amount.

If you buy NY Lottery tickets online through registered courier apps and win:

• Prizes less than $600: Paid directly to your lottery courier account
• Prizes of $600 or more: Your lottery courier will contact you to arrange the secure delivery of the physical ticket, allowing you to claim the prize from the NY Lottery directly

If you buy tickets in person through authorized NY Lottery retailers and win:

• Prizes less than $600: Claim your prize instantly at any NY Lottery retailer, customer service center, prize claim center, or by mail.
• Prizes of $600 or more: Claim your prize at any NY Lottery customer service center, prize claim center, or by mail.

See this page for detailed instructions for claiming winnings via each method.

Contact the New York State Lottery

Players can contact the New York Lottery via form e-mail on this page or at the following phone numbers during business hours:

• Main Office: (518) 388-3300
• Media Inquiries: (518) 388-3415
• Security Office: (518) 388-3300, choose the “Security” prompt

NYS Gaming Commission
Division of Lottery
354 Broadway
Schenectady, NY 12305

New York Lottery FAQ