Guide to playing online lottery in India
Let’s start with what is a lottery online. I am sure you are familiar with the traditional government lottery in India. Online lotteries are similar, only it’s easier to play, safer and you can win more, a lot more. So alongside, for example, the Kerala or the Punjab state lottery you can also play lotteries from your mobile or computer.
These mobile lotto games are hosted on the web, outside of India, and are so-called “international lotteries”. Anybody over the world can participate in these lotteries.
In some Indian states, lotteries are illegal but since international lotteries are managed in other jurisdictions they are not subject to Indian gambling laws. So no matter what state you live in you have the opportunity to play international lotteries completely legal.
The websites you can visit to buy lottery tickets in India are known either as lottery/lotto websites or lottery/lotto agents. Usually, they are based in America or in Europe and have gambling licenses. Depending on what site you choose you can find different benefits that state lotteries don’t have. Some examples are 24/7 customer service and withdrawals directly to your VISA or Mastercard.
There is only one real requirement to purchase online lottery tickets at that is to be at least 18 years of age.
5 Benefits of playing at international lottery sites
There is an endless amount of advantages to playing lotteries online compared to regular lotteries. In my opinion, there are 5 reasons in particular that make international lotteries the best.
- The jackpots – Government lottery in India doesn’t nearly have the same payouts as international lotteries. In Indian lotteries, the jackpots are usually somewhere in between 10-200 lakhs, which is a great deal of money in our country. International lotteries, on the other hand, can have jackpots that range between 200 to 11000 crores. So if you want to become a crorepati, international lotteries are your best bet.
- Wide variety of games – My recommended websites usually have more than 50 different international lotteries to choose from.
- Safety – With trusted online lotto agents the safety of playing is extremely high. All your winnings are safe online and you will never have to worry about losing your ticket. At Online Lotteries all websites have gaming licenses, which means a government body has investigated their service. The lottery operators need to obey some of the strictest data laws in the world. They are also always under surveillance and if they don’t pay out the winnings, they lose the license to operate.
- Fast withdrawals – When you win you will receive your money credited to your account, fast and secure.
- Customer support & promotions – International lottery sites have professional customer agents that know about all aspects of each lottery they provide. Since it’s all online you just have to pick up your mobile or laptop and you’ll get an answer, fast and easy. Online lottery websites also have several promotions and bonuses that give you anything from free lottery tickets to free money.
How to Choose an Online Lottery in India
To be able to buy international lottery tickets in India you need to join a lottery website. For us at OL safety is always priority number one. All the lotto sites you can find here are therefore 100% safe and trusted. Each operator presented here has gone through rigorous tests to make sure they have the quality we like to recommend.
To do this we always use real money so we have the whole experience and are able to test every feature available. To be able to pass our tests and potentially qualify as a recommended online lottery website there are several requirements that need to be met.
We revise several areas of the international lottery. If all the questions below answer yes it can become an Online Lotteries recommended site.
- Does the website have a gaming license?
- Are there trusted and established payment methods?
- Can you find international lottery games from trusted and established lottery suppliers?
- Do they accept Indian players?
There are several more areas we revise as well. If you want to know more about the requirements you can read more on our international lotteries reviews page.
How to buy lottery tickets online India
Signing up for a lottery site is a quick and easy process. There are several “Play now” buttons at Online Lotteries that will send you to a trusted lottery agent.
My recommendation would be to check out any of the many reviews available and see which one suits you best. Once you have chosen the best site for you, you will have to fill in information about your name, age, and your Indian phone number. Once you have completed this step you have an account.
But to be able to play you need to buy online lottery tickets and to purchase tickets you need to have money on your account. So the next step is to make a deposit. You can do this with a credit card such as Visa or MasterCard, or with an e-Wallet like Skrill or Neteller. There are several lottery sites that have promotions that boost your deposits so it might be a good idea to check out what promotions are available at the moment. You can do so on my lottery bonus page.
Now you are ready to play! Choose the game you like the most and choose the numbers you feel the luckiest with! Good luck!
Subscribe to lottery tickets
One of the best tips I have for you if you want to buy online lottery tickets in India would be to purchase a subscription. Now, what does a lottery subscription imply?
- You can have the same numbers reoccurring for several draws
- There is no need to buy new tickets every draw
- You will never forget to buy tickets on time
- Often you will receive a reduced price compared to buying single tickets
As you can see there are many benefits. I can also tell you a horror story of my own that will probably make you understand more why I think subscriptions are your best option.
Now the horror story I promised. I play a lot of international lotteries and Powerball is my favorite. I used to buy single tickets for every draw, always the same numbers. Some good wins but nothing life-changing. I was maybe Rs. 5000 up at max.
I often purchased lottery tickets in the last second but it always worked out, except one time. After 2 months of playing every time I missed one draw that I wanted to play. What do you think happened that specific draw?
My numbers won and they won big! I would have matched 4 numbers + the Powerball which has a payout of $50 000. That’s right I missed out on almost 36 lakhs because I was sloppy and didn’t buy my lottery ticket on time.
Conclusion of the story: If you find an international lottery you like and that you want to play, buy a subscription. Don’t be like me, don’t miss out on any lakhs or even worse crores!
Become a Better International Lottery Player
Knowledge is power and with the information you can find here you will become a powerful player, to say the least. Even though the lottery is a game of chance you can easily avoid mistakes and improve your chances of winning the jackpot by knowing more.
Below you can find short guides on how to play the most popular types of international lottery in India. You will find information on the rules, the technical requirements, the biggest jackpots and a list of casino reviews where you can play the game you prefer.
Online Lottery India
To give you an idea of what online lottery is available in India I will summarize some of the most popular games. You can find both American, European and other online games that are available for Indian players.
American Online Lotteries
The American lottery started out just like the government lottery in India. They started as state lotteries but several states starting joining together to create bigger and better lotteries and jackpots.
After seeing some success they started moving online to allow players to purchase tickets easier and faster. Not only did they move to the internet, but some even started inviting players worldwide, including Indians. The online lotteries that were first to do this quickly became the biggest.
Nowadays American lotteries are most famous for their huge jackpots! Below I have given some examples of some of the most profitable American lotto games.
Powerball
The Powerball lottery is most commonly known as the lottery with the biggest jackpot in the world. This international lottery is played every Wednesday and Saturday night. Due to the time difference, the draws are early morning, Thursday and Sunday, in Indian Standard Time.
The starting jackpot $40 million which is approximately 285 crore! Now, this is just the starting the jackpot, it usually gets a lot bigger!
The largest jackpot ever paid out in Powerball is $1.586 billion. It’s hard for me to write how much money it is in crores since the amount is so insanely high. But that is more than Rs. 11229 crores!
Just imagine winning more than 10000 crores! Feels like you could buy more or less whatever you want here in India! If you want to know how to play the game and increase your chances of winning, check out my Powerball review.
Mega Millions
This international lottery has the second-biggest jackpot in the world. To be honest this is more or less a copy of Powerball. This doesn’t mean it’s bad, in my opinion, this is great. Now you have two American lotteries to play with huge jackpots.
Talking about the jackpots, the minimum Mega Millions jackpot starts at $40 million. The biggest jackpot paid out from this online lottery was in 2018. A player with a ticket from South Carolina in America won $1.537 billion on the 23rd of October. This is also more than 10000 crores!
Since the winner decided to remain anonymous the only thing that is known is that the player had a ticket from South Carolina. Since lotto agents purchase tickets for you when you play the game, it could very well be an international lottery player that won, who knows, it might even be an Indian player! Check out my Mega Millions review for more information.
Other Popular American Lotteries
If you are interested in other American lotteries you can check out the table of some other famous American games below. If you want to learn more about a specific lottery just click the link to come to the review.
| Lottery Name | Minimum Jackpot | Highest Jackpot |
| New York Lotto | $2 000 000 | $65 000 000 |
European Online Lotteries
The European online lottery doesn’t differ that much from the government lottery in India either. Or at least it doesn’t if you see Europe as a country and the different countries in Europe as states. Most lotteries start on a national level and are then joined by other nations.
There are also some international lotteries in Europe that only originate from one country. This is similar to any of our state lotteries like the Kerala lottery.
The jackpots on European online lotteries often have a cap on their jackpots. This is a way to make the jackpot trigger more often than their American counterparts. So if American lotteries are known for their insanely huge jackpots, European lotteries are known for huge jackpots that trigger often.
EuroMillions
This international lottery is known as Europe’s most popular lottery and it also has the largest reoccurring jackpot in Europe. The minimum jackpot size is €15 million, that’s around Rs. 120 crores! As I mentioned earlier it is common to have a jackpot cap in European lotteries and the EuroMillions cap is €190 million. You might think that it is bad that it has a limit on how big it can grow, but I actually like it.
First of all €190 million is more than Rs. 1507 crores so it’s nowhere near a small jackpot. The reason I like it so much is the fact that once the jackpot reaches its cap, the remaining rollovers are given to the lower prize tiers. This means all prize tiers are very high after a few rollovers!
If you are interested in learning more about this game you can read more about it in my EuroMillions review.
SuperEnalotto
This online lottery originates from Italy and is one of the most popular international lotteries in India. What makes SuperEnalotto exciting is the fact that even though it is a European lottery it does not have a jackpot limit.
The largest SuperEnalotto jackpot won was in 2010 when 70 winners shared a prize pot of $248 million. Just imagine winning more than Rs. 1773 crores and being able to share it with 69 friends. That gives each of you 25 crores making all of you crorepatis!
Of course, there are more exciting things to learn about this online lottery. You can read more about it in my SuperEnalotto review.
Other Famous European Lotteries
In the table below you can see other famous European lotteries. If you find any of the online lotteries interesting all you need to do is click the link to come to said lottery review.
| Lottery Name | Minimum Jackpot | Highest Jackpot |
| La Primitiva | $2 217 527 | $112 914 260 |
| Bonoloto | $443 427 | $8 003 888 |
| El Gordo | $4 434 559 | $4 434 559 |
| EuroJackpot | $11 086 351 | $99 777 166 |
You can enjoy these lotteries at my favorite lotto site below!
Indian Lottery
I am sure you are familiar with at least one Indian lottery. In this section, I will explain more about how Indian lotteries work. There are some gambling restrictions in India. The online lottery is exempt from Indian law meaning that you can play any of the international lotteries here at Online Lotteries, worry-free. Indian state lotteries have some other rules though, mostly regarding who can play.
Each Indian state decides itself if lotteries should be legal. Since the Kerala State lottery started in 1967, many other Indian states have followed their example and the modern Indian lottery was born.
Kerala State Lottery
As I mentioned the Kerala State lottery began its operation in 1967. The reason behind this was that all private lotteries became banned and there was now a big opportunity to start a lottery to collect more tax money.
It was the first of its kind in the country and its structure was copied by many other Indian states. The Kerala Lottery consists of several different Indian lotteries that are played different days of the week.
Each lottery has its own payout scheme and the lottery ticket prizes range from 30 to 50 rupees. The Kerala lotteries available are:
| Lottery Name | Draw Day | Jackpot Size | Additional Information |
| Win Win | Monday | 65 Lakhs | Has three prize tiers |
| Sthree Sakthi | Tuesday | 60 Lakhs | Has prize tiers 1-8 and consolation prizes |
| Aksatha | Wednesday | 60 Lakhs | Three different prize tiers |
| Karunya Plus | Thursday | 80 Lakhs | High payouts on all prize tiers, 7 tiers in total |
| Nirmal Weekly | Friday | 60 Lakhs | Prize tiers 1-7 |
| Karunya | Saturday | 80 Lakhs | Has a total of 7 prize tiers |
| Pournami | Sunday | 70 Lakhs | Total of 8 different prize tiers |
Even though they might seem quite similar to each other, these lottery games have their own structure and rules.
Kerala Bumper Lotteries
The Kerala Lottery also offers Bumper Lotteries that take place at different times during the year. What characterizes Bumper Indian lotteries is the fact that they occur less frequently, lottery tickets cost a bit more and the prizes are higher with jackpots paying out crores.
The structure of each game varies and lottery tickets cost between 100-200 rupees. Below you can see a table presenting the different bumper lotteries.
| Bumper Lottery Name | Draw Month | Jackpot | Additional Information |
| Christmas New Year Bumper Lottery | January | 6 Crores | Tickets sold in December with the draw in January |
| Summer Bumper Lottery | March | 4 Crores | Tickets sold through the summer |
| Vishu Bumper Lottery | May | 5 Crores | Celebrating Kerala’s unique spring holiday |
| Monsoon Bumper Lottery | July | 2 Crores | Ticket sales in the Monsoon season |
| Thiruvonam Bumper Lottery | September | 10 Crores | Celebration of the Malayalam New Year |
| Pooja Bumper Lottery | November | 4 Crores | Ticket sales in October |
There are more than 100 000 retailers and over 35 000 registered lottery agents that sell Kerala lottery tickets available in India.
Punjab State Lottery
The Punjab State Lottery was one of the many states that followed the Kerala Lottery and started their own lottery just the year after in 1968. The lottery is handled by the Punjab government finance department. They decide the structure of the lottery games, payouts, draw dates and price of lottery tickets.
Unlike most other Indian lotteries the Punjab lottery focuses completely on the bigger Bumper lotteries. There is no weekly lottery draw available from the Punjab State Lottery. Just like the Kerala Lottery, the bumpers available in Punjab are seasonal, high-value lotto events that take place over different, often significant, parts of the year.
The Punjab lottery tickets usually cost between 100 to 200 rupees.
Punjab State Bumper Lotteries
Below you can see a table of the different Punjab State Bumper lotteries available, their draw month, jackpot size, and additional information.
| Bumper Lottery Name | Draw Month | Jackpot Size | Additional Information |
| Holi Bumper | March | 3 Crores | Celebrating the Holi Festival |
| Baisakhi Bumper | May | 2 Crores | A celebration of Punjabi New Year |
| Rakhi Bumper | March | 3 Crores | Celebration of Raksha Bandhan |
| Diwali Bumper | November | 3 Crores | A complement to the light celebration of Diwali |
| New Year Lohri Bumper | January | 2 Crores | A celebration of the new year |
Each game is intended to add more excitement and celebration to the many holidays that coincide with each bumper. The games have a similar structure but the rules can differ.
Sikkim State Lottery
The Sikkim State lottery is another of the Indian state lotteries available. The Sikkim state provides both Bumper lotteries and weekly lotteries. The weekly lotteries occur every day of the week whereas the bumper lotteries are only available a maximum of 6 times a year due to local state laws.
In addition to these lotteries, they run several other different lotteries such as the Bigwin Jackpot and other Jackpot Specials. The Bigwin Jackpot itself is kind of special since it run by the Sikkim government but sold in Maharashtra. Something worth noting though is the fact that the Sikkim State will occasionally change the lotteries and these changes happen fast.
Below you can find a table with information on the weekly Dear Morning Lottery:
| Lottery Name | Draw Day | Jackpot Amount |
| Dear Smart | Monday | 26 Lakhs |
| Dear Fresh | Tuesday | 26 Lakhs |
| Dear Starter | Wednesday | 26 Lakhs |
| Dear Breeze | Thursday | 26 Lakhs |
| Dear Early | Friday | 26 Lakhs |
| Dear Bloom | Saturday | 26 Lakhs |
| Dear Wake | Sunday | 26 Lakhs |
In my opinion, the best of the Indian lotteries is the Sikkim State lottery. They have the most amount of lotteries and they do not only help other states with lotteries but they have also moved online.
Indian Online Lottery
The Sikkim State lottery also handles the Playwin lotteries. It was started in 2001 and is known for being the first lottery to allow sales of Indian online lottery tickets. Not only was it the first Indian lottery to move online but it is the only one that has at the moment. But unlike international lotteries, there are some restrictions on who is allowed to play.
Just like with other online lotteries you have to be above 18 years old to play but you also have to be a citizen of a certain state to be allowed to play. The states are as follows:
- Maharashtra
- Goa
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Sikkim
- West Bengal
Playwin Lottery
There is a total of 5 different lotteries you can play weekly. In the table below you can see the different lotteries, the draw days, draw time and the jackpot amounts.
| Lottery Name | Draw Day | Draw Time (IST) | Jackpot Amount |
| Thunderball | Tuesday | 22:00 – 22:30 | 1 Crore |
| Jaldi 5 Double | Wednesday | 22:00 – 22:30 | 10 Lakhs |
| Thursday Super Lotto | Thursday | 22:00 – 22:30 | 2 Crores |
| Jaldi 5 | Friday | 22:00 – 22:30 | 5 Lakhs |
| Saturday Super Lotto | Saturday | 22:00 – 22:30 | 2 Crores |
To play all you need to do is visit the Playwin website and purchase tickets. You can do so both through your computer or your phone.
Advantages of International Online Lotteries
As you have seen there are what seems like an endless amount of options for us when it comes to lotteries in India. I feel though that I have to explain the benefits of playing any of the international lotteries I have mentioned as opposed to Indian state lotteries.
Prize Amounts
First of all, the money you can win is so so so much more than any of the Indian lotteries available. With international lotteries, many times the fourth prize tier or even the fifth is higher than the jackpots on most Indian lotteries.
And while we are talking about jackpots. An Indian state lottery jackpot can’t nearly compete with an international lottery jackpot. For example, the minimum jackpot of EuroMillions is Rs. 120 crores. That is 12 times more than the Thiruvonam Bumper Lottery which is the Kerala State Lotteries’ highest jackpot. I feel I need to emphasize that I am comparing the smallest possible jackpot of one of the many international jackpots to the largest jackpot available at one of Indians most recognized lotteries.
Quite a difference, right? Well if that’s not enough the Thiruvonam Bumper Lottery is drawn once a year whereas EuroMillions is drawn twice a week. So not only is the minimum jackpot 12 times bigger but you can also win it 104 times a year compared to one time a year with the Kerala Bumper lottery.
Lottery Tickets
One of the main reasons I started playing online lotteries was actually because of the fact that I absolutely hate paper tickets. They get wrinkled, you can lose them, they can get destroyed and so much more. I can’t imagine anything worse than losing a winning lottery ticket!
With online lotteries, all your tickets are guarded safely online on your account. You never need to worry about losing a ticket, keeping it safe or any of that other nonsense that is associated with paper tickets.
Faster and Safer Payouts
Once you have won on an international online lottery your money gets credited to your account. That means you have the money at your disposal as soon as the draw is finished. It’s that fast!
I can hardly say the same with the Indian state lotteries. The Kerala state lottery, for example, has a 6 step program to be able to claim a prize which you can see below.
- A claim application along with a Photostat copy of both sides of the ticket, self attested.
- Two Passport size photographs of the prize-winner duly attested by a Gazetted Officer/Notary.
- A receipt for the prize money in the prescribed form affixing a revenue stamp worth Rs.1/- with full address of the prize-winner.
- In case of joint claims, one of the prize-winners should be authorized to receive the prize money and a ‘Joint Declaration’ in stamp paper worth Rs. 50/- should be executed.
- Self attested copy of the PAN Card.
- Attested document to prove identity ( Attested copy of Ration Card, Driving License, Passport, Election ID Card etc)
Hardly simple. I much prefer just registering my personal details once on a lottery website then receive my prize money in the blink of an eye.
Selection & Convenience
Playing on an online lottery in India allows you to access hundreds of different lotteries from the comfort of your own home. All you need is an internet connection a device that has a web browser. Simple as that.
I don’t know how many times I have just decided to play at the spur of the moment when I am home. I would hardly leave my house to buy tickets at these times. It’s just so much easier.
Requirements to start play lottery from your mobile
Nowadays mobiles are more or less just as good as computers when it comes to doing our day to day tasks. This includes playing lotteries. But what exactly do you need to be able to play lottery on your mobile?
- A smartphone – You will need a mobile that has a web browser so you can visit a trusted lottery website.
- Internet connection – 3G, 4G or connected to wi-fi, it doesn’t matter. As long as you can connect with the website you are good to go.
- Payment provider – To be able to play you need to be able to deposit money. You can use several different payment providers but the ones that are easiest to use are e-wallets and cards like Visa or Mastercard.
See, you only need three things to be able to play, it’s that easy. I think by now you are more than ready to win an international jackpot and change your life for the better! Best of luck!