When you’re ready to buy lottery tickets online, your choices can vary from state to state depending on gambling laws and regulations. In some states, you can visit official state lottery websites or apps to buy tickets directly. In other states, lottery courier services like Jackpocket and theLotter provide an online platform for players to purchase tickets from state lotteries.

These companies essentially act as lottery ticket couriers that buy tickets on your behalf from physical retailers and scan them for verification. They may charge a fee for this service, but they do not impose a minimum purchase. The advantage is that you can buy a single ticket or a subscription to play in bulk, and the best online lottery sites offer a mobile app so you can check results from any location with internet access.

If you’re a fan of big jackpots, you might be drawn to the Powerball and Mega Millions online lottery games. These are lottery draw games where you pick five numbers from 1 to 69 for the white balls and one number between 1 and 26 for the red Powerball. Both are nationwide lotteries, and you can also choose daily 3 and 4 digit lottery games in most US states.

These games are played differently than the jackpot-only lotteries, and they’re often called “pick-a-winner” games because you can select the winning numbers in advance. However, these games can be tricky to win because there are multiple winners each drawing. The best way to play them is to use a strategy and follow the rules.