Michigan Lottery Online Gambling

The only locations permitted under Michigan law to offer online casinos are the three commercial casinos (MGM Grand, MotorCity, Greektown). The 23 tribal casinos in Michigan can apply under their own agreements with the state. Licensees must pay $50,000 to apply, $100,000 to receive the initial license and $50,000 annually to renew. In fact, lottery consultant Digital Gaming Group conducted a report proving online sales have not cannibalized brick and mortar lottery operations in Michigan. The report states Michigan online lottery sales hit $8 million in weekly sales in March 2016.

The first ever lottery draw in Michigan took place in November 1972. Fast-forward to today and you will find multiple draws including the huge multi-state prizes, MI-only jackpots, scratch cards, instant games, and keno. There are second-chance games for losing draw tickets, plus regular bonuses and promotions available via Michigan’s online lottery website and the official Michigan Lottery app.

This page has everything you need to understand how the Michigan Lottery works. First, the draws are covered – including both MI-only games and the Mega Millions/Powerball multi-state games. Scratch cards, online games, deposit methods and bonuses are then outlined.

Multi-state lottery draws in Michigan

Residents of Michigan can take part in two huge lottery draws that operate in 45 states – the Mega Millions draw and the Powerball.

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Mega Millions

Mega Millions takes place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. You can buy a ticket via retail outlets or online for $2. You have the option to add the ‘Megaplier’ for an extra dollar. With the Megaplier option added, you can increase any minor jackpot prize by 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x.

Online Gaming In Michigan

When you buy Mega Millions tickets online you have the option to get them one at a time, or up to 10 at a time. You can also use the ‘Easy Pick’ system to choose random numbers.

To play the Mega Millions you pick five white ball numbers between 1 and 70, as well as a Megaball number between one and 25.

Michigan Lottery Online Gambling Site

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The smallest prize comes when you hit the ‘Megaball’ on its own, which awards you your money back. One or two white balls matched alongside the Megaball will pay $4 and $10, respectively. There are two huge prizes to be won in the Mega Millions draw. First, if you match all five of your white balls, you are guaranteed a prize of $1 million. If you are lucky enough to match all five white balls plus the Megaball you win the jackpot.

In October 2018, the largest ever Mega Millions jackpot prize was claimed by a ticket holder in South Carolina. The prize of $1.537 billion was claimed in March 2019, with the winner choosing to remain anonymous.

Powerball

The Powerball also takes place twice a week – this time on Wednesdays and Sundays. This multi-state draw has huge jackpots. You can buy tickets directly though the Michigan Lottery website – or head to a retail outlet.

A ticket for the Powerball costs $2, with the added option of increasing the ticket cost to $3 by adding the Powerplay. This Powerplay will multiply the non-jackpot prizes by up to 10x. To play the Powerball, you pick five white ball numbers between one and 69, and a single red Powerball number between one and 26.

Prizes start at $4 for hitting the Powerball. Three white balls, or two white balls and the Powerball increase the prize to $7, with prizes then increasing quickly. If you hit four white balls alongside the Powerball, you are guaranteed $50,000, while matching all five white balls will make you an instant millionaire. Hitting all five white balls and the Powerball awards you the jackpot.

The largest prize ever in the Powerball lottery came in January 2016, when three ticket holders shared an annuity of approximately $1.586 billion.

Lucky for Life

The final multi-state game available via the Michigan State Lottery has a different prize structure. This pays winners $1000 every day for the rest of their lives. It is available in 26 states, and costs $2 to enter for the twice-weekly draw.

To play you pick five white numbers between one and 48, plus a lucky ball number between 1 and 18. There are smaller prizes, including $25,000 per year for life if you match the white numbers without hitting the lucky ball number.

In-state lottery draws in Michigan

While the multi-state draws attract the big headlines, there are plenty of ways to win big prizes in lottery draws that are available only in Michigan. Prizes of over $26 million have been paid on these in-state draws. Here are the highlights:

  • Lotto 47: This is the biggest of the MI-only draws. Tickets come at the cost of $1. You pick six numbers between one and 47. You can purchase up to 60 draw tickets in advance. Match three of the six numbers to win $10, four of the six to win $200 and five of the six to win $5,000. Match all six numbers and you win the jackpot, which starts at a cool $1 million. The biggest win in this draw to date is an incredible $23.6 million in March 2008.
  • Fantasy 5: This is a Michigan daily lottery draw, where you pick five numbers between one and 39, with tickets costing just $1. Match two numbers to double your cash, while three and four numbers pay $20 and $200, respectively. Match all five numbers to win the jackpot prize which starts at $100,000. The draw takes place every day at 7:29pm.
  • Daily 3/Daily 4: The Daily 3 and Daily 4 draws (that are each, in fact, drawn twice daily) offer picks in a series of combinations, where you can win a variety of prizes up to a maximum of $5,000.
  • Club Keno: This game takes place every few minutes, seven days a week, starting at 6am and ending at 1:59am daily. Tickets can be bought in-store and come at the cost of just $1. Club Keno features a jackpot prize that can reach as high as $2 million, with a variety of different prizes for matching various combinations of numbers.

Other available games include instant Keno (that costs $1 a ticket and offers a top prize of $250,000), and Poker Lotto (that costs $2 per ticket and has a top prize of $100,000).

Michigan Lottery: Scratch card games

Scratch cards can be purchased at retail outlets. There are many long-standing cards, along with seasonal and special themed ones that come and go. Thunderball results for tonight please. Prices start at $1 and go up to $20. Some cards have top prizes of $2 million, with many six-figure prizes available.

There are two ways that the Michigan Lottery website can help you to win on scratch cards.

First, there is a second chance drawing for losing cards. You can win instant prizes by entering a special code. Second, you can see how many of the biggest jackpots are still unclaimed for different cards.

For example, you might check the site to find that one $5 card type has three big jackpots remaining, while a different brand of the same value does not have any remaining jackpots. Many of the instant games on the lottery website are electronic versions of scratch cards.

Here are some of the popular games:

  • Wild Time: These cards have top prizes starting at $30,000 (for $2) tickets, up to $300,000. There are also versions with progressive jackpots.
  • Wheelof Fortune: This game show-themed card costs $2, and has a wheel code game plus two wild bonuses for smaller wins. The top prize is $50,000.
  • Lucky 7’s: This is a regular game with different prize levels. Tickets start at $1 for the $5,000 top prize version. Hit the ‘Win All’ message to win all five prizes.
  • Win for Life: This $2 scratch card gives you a shot at winning $1000 per week for the rest of your life. Match any of your winning numbers to win up to 12 times
  • 50x The Cash: A range of cards based on a number, times the cash theme. This $10 card has a top prize of $1 million. Match numbers and get a multiplier between 2x and 50x to win.

Other similar games include the range of pull tab games. These cards involve pulling a perforated layer to reveal prizes.

Instant online lottery games

You can also enjoy almost 100 instant games that can be played online at the official Michigan Lottery site.

The majority of these stick to the scratch card format. A good example is ‘Instant Football Payout’, a scratch card-themed game based on football. You simply click on the nine footballs displayed on the card and if you reveal three matching amounts, that is what you win. A multiplier reveal can also boost that win. This game pays $100,000 as a top prize.

There are games themed on Wheel of Fortune, plus quirky-themed ones like Fuzzball Keno and Cats vs Dogs.

You can also play instant Keno games (to go alongside the draws featuring the game) and a series of Ca$hbuster games (including Ca$hbuster Bonus, Extreme and Towers).

Check out the full list of instant online games by clicking the ‘filter by online’ check box on the Michigan Lottery online games list at the website.

Michigan online lottery bonuses

You can enjoy a welcome bonus the first time you make a deposit at the Michigan Lottery website. This is a 50% boost to that first deposit, up to a maximum of $100. You need to deposit $200 to get the maximum amount – with a minimum of just $10 needed for a $5 bonus.

In addition to the bonus cash, you will also be awarded free games of Treetop Treasures. You can keep track of your bonuses via the website under the ‘My Bonuses’ tab.

Other bonuses and promotions

The Michigan Lottery offers ongoing deals and specials/one-off promotions to keep registered players engaged. Many offers are short-term. The list below gives you a snapshot of the type of deals to expect:

  • Daily Spin to Win: Each day when you log in to your account, you get to spin a bonus wheel. Up to 1,000 prizes a day are available. You can win free coupons, money off and bonuses for both online and retail purchases.
  • Let’s Play Giveaway: Play one of the selected games for this bonus and you will be entered into a draw. Play all 15 selected games and you get 15 tickets in that draw. The lucky winner of the draw will win $5,000, while 50 runners up will all have their accounts boosted by $100.
  • In-Store Game Offers and Promo Codes: Buy a ticket at a retailer and you will often find a Michigan lottery promo code, or a bonus offer on the back. Some of these offers are ideal if you have not yet signed up for the online lottery site. They include free-play on specific games and draw entries.
  • Second Chance: This involves scratch cards that did not win the first time around. You enter a code from the card for a shot at winning cash prizes.

Michigan Lottery deposit options

Funding your lottery account is simple, with a lot of the same methods you would use for online purchases. Here are the most popular methods:

  • Credit or Debit Cards: You can make instant deposits to your account using Visa or MasterCard-branded debit and credit cards. Simply enter your card details online along with the deposit amount and the funds will hit your account in moments.
  • PayPal: This electronic wallet company makes for an ideal way of funding a lottery account. Use the funds from your PayPal to make a direct deposit to your account. This is an ideal method if you are unsure about sharing banking details online.
  • ACH Bank Transfer: Make an instant transfer to your account using an e-check (instant bank transfer).
  • Neteller: Similar to PayPal, this is another third-party company that allows you to fund online accounts independent of your bank, debit or credit card.
  • Online Game Card: You can purchase an online game card at any of the retailers where the Michigan Lottery is available. You simply purchase the card in the store for the amount you want, and you will be given a code on a ticket (this ticket looks just like a lottery entry). You enter this code online and the funds will be credited to your account. This is an ideal deposit method for those who want to deposit with cash.

Good causes supported by the Michigan Lottery

Every time you play the lottery you will be contributing to education, local businesses and supporting companies that employ residents of Michigan. More than $23 billion has gone to the school aid fund since the inception of the lottery in 1972. The education fund is the lottery’s primary mission. Local retailers have benefitted from being in the lottery, with more than 10,000 retailers benefiting from a commission of more than $250 million annually.

The Michigan Lottery mission statement

The Michigan State Lottery strives:

  • To maximize net revenues to supplement state education programs.
  • To provide fun and entertaining games of chance.
  • To operate all games and bureau functions with nothing less than total integrity.

The lottery in Michigan began in November 1972. The original ‘Green Ticket’ lottery paid out its first million-dollar prize in February the following year. That first winner was Hermus Millsaps, a 53-year old Chrysler worker from Taylor, MI. To collect their prize, Mr. Millsaps and his wife spent all of their money on the bus fare to Lansing.

Instant games followed in 1975, and the first ever ‘Michigan Lotto’ was drawn in 1984. The first ever inter-state Big Game (now Mega Millions) ticket was sold in August 1996. With regular additions and the newly revamped online site, the lottery has come a long way in the Wolverine State.

Michigan Lottery responsible gaming

There is a detailed section of the lottery website dedicated to responsible gaming, featuring the following statement:

‘Michigan Lottery games are designed to be fun and exciting entertainment. While millions of players enjoy our games responsibly each year, some individuals display signs of problem gambling behavior. For those individuals, the Michigan Lottery is committed to providing tools, information, and assistance finding help. As part of that effort, the Michigan Lottery provides $1 million each year to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to support statewide education and treatment programs for problem gambling.’

Safeguards in place include self-exclusion (taking an extended break from playing) and deposit limits (players can set daily or weekly limits). Players will have to prove they are residents of Michigan and go through an age verification process to play (residents have to be over the age of 18 to enjoy the lottery).

Playing the Michigan Lottery online

Michigan has more options for lottery players than most states. This includes big MI draws, in addition to the popular multi-state pools. You can buy tickets online for games including Powerball, Mega Millions and Lucky for Life.

Retail outlets offer scratch cards, pull tab games and keno. You can also enjoy these games in electronic format online and also via the official Michigan Lottery app. The MI Lottery offer new players of their virtual games a 50% welcome bonus, plus plenty of promotions and special offers. You will also get a second chance online with many losing retail tickets. Best of all, the Michigan Lottery is run for the benefit of local good causes.

Have you ever wondered how to play and buy Michigan lottery tickets from your home or phone? Many who like USA online gambling love to play the lottery. It’s something that has become ingrained in America’s culture, across nearly all of the 50 states in the union. Even residents of the states that do not have lotteries sometimes cross state lines to play the lottery when the jackpots get big enough. Michigan, like many other states, allows you to play the lottery online, and this can come with some major upsides and also some major things to get used to. We set up this page so that Michigan residents would have an all encompassing resource to answer any questions they might have about the Michigan online lottery system. You can learn more about other types of online gambling in Michigan here.

Who Can Buy Michigan Lottery Tickets Online?

If you want to play the Michigan lottery from the comfort of your home, you have to be a resident of the state of Michigan. This is not like going from another state across the border to buy tickets - you can do that in person, but not online. The system that Michigan has set up in order to run their online lottery games has a lot of intricacies with regards to how it is set up and how it works.

How To Buy Michigan Lottery Tickets Online

Well, that depends on what game you want to be playing, but the basic thing you have to do is sign up at the Michigan online lottery website, and find what kind of game you want to play. If you want to play the major retail games, like Powerball and Mega Millions, you can buy those tickets online by clicking the “in-store” option at the top of the page. If you want to play a variety of online lottery games, you can play those by clicking on the “online” option at the top of the page. You can also search for the specific game you want to play, and filter all of the games by ticket cost as well. It’s a surprisingly easy to use website, and there’s a lot to be gained by using it, obviously.

How To Deposit Into My Michigan Lottery Account

When you want to deposit into your Michigan online lottery account, you can do that in a number of different ways. Most of these ways are familiar to you, and the big thing that makes this easy is that they accept most major credit and debit cards, so putting money into your account should be easy as pie. They also accept some other options. Here is a list of the ways you can deposit into your Michigan online lottery account.

Michigan
  • Debit Card
  • Credit Card
  • Bank Transfer
  • PayPal
  • Online Game Card
  • Neteller

What Michigan Lottery Games Can I Play Online?

There are a large number of Michigan lottery games available for online play and consumption. The biggest draws are probably, no pun intended, the draw games like Powerball and Mega Millions, that are available for online play at the Michigan Lottery website. In addition, there are a large number of instant lottery games that can serve as an excellent time spender and a good way to get a lot of lottery play in a short amount of time.

Michigan Lottery Draw Games

The Michigan lottery offers four separate online draw games. These draw games are Fantasy 5, Lotto 47, Powerball, and Mega Millions. Each of them has a different level of jackpot, and slightly different ways to win. Though they are all slightly different, they come from a similar concept and are easy to understand. Jackpots and the odds change with each game, so do your research of the online lottery games in Michigan to ensure you are playing the best one for you.

Fantasy 5:

Fantasy 5 has a $100,000 estimated jackpot, and to play costs you only one dollar. It is one of the major online lottery tickets, and the odds are relatively in line with the odds of winning and the cost to play.

Lotto 47:

Lotto 47 is where the jackpots start to ramp up. Lotto 47 has an estimated jackpot of $3.2 million, and a dollar’s price to enter. Of the one dollar draw games available online, it is the one with the highest jackpot.

Powerball:

Powerball is next, one of the most famous draw games in all of the states with lotteries. In Michigan, it has an estimated jackpot of $22 million at the moment, and the price of a ticket for Powerball is two dollars.

Mega Millions:

Mega Millions tops the Michigan online lottery jackpot list, with a current estimated jackpot of $159 million. The cost of a Mega Millions online ticket in Michigan is two dollars, same as the cost of a Powerball ticket.

Michigan Scratch Off Games

Scratch off games are some of the most fun ways to spend some time, and one of the major reasons people visit the corner store. In light of this, Michigan does not offer scratch-off games via their online retailer - you have to visit an authorized brick and mortar lottery retailer in order to play them. They do, on the other hand, offer a lot of instant lottery games online. Check out all the other online casino games offered if your still feeling lucky.

Other Michigan Lottery Instant Win Games

The vast majority of the games available to Michigan’s online lottery players are instant lottery games, which range from keno to second chance to pure instant lottery. There are around 89 different games that fall into this category on the Michigan lottery’s website, all available at a moment’s notice to any Michigan based lottery players.

Lottery Bonuses And Promo Codes

The Michigan lottery offers a lot of online promo codes and bonuses. These can range from free plays to monthly rewards to signup bonuses. On a daily basis, for example, you can play the spin to win game, which rewards you with free plays at no cost if you win. As a signup bonus, they offer 50% matching funds on your first deposit, up to $100. Basically, if you sign up and put $200 into your account, you will get an additional $100 free, courtesy of the Michigan lottery.

Michigan Lottery Results

The Michigan lottery has paid out big in recent times. In 2019, 34 people won at least $1 million from the Michigan lottery. In the same time, 206 people won at least $100,000. If you want to check on Michigan lottery results, you can visit the Michigan Lottery big winner page to search up anything you need to find.

How To Claim Your Online Lottery Winning In Michigan

Claiming prizes works differently for different amounts of prizes. For amounts of prizes that are less than $600, you get credited automatically. If you win $500 on an online instant lotto game, you get that automatically into your account. However, for larger prizes, you will be required to submit a claim and verification that it was in fact you who won the prize. For seriously big prizes, you’ll need to show up in person. In addition, if you owe outstanding debt, the prize could be garnished for purposes of paying that debt. Make sure you check out the Michigan Lottery’s prizing and payouts page for more information.

Online Lottery Vs Land Based Lottery Games In Michigan

One might think that there is not much of a difference between the online lottery games and the games that are available for players at retail areas. That is a matter of perspective, to be honest. The online lottery focuses a lot on instant lotto games, while the brick and mortar lottery retailers maintain a relative monopoly on scratch-off games. There are a few areas of overlap, and many of the games are very similar, but by and large, those are the major differences. There are several draw games that are only available at brick and mortar retailers as well. For a more exhaustive list of the online draw games available, you can check out the section on this page called Michigan Lottery Draw Games.

Future Of Online Lottery Tickets And Games In Michigan

Michigan Lottery Online Gambling Sites

Michigan already has a relatively robust online lottery system, one that is a little more advanced and customer friendly than many other states' online lottery systems. The future, for this reason, is bright. Michigan is already ahead of the curve, and looks to be a big beneficiary of the advancements in technology that will allow them to offer more and better lottery games online. Basically, the online lottery already has a foot in the door, and there’s nowhere to go from here but up.