Pennsylvania Lotteries 2024

Buy Pennsylvania Lottery Tickets Online

Established back in 1971, the lottery in Pennsylvania is one of the oldest lotteries in the US. While the PA lottery itself was founded by the General Assembly in 1971. The very first PA Lottery tickets were sold some months later, in March of 1972. Since then, the state lottery has grown considerably, adding new games in stores and online. It has also recently updated its online website platform.

The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state lottery to direct all proceeds to programs that benefit older residents. Since ticket sales began in 1972, it has contributed more than $33.8 billion to fund property tax and rent rebates, transportation, care services, prescription assistance, and local services including senior centers and meals. Hence, like in many other states, the lottery plays an important role in helping fill the state budget. Read on to learn more about Pennsylvania Lottery's online games.

Please note that players must be at least 18 years old to legally participate in lottery games offered by the Pennsylvania Lottery.

Legal Information: Overview of the Pennsylvania Lottery

Let us start with some very mouth-watering statistics about the PA Lottery’s games and their implication on the commonwealth and its older residents.

For the 11th consecutive year, the PA Lottery generated a profit of more than $1 billion to benefit older Pennsylvanians during the 2021-22 fiscal year. The profit was driven by the Lottery selling a total of $5 billion in traditional games, which include Scratch-Off tickets and Draw Games, such as Powerball® and Mega Millions®. Meanwhile, the Lottery generated $746.5 million in sales from its online games. The Lottery’s online games continue to be very popular with players since their launch in May 2018.

Players from across the commonwealth have benefited too from Pennsylvania Lottery Draw Games and several other offerings that the PA Lottery offers. Traditional game prizes paid to winners were more than $3.3 billion in 2021-22. A total of 76 winning tickets of $1 million or more were paid to players during the 2021-22 fiscal year. Plus, more than $655 million in prizes were paid out to winners of online e-Instant games and to winners who purchased Draw Games online.

Pennsylvania Lottery: Playing Offline

Unlike some other forms of gambling, especially sports betting, state lotteries were never prohibited under the Wire Act. For this reason, there are many US states that took advantage of that fact and established their own lotteries, looking to use money generated from those lotteries to fill budget gaps, among other things. Pennsylvania is one of these states.

Close to 10,000 Lottery retailers across Pennsylvania offer a wide range of games, from multi-state Draw Games like Powerball® to a wide range of Scratch-Offs with various prizes depending on the price of the Scratch-Off game. Overall, PA residents have a wide range of options to choose from.

Pennsylvania Lottery: Playing Online

Although the PA Lottery website has been around for some time, it wasn’t until May of 2018 that the Pennsylvania Lottery launched online eInstant games, and then started adding several Draw Games for purchase on its website. Draw Games currently available for purchase on palottery.com include Powerball®, Mega Millions®, Cash4Life®, Treasure Hunt, Match 6 Lotto and the PICK family of games. Players are now able to play eInstant games or buy different Draw games from their tablet, computer, laptop of mobile device using a number of
funding options.

Pennsylvania Lottery Review: Product Overview

Overall, the Pennsylvania Lottery offers a very large portfolio of games. In fact, this is one of the most versatile lotteries around when all things are considered. While the online section is ever-growing, the players certainly have access to a great variety of big and small drawings.

Pennsylvania lotteries 2024

Expanding on the Draw Games available for purchase on the Pennsylvania Lottery’s website, as mentioned previously, the PA Lottery offers several multi-state lottery games including:

1. Powerball

In August of 2021, the Pennsylvania Lottery announced that Powerball® players will get the chance to play for a big jackpot one extra night a week. In addition to the drawings held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the multi-state game now offers drawings on Mondays. This change to three drawings per week went into effect for the Monday, August 23, 2021 drawing, and included Double Play® - a new optional feature that, for an additional $1 per play, gives players another chance to win with their Powerball® numbers in a separate drawing with a top cash prize of $10 million.

Powerball® costs $2 per play (USD). Select five numbers from 1 to 69 for the white balls; then select one number from 1 to 26 for the red Powerball. Choose your numbers on a play slip or let the lottery terminal randomly pick your numbers. The Powerball jackpot grows until it is won.

2. Mega Millions®

Mega Millions® is the second multi-state lottery drawing also available in the commonwealth. PA Lottery tickets for Mega Millions® are sold at USD $2 apiece with the additional option of the prize multiplier (Megaplier®) for USD $1 a play. Drawings take place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the odds of winning the main jackpot are approximately 1 in 302,000,000. Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states, including Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

3. Cash4Life®

Cash4Life® is also a very popular drawing. As of April 2021, it is offered by ten state lotteries. This game offers a chance at winning the main jackpot of USD $1,000 every day for life. The second prize is USD $1,000 weekly for life. Tickets are also sold for USD $2. You can buy Cash4Life® tickets any day of the week. The drawing takes place every evening at 9 p.m. Odds of winning the main prize are about 1 in 21.8 million while the odds of winning the second prize are about 1 in 7.2 million. This lottery game is very popular due to its unique structure as players are drawn to the possibility of being set for life in this manner.

4. Pennsylvania Lottery: Match 6 Lotto

Match 6 Lotto is a special Pennsylvania Lottery drawing only available to residents of the commonwealth. Drawings are held every night and players need to correctly select all six numbers to win the main jackpot, which starts at USD 500,000 but frequently reaches into seven-figure territory, which makes it well worth playing for.

Odds of winning the main lottery jackpot in Match 6 are 1 in 4,661,272. All jackpot prizes are paid in one lump sum. Tickets are sold at USD $2 per play and the six numbers need to be selected from the total pool of 49 numbers. You can easily check PA Lottery drawing results at any time on the website or even watch all drawings live as they happen.

Other Draw Games, Online Play & Scratch-Offs

In addition to the other Draw Games mentioned previously, the Pennsylvania Lottery offers many more unique, in-state games:

• Cash 5 with Quick Cash is the Pennsylvania Lottery’s longest-running jackpot game. Originally, Cash 5 players selected five numbers from 1 to 39. Cash 5 started as a weekly game and eventually became a nightly drawing in 1998. In February 2008, the Lottery made a change to Cash 5, increasing the matrix from 5 of 39 numbers to 5 of 43 numbers. On March 23, 2021, Cash 5 relaunched as Cash 5 with Quick Cash; the same nightly draw game that players have always enjoyed, but the relaunched game offered an additional chance to instantly win $2 or $6.  With the jackpot starts at $150,000 and accumulates over time, tickets are sold at USD $2 a pop. To win the main prize, players need to correctly select all five numbers drawn from the pool of 43 numbers in total. The odds of scoring the jackpot are 1 in 962,598.

• Treasure Hunt is another drawing for Pennsylvania players only and it is the only drawing that takes place in the middle of the day. This particular drawing is shown using animation, which shows images – not people with machines -  of the drawing on a screen, making it very interesting to watch. Tickets are sold at USD $1 apiece and drawings take place every mid-day of the week.

• PICK 2, 3, 4, and 5 – Other in-state PA Lottery games include the PICK family of games, which take place twice a day, with an afternoon and evening drawing. Like the name suggests, players need to correctly match two, three, four, or five numbers to win the jackpot. Maximum prizes are much smaller in these drawings but chances of winning are much better as well. These draws are a great way to have some fun while waiting for major lotteries.

• Millionaire Raffle - This game comes with a great top-prize of $1 million, but there are four distinct prize levels. Thse prizes are won by exactly matching your ticket numbers to the numbers drawn. The eight-digit raffle number is iddued across the PA Lottery's servers, but no more than 500,000 Millionaire Raffle tickets will be sold. Once the final raffle number is issued or the quota of tickets are sold, the game is closed. Winning numbers are then randomly drawn from all the numbers sold.

In addition to all of these games, the Pennsylvania Lottery also offers players the option to purchase several Draw Games online or play eInstants online! The Pennsylvania Lottery’s online platform now also offers eInstant games with progressive jackpots. There are a variety of eInstant games including: PA Big Cash Multiplier, Premier Jackpot and 3asy Money. To win and play for prizes, online players must be located in Pennsylvania, and be 18 or older. The Pennsylvania Lottery also now offers subscriptions.

Special Offers & Drawings

Pennsylvania is one of those states where players can also look forward to special drawings where they can take a shot at big money with increased odds of winning. Every year, the PA Lottery offers the
Millionaire Raffle, which offers eight weekly drawings as well as the main drawing that takes place at the start of January each year.

Millionaire Raffle tickets are sold at USD $20 each and the maximum number of tickets in circulation for any particular cycle is 500,000. Weekly drawings usually kick off in November and award two USD $50,000 prizes each drawing leading up to the main drawing at the beginning of a new year.

Of course, all tickets that win any of the weekly drawings are still entered into the main raffle, which offers a chance at four USD $1,000,000 prizes. The odds of winning this jackpot are 1 in 125,000, so players have a pretty decent shot at becoming millionaires with the PA Lottery. There are also four individual prizes of USD $100,000 as well as 100 prizes of USD $1,000 each.

What are the best Pennsylvania Lottery Games?

The success stories and testimonies of Pennsylvania Lottery winners is not myth or some far-fetched reality. Traditional game prizes paid to winners were more than $3.3 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal year, and more than $655 million in prizes were paid out to winners of online eInstant games and to winners who purchased Draw Games online that same fiscal year.

The PA lottery games offer wide varieties of games and drawings from which players can engage and win significant prizes with so little. Furthermore, the fact that proceeds from the Pennsylvania Lottery are directly taking care of the elderly is another impressive and encouraging reason to get involved.  Participation in the PA Lottery offers a chance to win big while contributing one’s own quota to taking care of our elderly. Visit our Lottery Comparison page today, check out our operator comparison, and register for an operator. Or, you can venture further and take a look at the Philadelphia Lotteries, the West Virginia Lotto online, or the latest New Jersey Lotteries.

Conclusion: Is the Pennsylvania Lottery worth it?

The Pennsylvania Lottery, through its large game portfolio, has awarded more than $300 million in the past months alone to its players in forms of prizes to winners.

Players who register for an online account can participate in Pennsylvania Lottery’s online games and have the option to purchase some Draw Games online. There is also the option of visiting nearby Lottery retailers to play or purchase games in-store. All proceeds from the PA Lottery games are directly funding programs that exclusively attend to the needs of the elderly in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Lotteries Games Offerings

At the time of writing, the Pennsylvania Lottery has a large selection of fast play games to enjoy. The ticket prices vary from game to game. These titles offer a great way to chance your luck between main prize draws. The nineteen titles offered include:

Pennsylvania Lottery Promotions

Furthermore, the Pennsylvania Lottery has a number of impressive promotions that it offers alongside its PA Lottery games for players to enjoy the maximum gaming experience and satisfaction. As at the time of writing this article, the following are the promotions offered by the Pennsylvania Lottery:

• First Deposit Bonus: Earn a 100% deposit match bonus up to $500 on your first deposit.
• Friday Fur-Tune: You'll get $2 back for every $20 you play on the Furry Fur-Tune game up to $500.
• Daily Promotions: These vary from week to week, so, you'll have to check in each week for the freshest offers.
• Sunday Jackpot: Get $5 back for every $50 you play on the Mine Blowing Jackpot game.
• Monday Deposit: Get $10 when you deposit and play $10 on the Multiplier Mania game.
• Tuesday Quest: Get $5 abck for every $50 you spend on Castle Quest, up to $500.
• Throwback Thursday: You'll get $5 back for each $50 played on games up to $500.

In a much broader classification, PA Lottery games have classifications and sub-classifications. Among the broad classification of its games are Pennsylvania-only Draw Games, multi-state games offered in Pennsylvania, recurring games like the Millionaire Raffle, discontinued Drawing Games, Scratch-Off games, and Fast Play. Players can also enjoy Keno and Xpress Sports.

Notable Pennsylvania-only games are Pick 2, Pick 3, and Pick 4. Notable multi-state games offered in Pennsylvania are Mega Millions® and Powerball®. Among the discontinued Drawing games in Pennsylvania are Super 7, Saturday/Million Dollar Spin, Hearts & Diamonds, Keystone Jackpot, Super 6, Lucky for Life, Mix & Match, and Monopoly Millionaires’ Club.

How to Use the PA Lottery Site

Like with all lottery sites in the US that offer lottery play online, the first thing you’ll need to do to be able to access online services is log in to the site,. Simply click “play online” and complete the registration process. During this process, you’ll need to provide the standard information, like your name, surname, address, DOB, etc. You’ll also need to verify your account by sending in any documents required by the Pennsylvania Lottery law.

Once you create your account, you’ll be able to log in and deposit funds using several methods such as popular debit cards like Visa and MasterCard, PayPal, PayNearMe, and ACH e-check. When you first join the site, you’ll receive USD 5 completely free as well as a 100 percent bonus on your very first deposit.

You can use the funds in your cashier to play any and all games located in the PA iLottery section. All your wins are added to your account but there are additional verifications required for all wins exceeding USD 600 as well as automated tax withholdings according to current federal and Pennsylvania lottery laws.

Play by mobile

In keeping with modern trends, you can enjoy all of the PA Lottery action on your smartphone or tablet. Simply download the respective Android or iOS app and you'll have all of the lottery game action available in your palm.

Pennsylvania Lottery: History

Established in 1971, the lottery in Pennsylvania has a long and rich history. The sales of first tickets started in 1972, with tickets selling at USD 0.50 apiece and the jackpot of USD 50,000 up for grabs. Occasionally, there were also USD 1,000,000 draws and in the first six months, Pennsylvania saw four lottery-made millionaires.

During the 1980s, the game called Pennsylvania Lotto, which was later discontinued, created as many as 400 millionaires. The game ended in 1988 and it was replaced with Wild Card Lotto. Then, in 1992, the Cash 5 game (now Cash 5 with Quick Cash) was launched and this one is still going strong.

In 1997, the Pennsylvania lottery celebrated two important milestones: 25 years of existence and USD 10 billion in contributions to state funds. Then, in June of 2002, the state started selling Powerball tickets, adding another exciting multi-state game to the mix. With many more exciting events in between, Pennsylvania finally launched its iLottery or online site in 2018, marking the start of a new era.

Pennsylvania Lottery: Big Wins

Many players have dreamt of winning the lottery in Pennsylvania and, over the course of several decades, quite a few have seen this dream come true. The state has certainly had a fair number of big winners in many major drawings, with the biggest one coming relatively recently. Thus, many look to buy Pennsylvania Lottery tickets.

Namely, in the March 17, 2018 Powerball drawing, a player from Pennsylvania won the biggest jackpot in lottery’s history, banking USD 456.7 million. Later, it was discovered that the prize wasn’t won by a single player but rather the Emerald Legacy Trust. Regardless of the fact, this was by far the largest jackpot won in the state. The winner opted for the cash option instead of the annuity, netting USD 273.9 million before taxes. This is only the second largest haul though, with a winning ticket claiming a $516 million annuity amount ($349.3 Million cash value).

In July of 2015, Steven Peloquin, a truck driver from Virginia, was passing through Pennsylvania and during his stop, decided to purchase a Mega Millions ticket. It turned out to be probably the best decision he’s ever made as it turned out to be the winner, worth USD 92,000,000. Peloquin wasn’t aware he had the winning ticket until he went online and checked his numbers, realizing he won almost USD 100,000,000 – a truly life-changing amount for almost anyone.

These are just a couple of stories selected from many similar ones. Pennsylvania has sold a great number of big winning Pennsylvania Lotto tickets over the years and we’re quite certain this will continue to be the case moving forward as the state lottery has gone from strength to strength year over year.

Top Five Lottery Wins in Pennsylvania

Chances: The Online Development of Pennsylvania Lottery

Pennsylvania Lottery online: As of right now, there is certainly a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the online segment of the PA Lottery. While the site itself is quite nice and useful, as far as you can check the winning numbers and even watch drawings live, you can’t actually play the lottery online in PA. There is also a Pennsylvania lottery app available for iOS and Android devices.

Pennsylvania Lottery Games: How to Play

A little about the history of PA Lottery games to get a bearing on the subject matter. In an effort to improve the economy of the state and generate more revenue internally, the Legislature established the Pennsylvania Lottery in August 1971. Ticket sales for the PA Lottery did not begin until March 7, 1972. The ticket sales began with a $0.50 passive game that featured weekly drawings a $1 million grand prize for lucky winner. The PA Lottery games did more than was projected positively in terms of generating revenue for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. During the end of the first fiscal year, the PA Lottery games had already generated $57.7 million in revenues for the commonwealth. This was way beyond the original projection conceived during its establishment by the Legislature; almost double the original projection. The PA Lottery games introduced the first Pennsylvania Lottery instant games in May 1975. By this time, more revenue would be generated with the sales of Pennsylvania Lottery instant tickets/Scratch-Off games. In about two years later, the 3-digit The Daily Number was sold in March 1977. In November 1980, Big 4 joined the show. The Lottery evolved in April 1982 when the weekly passive games was brought to a glorious end, marking the introduction of the Pennsylvania Lotto.

PA Lottery games recorded a tremendous success in its path with its Super 7.  This game happened to be the first of its kind in the country when it was introduced in 1986. To win the Super 7 jackpot, players would have to match seven of eleven numbers, a jackpot that reached $115.5 million in 1989; it’s still a state record for a Pennsylvania-only game. The underlining goal for creating the Pennsylvania Lottery was to generate funds that will benefit programs for the Commonwealth’s older residents, while serving another distinguished purpose of becoming the only lottery in the country that exclusively benefits seniors. The Pennsylvania Lottery continues to play a very vital role in the state economy and help relieve financial burdens on its citizen. The proceeds made possible from the PA Lottery games provide for things like property tax and rent rebates, help with prescription costs, transportation, free meals and a host of other programs and services for Pennsylvania seniors.

Here is a breakdown of these programs: rent rebates, free and reduced-fare transit, the low-cost prescription drug program PACE and PACENET, long-term living services, the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, without excluding more than six hundred (600) full-time and part-time senior centers across the State of Pennsylvania. The PA Lottery, under the administration of the Pennsylvania Lottery, is supervised by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, as its parent agency. If you enjoy buying tickets and find yourself outside of Pennsylvania, remember the Rhode Island Lotto tickets and the California Lotto tickets.

An Overview of Gambling in PA

Check out our Pennsylvania Gambling Guides

Pennsylvania Lottery Online FAQs

Conclusion: Heaven for Lottery Players

If you reside in Pennsylvania and enjoy playing lottery, you’re in good shape. The commonwealth offers a variety of  draw games, in a socially responsible way, reminding players to please play responsibly. If you or a loved one suffers from gambling-related harm, contact 1-800-GAMBLER in the US. This article is an extensive Pennsylvania Lottery how to play guide so now you know all you need to know to get started. All that remains is to pick your numbers and keep your fingers crossed for the next big drawing!