Government Lottery in India

Lottery games in India have a long history. Although they have been around for over 50 years, the regulations related to the lottery changed multiple times.

What are your current options for playing the government lottery in India? The good news is you have multiple alternatives, and you don’t even have to stick to state lotto games. In this article, we are going to shed some light on the government lottery in India and alternatives to the government lottery.

Important to know Indians can play the lottery online and win big jackpots. There are multiple and safe lottery sites where you can play many of the notable lotteries around the world, like LottoAgent, Lotto247, and theLotter, see the full list at the bottom of this page.

13 Indian States Allow Lottery Games

As for the lotto legality, the Indian Supreme Court decided with the Lotteries (Regulation) Act of 1998 that each state has the right to determine whether a lottery will be legal on its territory. At the moment, there are 13 Indian states (29 in total) where the lotto is legal to play. Here is a list of those states:

1. Kerala – The lottery has been legal since 1967, and their games are among the most popular.
2. Punjab – A rate state that sells tickets online, but only for special bumper draws.
3. Sikkim – Daily sessions and close collaboration with other state lotteries are noticeable in this state.
4. Arunachal Pradesh – The lotto has two daily draws named after precious stones and horoscope signs.
5. Assam – You’ll also find two daily sessions of a lottery called the Bodoland Lotto.
6. Goa – No less than three daily sessions occur in Goa, and you can discover results online.
7. Madhya Pradesh – While lotto games are legal, there is a lot of room to regulate the framework.
8. Maharashtra – It has been legal to play the lotto since 1969.
9. Manipur – This state only recently legalized these games.
10. Meghalaya – The government, organizes a draw every day, and you can purchase tickets in local stores.
11. Mizoram – You can participate in lottery games in this state from 2010.
12. Nagaland – Apart from the lotto, they also consider poker legal.
13. West Bengal State – It’s possible to purchase tickets with a smartphone.

Kerala State Lottery

Kerala was the first one to accept the lotto legality and organize a state lottery. The first draw occurred in 1967, which means they have over five decades of experience in organizing these games.

Today, Kerala Lotto features a unique weekly concept with daily sessions. Each lottery day has a different name to avoid confusion. Rewards and ticket prices also vary, but you can buy them for between ₹40 to ₹100, depending on the draw,

Here is an overview of the games and prizes:

You can also play special bumper draws on six occasions. It’s worth noting that the tickets can be purchased for at least weeks (sometimes even months) before the draw. The ticket price for these sessions is from ₹100 and ₹200, but the rewards are far more generous, too. 

Here is the overview of Kerala Bumper lotto games:

Punjab State Lotto

The reason why we feel we should mention Punjab is that this state accepted organizing lottery games first after Kerala. The first session occurred in 1968, but the current situation is specific. The Punjab State doesn’t organize daily draws these days. They only focus on special bumper sessions around the biggest holidays. The good news is that the reward pool is generous and you can win tempting prizes.

Here is an overview of the available lotteries:

Punjab state lottery also offers different bumper lotteries. Here are some of the ongoing schemes for lottery players.

Sikkim State Lottery

Sikkim State Lottery offers daily draws with identical jackpot rewards that can be rewarding to lottery players. The games run into different lottery schemes, such as the weekly Labhlaxmi and weekly Dear Lottery.

The Labhlaxmi lottery is organized weekly at ₹ 10 per entry. Here is an overview of the lotteries in the Labhlaxmi scheme.

On the other hand, the Dear Lottery has two types of games: the Dear 100, Dear 50, and Dear 20. Dear 100 costs ₹100 to enter and is held weekly while the Dear 20 and Dear 50 costs ₹50 and ₹202 respectively and are held twice a week. Here are the lotteries in the Dear Lottery scheme.

As for special lotteries, you’ll find the bumper editions fairly often. Those are Jackpot Specials with more tempting prizes, and the unique twist is that tickets for those draws are also available in Maharashtra. Since the two states are involved, the prizes are usually considerably higher than in regular sessions.

Arunachal Pradesh State Lottery

The State Government runs the Arunachal Pradesh Lottery, and it conducts seven different lottery draws every week, with each draw held three times a day – at 10:55 the morning, at 3 PM, and 7 PM. Each draw brings the same jackpot prize at ₹26.03 lakhs.

The table below contains an overview of the different lotteries at the Arunachal Pradesh state lottery.

The cost per ticket is ₹6, and this is a paper lottery. To win the jackpot, one must correctly match all eight digits in the winning combination. The Arunachal Pradesh Lottery occasionally provides bumpers, like the upcoming Holi Bumper draw, with increased prizes.

Assam (Bodoland) Lotteries

The State of Assam, also known as Bodoland, has ten lottery series with jackpot prizes of between ₹1 and ₹5 lakhs. Although there are special draws which could raise the winning amount to as high as ₹10 lakhs. The tickets can be bought from local vendors all over the state.

The table below shows the different lottery schemes at the Bodoland lottery

Aside from the lottery series, there are also special draws that occur at 3 PM every day and are conducted by the Bodoland Territorial Council Secretariat.

Below are the special draws at Bodoland lottery.

There is no online streaming of the draws, but the results are published online as soon as the draws end.

Goa State Lottery

The Indian state of Goa legalized the lottery in 1995, and Goa’s Directorate of State Lotteries oversees the lottery games and draws. Goa has several lottery draws per day in the Dear Labhaxmi Lottery, Rajshree series, and Golden Series Lottery.

The table below shows the lottery in the Dear Labhlaxmi lottery.

The Rajshree series offers three types of lottery games: the Rajshree 10 Weekly, the Rajshree 20 Monthly, Rajshree 1000 Monthly, and the Rajshree Paper Lottery.

The Goa Golden Series lottery  consists of four daily draws that run from Monday to Sunday and two monthly draws. The table below contains more information on their draw says and time

Still, there are also Bumper draws set at various times per year, around important holidays like Diwali and Holi.

Madhya Pradesh State Lottery

The Madhya Pradesh State Lottery was reinstated in August 2021, under the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998. Now there are three daily lottery draws in Madhya Pradesh: MP Daily, MP Deluxe, and MP Super.

Unfortunately, this is only a paper lottery, and there is no official website yet, and the results are not published online. Still, you can find the results in the local newspapers and publications.

Maharashtra State Lottery

The Indian state of Maharashtra launched the Maharashtra State Lottery in 1969, and the lottery raises money for good causes like health, education, local infrastructure, and child welfare. The draws take place four times a day, and each day of the week has a different name.

However, other monthly draws have more impressive prizes of about ₹25 lakh, but the rules vary slightly. There is no live streaming of the lottery draws, but the winning numbers are published on the official lottery website and in the local newspapers.

Manipur State Lottery

Manipur allows lottery draws three times a day, with jackpot prizes of up to ₹27 lakh. The draws are from the Singam Daily Lottery, and the price of the tickets is ₹6. The draws are at 11 AM, 3 PM, and 7 PM.

The tickets are sold by licensed retailers in Manipur but are not available online. The tickets cost ₹6, and though the names of the draws are different, the lottery draws are all about the same.

Meghalaya State Lottery

The State of Meghalaya has a state-run lottery with three draws per day, every day of the week. There is a Future Daily Lottery draw in the morning at 12.55, noon at 4.30, and evening at 6.30.

The winning ticket is the one that has matched all the drawn numbers, and there can be only one winning prize code. The winning numbers are published on the official lottery website, but there is no live stream of the draws.

Mizoram State Lottery

The State of Mizoram has several weekly and monthly draws, and all offer a range of jackpots. There is a series of weekly draws, four monthly draws, and an annual Bumper Lottery draws for the festival of Basant Panchami.

The weekly lotteries at Mizoram State lottery include: the Rajshree 50 Weekly Lottery, Rajshree Day Weekly Lottery, Golden Gold Weekly Lottery, and Golden King Weekly Lottery.

The tables below show the lottery name and jackpot for weekly lotteries at Mizoram State Lottery.

The Monthly lotteries include Golden 30 Gold Monthly Lottery, Golden 50 Gold Monthly Lottery, Golden 100 Monthly Lottery, and Golden 200 Monthly Lottery. The table below shows the monthly lottery names and jackpot prizes at the Mizoram State Lottery.

The Mizoram State Lottery also offers an annual Basant Panchami Bumper, which can pay as high as ₹1 Crore. The ticket prices vary, and the draws are organized by the Institutional Finance and State Lottery of Mizoram and are held from 5 PM onwards. Authorized retailers sell the tickets, and while there is no live streaming of the draws, the results are available online right after the draw.

Nagaland State Lottery

Nagaland has a state-run lottery with three daily draws. The lottery was established to increase the state’s revenue, impose efficient running of all lotteries, and ensure legal and safe games. The tickets are available with local retailers via the Nagaland Lottery online website.

The table below shows the available lottery draws at the Nagaland State Lottery.

The lottery has several Bumper draws per year, each with a more than ₹ one crore jackpot. The upcoming Bumper lottery draw by the Nagaland Lottery is the Dear Durga Puja Bumper.

West Bengal State Lottery

While the lottery is legal in the West Bengal State, at this time, there is no state lottery running here. Instead, the people from West Bengal can partake in the Lottery Sambad, which is a big jackpot lottery game played across several Indian states. Also, the West Bengali people can take part in the Nagaland Lottery games. The exciting thing is that the Sambad and Nagaland lotteries have tickets available online, which makes things much easier.

Government Lottery Games

How to Claim Your Prize When You Win The Indian Government Lottery?

Did you participate in the Indian government lottery and need to claim the prize? It’s important to check the timeframe for confirming your reward. You don’t want to end up as one of those unclaimed lottery tickets with huge losses.

The actual process of claiming a lotto prize in India can be tricky. Since these are state lotteries, most governments will ask for identity confirmation and other relevant documents.

Here is how you can claim your prize in Kerala Lotto:

The process is similar for all lotteries, so be ready to deal with some paperwork.

How to Play the Government Lottery in India?

If you want to play this lotto, you must be in the state where it’s legal to buy lottery tickets. Additionally, the tickets sold should be for that state’s lottery (Sambad and Sikkim might be exceptions in some states).

In other words, you cannot play the Indian lottery if you are not in that country. Most lotto games aren’t even open to players from other Indian states, let around foreign residents.

Laws of the State Lottery in India

Lottery activities in India are governed and controlled by two major laws. They are:

The Public Gambling Act of 1867

The Public Gambling Act of 1867 restricts all kinds of lottery activities in India. It prevents the establishment of lottery companies and gaming houses in India. It considers gambling and all type of lottery activities as a crime.

However, this law is not fully recognized in India as 13 states in the country have legalized the lottery. The only condition is that players must play at state-run lotteries.

The Lotteries Regulation Act of 1998

This law guides the operation of lottery establishments in the states where the lottery is legalized. It states that only the state government can offer lottery services in an Indian state. This implies that private lottery companies are against the law. So you can only play the state government lottery. The Law also forbids citizens from buying lottery tickets from another state.

The good news is online lotteries are not subject to Indian lottery laws because they are owned by foreign companies and the draws are organized outside India.

How to Purchase Government Lottery in India

There are two ways to purchase the government lottery in India. You can participate in the lottery by visiting the local lottery vendor or through the mobile website.

The Problem with Fake Tickets

Indian lotteries are facing a huge problem with fake tickets. That’s because the concept isn’t great – the governments don’t have official sellers in different cities and other locations. Instead, anyone is welcome to become a vendor. All it takes is to purchase a certain quantity of tickets, and you can resell them to earn money.

The problem is that the lack of official vendors means a huge risk of scamming. If people use the right technology, it’s not a big problem to print duplicate tickets and sell them to various customers.

Online Lotteries VS. Government Lotteries

In the previous paragraph, we discussed the main downside of purchasing a government lottery ticket in India. You might purchase a fake ticket without even realizing it, which is the same as throwing your money down the drain.

Another critical issue is that you can only play the lotto in states that legalized it, and only the games that are available there. That limits the number of lotteries you can play, which all leads to the conclusion that online lotto websites are a far better choice.

However, that doesn’t mean they are perfect. Here is an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of using both methods.

Safe with great payment methods for Indians

Government Lottery Alternatives

If you don’t feel the government lottery in India is your cup of tea, the good news is you can pick from a variety of other games.

Here are some suggestions for lotteries to try:

	Lottery	Price (₹)	Draw Days	Jackpot Odds	Current Jackpot
	Lotto India	₹40	Tue, Fri	1:79,453,500	₹40,000
	US Powerball	₹300	Sun, Tue, Thu	1:292,201,338	US$ 112 Million
	US MegaMillions	₹300	Wed, Sat	1:302,575,350	US$ 302 Million
	Australia Saturday Lotto	₹120	Mon, Thu, Sat	1:8,145,060	AU$ 20 Million
	EuroMillions	₹250	Wed, Sat	1:139,838,160	€ 66 Million

Make sure you’re playing with one of the legal websites that support most of the popular payment methods in India:

More details? Check our full list of online lottery sites in India so you can compare and learn more.

The History of Government Lottery in India

The earliest legal document referring to gambling in India dates back to 1867.

That’s when the Public Gambling Act banned people from organizing and visiting gambling facilities. It took an entire century for the laws to change. In 1967, Kerala launched its lottery, and it’s the first lotto game in India.

If we fast forward to 1998, we’ll find the Lottery Act. It states that a lotto game is one where participants buy tickets and have a chance of winning prizes.

FAQ

Is lottery legal in India?
The national government leaves it to states to determine if they will legalize lotto games in their territories. Therefore, 13 out of 29 states in India consider lottery legal.

Can you play Indian lotto from outside India?
No, there is no option to purchase government lottery tickets from other countries. However, you can choose from a wide number of other national and international lotteries.

Are there any taxes for winning the lottery in India?
According to the latest reports, the government will charge 28% if you win the lotto in India. There are some discussions about adjusting this law, but nothing is official yet. You can check current tax rates in our article dedicated to taxes.

What is the difference between standard and bumper lotteries?
If you say a standard lotto drawing, that refers to regular sessions of government lottery in India. Most states organize daily draws, but some even have multiple sessions per day. It only depends on the government organizing the lottery.

As for bumper draws, these are special sessions that occur several times per year. The dates are usually related to state or other holidays, and the bumper lotto draw serves to celebrate them. Commonly, the prize fund for bumper draws is higher than for standard sessions. As for ticket prices, they could also be higher due to the increased reward pool.

Final Thoughts

If you are in India, playing the government lottery can be an intriguing option. You can pick from a wide variety of alternatives, and many state lotto games even have multiple daily drawings. The ticket prices are affordable, and the rewards are reasonably attractive.

However, the high risk of purchasing fake tickets and the tedious process of claiming prizes might push you away from the Indian lotto. You can also play only lotteries organized by the state you are in, which limits the available games. That’s why many people prefer heading to reputable online lottery vendors. They offer dozens of lotto games from around the world, which gives you plenty of options to pick your favorite game.