In less than a year since its launch, the Virginia Lottery online players are closing in on winnings of half of a billion dollars.
On July 1, the VA Lottery launched a suite of online game offerings to its customers. Since then, 163,000 unique players have won more than $400 million total, officials recently announced.
They’re calling it the “nation’s most successful online lottery launch.”
And perhaps best of all? Online lotto sales haven’t cut into traditional sales at retail outlets.
Virginia Lottery online game options
The Virginia Lottery online games have been available for nearly nine months.
Players can fund their accounts and play games on the VA Lottery’s official site. However, not all lottery games are available online.
For example, daily draw games such as the Pick 3, Pick 4, and Cash 5 must still be purchased in-person. Additionally, traditional scratch-off tickets (“scratchers“) are also available only at the Virginia Lottery’s 5,300 retail outlets located throughout the commonwealth.
However, online players have some options that are unique to them. They include digital games that are essentially “online scratchers.”
The full list of VA Lottery online games includes:
- Instant win games, including Queen of Diamonds and Virginia Cash Expander
- Specialty instant win games, including Blackjack Doubler, Wheel of Fortune, and Instant Keno Multiplier
- Jackpot draw games, including Powerball, Mega Millions, Cash4Life
With that menu of games, VA Lottery online players have registered 85 million wins. Obviously, most of those payouts were smaller prizes.
However, one player scored a massive seven-figure payout earlier this year.
The biggest VA online lotto prize: $2 million
On Jan. 13, Betty Wong of McLean made the most of her online lottery purchase.
She matched the first five numbers in the Jan. 13 Powerball drawing. That resulted in a $2 million win.
Despite Wong and other players registering hundreds of millions of dollars in wins, the VA Lottery’s retail outlet partners are also experiencing strong sales. In fact, officials said online sales have complemented and helped cross-promote traditional retail sales.
As VA Lottery Executive Director Kevin Hall said:
“Online players have shattered all of our expectations and allowed the Virginia Lottery to set the standard as the nation’s most successful online lottery launch. Offering consumers the choice of playing online is part of being relevant in today’s marketplace while also strengthening and supporting the traditional retail side of the business.”
