Reference guide · 13 apps and 6 sites scored
Best Lottery Apps and Sites, Ranked
Last updated October 20, 2026
There are a lot of lottery apps out there and honestly most of them are noise. We looked at the official state apps, the courier apps that buy real tickets for you, and the independent results trackers, then scored each one the same way. Every rating, fee and state list below links back to where we got it.
Nobody paid to be here and none of these links earn us anything. We skipped “hot number” and “overdue number” generators on purpose, because every drawing is random and past results don’t change the odds.
1. Lottery apps: play online, scan and check
Official state apps and licensed couriers where you can buy or check tickets, plus three phone apps for results. We kept the results apps here because they’re apps scored on App Store data, not websites.
Since Mass Lottery Online launched on July 27, 2026, this app does almost everything: buy draw tickets, play eInstants, scan paper tickets, enter second-chance drawings and see scratch prizes left.
Watch out: Online play needs a verified account with your full Social Security number, and credit cards aren't accepted.
- App Store
- 4.8 stars from 67,681 ratings
- Where
- Massachusetts only. Online play is 21+; scanning and retail tools are 18+.
- Cost
- Free. Online tickets cost face value.
- Features
- Buy or order tickets, ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, second-chance entries, scratch-off games or info, spending limits
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing25 / 25
- User rating17.5 / 20
- Number of ratings8.9 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage2.5 / 10
- Features12.9 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
#2OfficialOfficial state lottery app
Illinois Lottery Official App
Illinois Lottery (run by Camelot Illinois)
Buy Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto and the daily games straight from the state, scan paper tickets, and get prizes of $600 or less paid into your account.
Watch out: Instant wins of $600 or less go to your account only while your balance stays under $2,000.
- App Store
- 4.8 stars from 217,349 ratings
- Where
- Illinois only, and you have to be in the state to buy.
- Cost
- Free. Online tickets cost face value.
- Features
- Buy or order tickets, ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, spending limits
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing25 / 25
- User rating17.8 / 20
- Number of ratings9.9 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage2.5 / 10
- Features8.6 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
Check-A-Ticket tells you if you won, and non-winning Scratchers and some draw tickets can go into 2nd Chance drawings.
Watch out: You can't buy tickets in it. California doesn't sell lottery tickets online.
- App Store
- 4.8 stars from 181,326 ratings
- Where
- California. Useful anywhere for results, but tickets are sold only in stores.
- Cost
- Free. No ticket sales in the app.
- Features
- Ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, second-chance entries, scratch-off games or info
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing25 / 25
- User rating17.5 / 20
- Number of ratings9.7 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage2.5 / 10
- Features8.6 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
The biggest courier by footprint. It buys real tickets from licensed retailers for you, uploads a scan, and lets you join pools with other players in your state.
Watch out: You pay a service fee on every order, and the exact rate varies by state and game. It's gone from Texas, Indiana and Florida.
- App Store
- 4.8 stars from 235,962 ratings
- Where
- AZ, AR, CO, ID, ME, MA, MN, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PR, DC and WV. Age 18+, or 19+/21+ where required.
- Cost
- Service fee on top of ticket price. Not published as a flat rate; shown before you pay. No cut of winnings.
- Features
- Buy or order tickets, results and jackpot alerts, scratch-off games or info, pools or sharing, spending limits
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing20 / 25
- User rating17.5 / 20
- Number of ratings10 / 10
- Fees9 / 15
- Coverage10 / 10
- Features10.7 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
Play Powerball and Mega Millions, browse online instant games and scan paper tickets in one place.
Watch out: Online instant games are fast. Set your own limits before you start.
- App Store
- 4.6 stars from 140,594 ratings
- Where
- Michigan only. 18+ and physically in Michigan to play.
- Cost
- Free. Online tickets cost face value.
- Features
- Buy or order tickets, ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, scratch-off games or info
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing25 / 25
- User rating16.1 / 20
- Number of ratings9.5 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage2.5 / 10
- Features8.6 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
The most-rated lottery app we found. Scan a ticket to see if it won, set jackpot alerts and enter second-chance drawings.
Watch out: No online buying, and Texas banned courier apps in 2025.
- App Store
- 4.7 stars from 249,281 ratings
- Where
- Texas. Tickets are sold only in stores.
- Cost
- Free. No ticket sales in the app.
- Features
- Ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, second-chance entries
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing25 / 25
- User rating17.1 / 20
- Number of ratings10 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage2.5 / 10
- Features6.4 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
Tied for the top App Store rating on this list. The Digital Playslip is a nice touch: build your picks in the app and scan the QR code at the counter.
Watch out: Scanning and info only. You still buy at a store.
- App Store
- 4.8 stars from 58,179 ratings
- Where
- Indiana. Tickets are bought in stores.
- Cost
- Free. No ticket sales in the app.
- Features
- Ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, second-chance entries
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing25 / 25
- User rating18.1 / 20
- Number of ratings8.8 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage2.5 / 10
- Features6.4 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
Pennsylvania's online lottery, draw games, ticket checking and scratch-off info in one app.
Watch out: Its App Store rating is the lowest of the official apps here that sell online.
- App Store
- 4.2 stars from 11,534 ratings
- Where
- Pennsylvania only.
- Cost
- Free. Online tickets cost face value.
- Features
- Buy or order tickets, ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, scratch-off games or info
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing25 / 25
- User rating11.7 / 20
- Number of ratings7.5 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage2.5 / 10
- Features8.6 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
The highest-rated courier on the App Store. You order, it buys the ticket from a licensed retailer and shows you the scan. Small wins land in your account.
Watch out: The fee is taken when you add money, so $100 in gets you about $85 of tickets at the widely reported 15% rate. Check the number shown at deposit.
- App Store
- 4.8 stars from 38,991 ratings
- Where
- AZ, AR, CO, MA, NJ, NY and OH per the App Store listing. 18+ (21+ in AZ).
- Cost
- Convenience fee on deposits, reported at 15%. No fee on tickets or winnings.
- Features
- Buy or order tickets, results and jackpot alerts, scratch-off games or info, spending limits
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing20 / 25
- User rating18.1 / 20
- Number of ratings8.5 / 10
- Fees7 / 15
- Coverage5.3 / 10
- Features8.6 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
Fast Powerball results with full prize breakdowns. Save your lines and it tells you what each one won, including Power Play and Double Play.
Watch out: Powerball only, and you type your numbers in rather than scanning.
- App Store
- 4.7 stars from 23,887 ratings
- Where
- Anywhere. Results only.
- Cost
- Free.
- Features
- Ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing15 / 25
- User rating17.3 / 20
- Number of ratings8.1 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage7 / 10
- Features4.3 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
Scan your Powerball and Mega Millions tickets and share them with your office pool, so everyone can see the numbers they're in on.
Watch out: It covers only the two big multistate games. It's a checker, not an official claim.
- App Store
- 4.6 stars from 9,308 ratings
- Where
- Anywhere Powerball and Mega Millions are sold.
- Cost
- Free to download, with an optional auto-renewing subscription.
- Features
- Ticket scanner or checker, results and jackpot alerts, pools or sharing
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing15 / 25
- User rating15.7 / 20
- Number of ratings7.4 / 10
- Fees13 / 15
- Coverage7 / 10
- Features6.4 / 15
- Recent updates5 / 5
A courier with ticket scans, subscriptions and win alerts. Big winners get their physical ticket delivered.
Watch out: A 25% fee means a $2 Powerball ticket costs you $2.50. That's the steepest fee on this list.
- App Store
- 4.7 stars from 47,097 ratings
- Where
- Website in AZ, AR, CO, ME, MA, MN, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OR and PR. The phone app itself is New York and New Jersey only.
- Cost
- 25% convenience fee on draw tickets, 12% on Keno, $1.50 to $6 per scratch ticket. No cut of winnings.
- Features
- Buy or order tickets, results and jackpot alerts, spending limits
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing20 / 25
- User rating16.9 / 20
- Number of ratings8.7 / 10
- Fees4 / 15
- Coverage7.6 / 10
- Features6.4 / 15
- Recent updates3 / 5
One place for results across nearly every U.S. lottery, with drawing history and prize tables.
Watch out: The App Store version hasn't been updated since February 2025.
- App Store
- 4.7 stars from 12,182 ratings
- Where
- Anywhere. Covers multistate games plus state games in 40+ states.
- Cost
- Free.
- Features
- Results and jackpot alerts
Score breakdown and sources
- Trust and licensing15 / 25
- User rating17 / 20
- Number of ratings7.6 / 10
- Fees15 / 15
- Coverage10 / 10
- Features2.1 / 15
- Recent updates0 / 5
How the app score works
Seven parts, 100 points total. The math runs in code from the facts on each card, so nobody nudges a score by hand.
- Trust and licensing (25). Official state lottery apps get 25. Couriers that buy real tickets from licensed retailers under state rules get 20. Independent results apps that never touch your money get 15.
- User rating (20). The U.S. App Store average, scaled so 3.0 stars is 0 and 5.0 stars is 20.
- Number of ratings (10). More ratings means we trust the average more. Scored on a log scale with 250,000 ratings as full marks.
- Fees (15). Free apps and face-value tickets get 15. An optional subscription gets 13. Couriers lose points by fee size: unpublished variable fee 9, 15% deposit fee 7, 25% ticket fee 4.
- Coverage (10). Single-state apps get 2.5. Couriers get 2 plus up to 8 more by number of jurisdictions (17 is full marks). Results apps for every game nationwide get 10, or 7 if they cover only Powerball or Mega Millions.
- Features (15). Equal credit for each of: buying tickets, a ticket scanner or checker, results and alerts, second-chance entries, scratch-off games or info, pools or sharing, and spending limits.
- Recent updates (5). Updated in the last 90 days gets 5, in the last year 3, older 0.
Ties go to the app with more ratings. Ratings come from Apple’s U.S. App Store on October 20, 2026; Google Play numbers differ and aren’t scored. We don’t score privacy yet. Fees and states come from each company’s own help pages or terms where they publish them, and from news or review sites where they don’t (we say which on each card). Spot something out of date? Tell us.
2. Calculator, results and commentary sites
Websites lottery fans use for tax math, results, stats and news. These get their own rubric, built around one question: are the numbers right? We checked each site against official sources on October 20, 2026.
#1WebsiteOur site
Jackpot Dreaming
That's us. An after-tax calculator for every state, a year-by-year annuity plan, scratch ticket value rankings for 8 states and a blog.
Watch out: No winning numbers, no number checker, and no About page naming who runs it. We scored ourselves with the same rubric and lost points for all three.
- Accuracy
- 6 of 6 checked facts right. All 5 state withholding rates matched, and the Powerball jackpot matched. It doesn't publish winning numbers, so those weren't checked.
- Tools
- After-tax calculator, annuity or cash-vs-annuity tool, tax rates for every state, odds and prize charts, scratch-off data, news or commentary
- Ads, trackers
- No outside hosts loaded
Score breakdown and sources
- Accuracy vs official sources35 / 35
- Tools and coverage15 / 25
- Transparency15 / 20
- Ads and tracking20 / 20
Transparency: About page naming who runs it ✗ · Privacy policy ✓ · Explains calculator assumptions ✓ · Links to official sources ✓
#2Website
USA Mega
Around since 1999 and still the most accurate tax table we checked. Its jackpot analysis shows withholding and the final federal bill, with a year-by-year annuity schedule per state.
Watch out: Heavy ad and tracking load: 34 outside hosts on one home page visit.
- Accuracy
- 7 of 7 checked facts right. All 5 state withholding rates in its tax table matched, plus the latest Powerball numbers and jackpot.
- Tools
- After-tax calculator, annuity or cash-vs-annuity tool, tax rates for every state, powerball and mega millions results, number checker, news or commentary, statistics or jackpot history
- Ads, trackers
- 34 outside hosts loaded, 21 of them ad or ad-tech
Score breakdown and sources
- Accuracy vs official sources35 / 35
- Tools and coverage17.5 / 25
- Transparency15 / 20
- Ads and tracking13.2 / 20
Transparency: About page naming who runs it ✓ · Privacy policy ✓ · Explains calculator assumptions ✓ · Links to official sources ✗
#3Website
Lottery.net
Clean results site for the national and state games with number checkers, prize charts, scratch-off pages and news.
Watch out: No tax or payout calculator. It covers results, not what you'd actually keep.
- Accuracy
- 2 of 2 checked facts right. Latest Powerball numbers and jackpot matched. It doesn't publish state tax rates, so there were none to check.
- Tools
- Powerball and Mega Millions results, state game results, odds and prize charts, number checker, scratch-off data, news or commentary, statistics or jackpot history
- Ads, trackers
- 13 outside hosts loaded, 4 of them ad or ad-tech
Score breakdown and sources
- Accuracy vs official sources35 / 35
- Tools and coverage17.5 / 25
- Transparency10 / 20
- Ads and tracking17.4 / 20
Transparency: About page naming who runs it ✓ · Privacy policy ✓ · Explains calculator assumptions ✗ · Links to official sources ✗
#4Website
Lottery Post
The enthusiast hangout. Results for every state game, jackpot history and analysis, plus long-running news and forums.
Watch out: No tax tools, and a heavy ad load: 79 outside hosts on one home page visit.
- Accuracy
- 2 of 2 checked facts right. Latest Powerball numbers and next jackpot matched. No tax rates published to check.
- Tools
- Powerball and Mega Millions results, state game results, odds and prize charts, news or commentary, statistics or jackpot history
- Ads, trackers
- 79 outside hosts loaded, 29 of them ad or ad-tech
Score breakdown and sources
- Accuracy vs official sources35 / 35
- Tools and coverage12.5 / 25
- Transparency10 / 20
- Ads and tracking4.2 / 20
Transparency: About page naming who runs it ✓ · Privacy policy ✓ · Explains calculator assumptions ✗ · Links to official sources ✗
#5Website
Lottery USA
The widest toolkit here: jackpot tax calculators, annuity schedules, cash converters, prize and odds pages and state results.
Watch out: Its notes say a 37% federal rate is assumed, but the net shown only takes out 24%, which overstates what you keep. And 169 outside hosts loaded on one home page visit, the most we saw.
Errors we found (3)
- Arizona withholding shown as 4.8%. The Arizona Lottery now withholds 2.5%. Source: Arizona Lottery winner brochure (Jan 2026)
- Ohio shown as 4%. Ohio law sets 2.75% for 2026. Source: Ohio Revised Code 5747.062
- North Carolina shown as 4.25%. The NC Lottery withholds 3.99%. Source: NC Education Lottery terms
- Accuracy
- 4 of 7 checked facts right. Georgia and New York matched. Arizona, Ohio and North Carolina didn't. Powerball numbers and jackpot matched.
- Tools
- After-tax calculator, annuity or cash-vs-annuity tool, tax rates for every state, powerball and mega millions results, state game results, odds and prize charts, number checker, news or commentary, statistics or jackpot history
- Ads, trackers
- 169 outside hosts loaded, 42 of them ad or ad-tech
Score breakdown and sources
- Accuracy vs official sources20 / 35
- Tools and coverage22.5 / 25
- Transparency15 / 20
- Ads and tracking0 / 20
Transparency: About page naming who runs it ✓ · Privacy policy ✓ · Explains calculator assumptions ✓ · Links to official sources ✗
#6Website
Powerball.net
An independent Powerball-only site with a tax calculator, cash-vs-annuity page, number checker and stats.
Watch out: Its state tax table is out of date in several states we checked. It's not affiliated with the official Powerball game.
Errors we found (5)
- Arizona shown as 4.8%. The Arizona Lottery now withholds 2.5%. Source: Arizona Lottery winner brochure (Jan 2026)
- Ohio shown as 4%. Ohio law sets 2.75% for 2026. Source: Ohio Revised Code 5747.062
- North Carolina shown as 5.25%. The NC Lottery withholds 3.99%. Source: NC Education Lottery terms
- Georgia shown as 5.75%. Georgia withholds 4.99%. Source: Georgia DOR 2026 Employer's Tax Guide
- Says you don't have to pay tax on prizes up to $600. The IRS says all gambling winnings are taxable income. Source: IRS Topic 419: Gambling income and losses
- Accuracy
- 3 of 7 checked facts right. Of 5 state withholding rates in its tax table, only New York matched. Powerball numbers and jackpot matched.
- Tools
- After-tax calculator, annuity or cash-vs-annuity tool, tax rates for every state, odds and prize charts, number checker, news or commentary, statistics or jackpot history
- Ads, trackers
- 44 outside hosts loaded, 17 of them ad or ad-tech
Score breakdown and sources
- Accuracy vs official sources15 / 35
- Tools and coverage17.5 / 25
- Transparency10 / 20
- Ads and tracking11.2 / 20
Transparency: About page naming who runs it ✗ · Privacy policy ✓ · Explains calculator assumptions ✓ · Links to official sources ✗
How the site score works
Four parts, 100 points, computed in code from the facts on each card.
- Accuracy vs official sources (35). The share of facts we checked that were right. We check the latest Powerball numbers (8 31 32 42 48, Powerball 23 (Mon, Oct 19, 2026)) and next jackpot ($635 million (Wed, Oct 21, 2026)) against Powerball.com, and, for sites that publish state tax rates, five state withholding rates against each state’s own source: Arizona 2.5%, Ohio 2.75%, North Carolina 3.99%, Georgia 4.99%, New York 10.9%. We only check what a site publishes, so a site isn’t marked wrong for something it doesn’t show.
- Tools and coverage (25). Equal credit for each of ten: after-tax calculator, annuity or cash-vs-annuity tool, tax rates for every state, powerball and mega millions results, state game results, odds and prize charts, number checker, scratch-off data, news or commentary, statistics or jackpot history.
- Transparency (20). Equal credit for each of four: about page naming who runs it, privacy policy, explains calculator assumptions, links to official sources. If we couldn’t confirm it, it gets no credit.
- Ads and tracking (20). Full marks for a home page that contacts no outside hosts, minus 1% of the 20 points for each one, down to zero at 100. Measured in one desktop visit with a fresh browser; ad auctions vary, so treat it as a snapshot.