The Retailer Lookup page lists active retailers by city and by zip code.
No. You cannot use your credit card to purchase lottery tickets. By law, lottery tickets may only be purchased with cash.
You may purchase tickets if you are 18 years or older. Minors may receive tickets as gifts.
No. You may only purchase Wisconsin Lottery tickets at a Wisconsin Lottery retailer.
Wisconsin Lottery winning tickets are distributed randomly. We have no control over who wins or where the winner is from. Areas in Wisconsin with higher populations tend to have more retailers. These areas may also have more sales and more winners. Since winners are chosen randomly, a city or area may have many winners in a short time frame. Other times, a city or area may go a long period of time without big winners.
See our page on Claiming Prizes.
See the Lottery Offices page.
Yes. All lottery winnings are taxable. We automatically deduct 25% in federal tax for winnings over $5,000 and 7.75% in state income tax for winnings over $1,999.
No. Wisconsin has an “open records law.” Most information that state government produces or controls is available to any organization or person requesting it. Only information “in the public’s interest” may be released by a government agency. The lottery, upon request, must release the name and city of the winner. Any other information about the winner will be released only with the winner’s consent. Likewise, it is the winner's choice if they would like to speak to the media. It is not required, nor can it be prevented.
The value of unclaimed prizes is credited to the Wisconsin Lottery property tax relief fund.
The remaining payments are paid to the winner's estate. (Wis. Stats. 565.30 (1).)
The Wisconsin Lottery offers many games that appeal to different players. Powerball and Mega Millions are designed for those who want to win millions. If you are interested in lower top prizes with better odds, we offer Megabucks, SuperCash! and Badger 5.
You may enter $5 worth of non-winning tickets for a chance to win $1,000 in a weekly drawing. For more information see the Super 2nd Chance page.
The odds are calculated by taking the total number of tickets printed divided by the total number of prizes available. The prizes' location in the game are determined by random, computer generated formulas. A string of ten tickets may not produce a winner, but another string of ten tickets may produce several winners.
For every Megabucks ticket sold, a percentage of that $1 is placed into a jackpot prize pool. The more tickets sold, the higher the cash option. With Megabucks, the lottery automatically funds a starting cash option of $400,000 and an annuity of $1 million. These jackpots will not increase until sales have pushed past the base amounts. This usually takes about eight weeks. In some cases, the Megabucks annuity jackpot may stay the same or decrease. The annuity jackpot, funded by the cash pool available to purchase government bonds, can vary if there are changes in the overall financial markets or the U.S. government's bond rating. These changes can make it much more expensive to buy these long-term securities. So, even as the cash jackpot continues to grow, the estimated annuity jackpot may remain the same or decrease from one drawing to the next.
On the back of any instant scratch ticket, the game number is the first three numbers in the string of numbers located immediately above the long barcode (usually found at the bottom of the ticket back). For example, below you will see the numbers 818 referring to game #818 on the back of a Crossword ticket.
See the About page.
No. However, Powerball and Mega Millions are broadcast over satellite, so many Wisconsin stations can broadcast the drawings. Wisconsin stations are not contractually obligated to show them, therefore, which stations air them and when and how they choose to do so is at the station's discretion. All other Wisconsin Lottery games are drawn using a Random Number Generator (RNG). A RNG is a computer with the sole purpose of picking random numbers. It is not connected to any outside line or to the Lottery gaming system. These drawing are not televised. However, videotapes of the drawings are available for public review for 180 days following the drawing. Results from these drawings are also available on our website, through many local newspapers, at retailers, and by calling our 24-hour player hotline at (608) 266-7777.
Please see the Financial section on the About page.
If you know someone who might have a gambling problem, urge him or her to call 1-800-GAMBLE-5 (1-800-426-2535)
History of the Wisconsin Lottery