Georgia is home not only to a lottery, but an online one at that. Georgia was the second US state to take its lotto online, and has been consistently ahead of the curve since then. Georgia gambling might be a little more restricted than in other states, but thankfully its online lottery is flourishing. Georgians can choose from a huge array of lottery games to suit all tastes. Scratch-off tickets are a popular choice as they’re quick and easy to play. Georgia Lottery has local games as well as a selection of multi-state draws with substantial jackpots. There are even Diggi Games – instant online games!

Legal Online Lotteries Available in Georgia

As Georgia is one of the few states to have a legal online lottery, there are a variety of games to choose from. There are loads of draw tickets and scratchers that can be purchased from retailers. If you’re after a ticket you can get online, then look no further for the top options. These are the most popular online tickets you can get from Georgia Lottery.

Keno – A New Game Every 4 Minutes

If you’re up for a fast pace, you can play Keno every 4 minutes. Keno has long been popular at casinos, and is now a common choice for lotteries too. Gameplay is simple. You can play up to 10 numbers, between 1 and 80. You can also decide how many dollars you want to play with – from $1 to $10. 20 numbers will be drawn. How much you win is dependent on how much you’ve bet and how many numbers you match correctly. If you’re lucky, you could win up to $10 million!

Powerball – An American Favorite

Residents have enjoyed the famous Powerball draw for a long time, but in fact they haven’t always been able to do so. Residents first played this mega jackpot MUSL draw in 1995 but it was withdrawn a short while later. The game came back in 2010 and is here to stay. Winners must match 5 numbers plus the Powerball to receive $40 million or more. Tickets are $2 and for $1 more the Power Play option can be added to boost non-jackpot prizes. Many Georgians have taken home big Powerball prizes.

Fantasy 5 – Winners Every Day

Fantasy 5 is a daily draw game, making it a great choice for frequent players. The objective of the game is to correctly match the 5 numbers drawn out of 42 numbered balls. The jackpot is initially $125,000 but will roll over and grow larger if it isn’t won. Tickets start out low at $1, but for $1 more players can opt for an eZmatch option. This simply gives a bonus chance at winning more cash prizes. Georgians have been playing Fantasy 5 since 1994, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to stop any time soon.

Mega Millions – A Top Pick in Idaho

Mega Millions tickets are also available to purchase online. This MUSL draw is up there with Powerball in terms of reputation. The jackpots begin at $40 million and often grow far larger. As there are so many players across the US, the competition is fierce. Lots of players choose to add a $1 Megaplier to their $2 ticket, which boosts non-jackpot prizes by 5 times! To win the Mega Millions jackpot players must match 5 numbered white balls and 1 Mega Ball. Drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday night.

Lottery Regulator in Georgia

The Georgia Lottery Corporation regulates the lottery. The Georgia Lottery Corporation Legislative Oversight Committee also assists with this objective. Together they guarantee that the lottery is carried out legally and responsibly. In addition, it makes sure that the revenue is used responsibly to benefit the community. The lottery generates over $1 billion a year. HOPE is a scholarship program funded by the lottery to assist students financially and has received over $8 billion since it started.

Other Lotto Draws You Could Pick

As well as the wide variety lottery draw tickets and scratch-off tickets available, Georgia Lottery has another enviable offering. Diggi Games are web-based games that you can play on your computer or your phone, via the Georgia Lottery app. These games are like online versions of scratch-off tickets. The aim is to reveal the right symbols correctly to win cash prizes. Diggi Games are cheap to play, with entry starting as low as $0.50. They are quick to play, making them a fun choice when you have a spare moment out and about.

History of Georgia Lottery

Since its inception in 1992, Georgia Lottery has been at the forefront of creating entertaining lottery games and securing valuable revenue instrumental to the state’s education services. During this time it has given over $20 billion to the State Treasury’s Lottery for Education Account. Georgia Lottery’s net sales exceed a staggering $70 billon. Let’s see how Georgia Lottery has made figures like this possible and kept players engaged for over 25 years.

Georgia’s Biggest Ever Winners

The biggest jackpots always seem to come with those all too familiar names – Mega Millions and Powerball. Georgia’s biggest winners are no exception, as Ira Curry found out on December 17th 2013. That’s when she won the big time, splitting a Mega Millions jackpot of $648 million with Steve Tran, a Californian winner. According to Curry, she used a combination family birthdays to come up with her luck numbers. It certainly worked a charm, granting her a piece of what was then the second biggest lotto jackpot in US history! On March 6th 2007, another lucky Georgian hit the jackpot. A Mega Millions prize of $390 million was split with another luck winner in New Jersey. Ed Nabors, a truck driver was the lucky Georgian. These kinds of big wins are encouraging for Georgians, who keep playing Mega Millions and Powerball in the hopes of landing their own multi-million win!

Online Lotto Legal Age in Georgia

Georgia is quite strict when it comes to gambling laws. In fact, other than the state lottery, only charitable raffles are explicitly allowed. The law requires that Georgia Lottery players must be 18 years of age or older to take part. Playing the lottery underage is a crime and like any form of illegal gambling, is punished. Fines are usually about $1,000 but can be higher. Depending on the severity of the crime, probation and imprisonment are also on the table.

• Lottery Age
  The legal age to play the Georgia Lottery is 18 years old.
• Alcohol Age
  The legal drinking age is 21 years old in Georgia.
• Weed Age
  It’s illegal to smoke cannabis in the state of Georgia.

Is Online Lotto Legal When You Are Out of the State?

We’ve watched online sports betting and daily fantasy sports spread across the US in recent years. You’d be forgiven for thinking that online lotteries have spread at the same rate, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Online lotteries are currently only legal in 10 states. These lucky states are New Hampshire, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Delaware, New York, Michigan, Virginia, Maine, and of course, Georgia. You must be physically present in those states to buy online lotto tickets. For example, you can only purchase tickets for the MI lottery online if you are in the state.

There has been confusion over how the Wire Act should be interpreted, which has made many states tentative about adopting an online lottery.The rest of the world has already embraced online lottery with open arms. In Europe the Eurojackpot and Euromillions draws are played by millions of people every week. Oz Lotto is played by Australians and SuperEna Lotto is drawn in Italy.

The Best Lottery Mobile App

Georgia Lottery has created a nifty app with several useful features that lets you play on the go. You can scan tickets to find out if you’ve won, find the nearest lottery retailer or simply buy your tickets online. You can also look for winning numbers and the most recent jackpots. There are also Diggi Games to play, which are instant games. The app is available for both iOS and android devices. However, you wont find it in the Google Play store, as they don’t offer apps with online lottery gaming. Android users can find their downloadable version on the Georgia Lottery website.

Online Lottery Promotions to Take Advantage Of

If you want to find Georgia Lottery promotions, the Georgia Lottery Players Club is your best bet. First of all, it’s official, which means that you can be sure you’re playing on the right side of the law. Second of all, it’s free – you won’t get wrangled into spending money in the hopes of boosting your chances of a big windfall. You can play online lottery games and use the official Georgia Lottery app too. The promotions that you’ll find are coupons, second-chance drawings and invites to special events and prizes.

Taxes on Lotto Winnings in Georgia

It’s important to remember that lottery winnings are taxed. If a Georgia Lottery win is over $600 it will be reported to the IRS and the Georgia Department of Revenue. If a prize is over $5,000, 24% will be withheld for federal income tax and 6% for state income tax. Winners of over $2,500 will have any outstanding child support payments deducted and winner of $5,000 or more could have state taxes and student loans deducted. For more information on how tax affects your winnings check out what the Department of Revenue has to say.

Upcoming Regulation Changes for Online Lottery

Now that Georgia has successfully launched its online lottery, what’s next? Other states will surely be looking closely at the success of Georgia’s online lottery for guidance. Its Diggi Games are an innovative use of technology that we could see adopted elsewhere. In Georgia, we can expect to see locals will benefitting more from the online lottery. It should continue to cause the lottery’s revenue to rise, which is good news for recipient education services like HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) and Pre-K. In recent news, it’s been discovered that some of Georgia’s coin-operated amusement machines are illegally paying out cash. These machines should only be paying out store credits and lottery tickets, so this could spell trouble for Georgia Lottery. Hopefully, these machines will be fixed soon. And while the future of Georgia Lottery looks to be a bright one and we can only wait and see how it will evolve as time flies by, we recommend you check out our detailed review on the entire online gambling in Georgia sectore for a full coverage of things that might be interesting to you.

Lottery Guides for Nearby States

• Tennessee
• South Carolina
• Florida
• Alabama