How to Play in Texas

The Texas Lottery offers a host of exciting games. You can buy tickets yourself from a licensed retailer in the Lone Star State, or use a lottery courier to purchase them on your behalf.

If you use a messenger service, the cut-off time is likely to be earlier than the Texas Lottery’s own draw break so that the agent has time to buy your tickets. It still means you can just pick your numbers from home, plus there’s the security of having a copy of your numbers stored online.

Learn more below about how to play Powerball in Texas and how to play Mega Millions in Texas.

Powerball

Powerball offers jackpots of at least $20 million every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday night. The grand prize can be worth far more as it grows every time there is no winner.

The Texas Lottery has a draw break between 9:00 and 10:15 p.m. CT on draw nights when you cannot purchase tickets. Here is a step-by-step guide to playing.

• As an alternative to getting a playslip from a retailer, you can sign up with a concierge service such as Jackpot.com or theLotter.
• Pick five numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball from 1 to 26. Another option is to mark the QP box to get a random Quick Pick.
• Add the Power Play to boost any non-jackpot winnings you get by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x their original value.
• Use the Multi-Draw section to play your numbers in several consecutive drawings, up to a maximum of 15.

If you play through a lottery messenger, they will take your selections and buy your ticket for you, before uploading a scanned copy to your account as proof of purchase.

To win a payout, all you need to do is match the Powerball on its own. There are a total of nine prize categories as you get more numbers correct. To win the jackpot, you must match all six numbers.

Mega Millions

Mega Millions has two drawings a week - on Tuesday and Friday night. If you’re playing through a retailer, ticket sales are suspended at 9:45 p.m. CT and resume at 10:15 p.m. You don’t have to go to a retail store yourself, though, as lottery couriers offer this service for you. Al you need to do is specify how you want to play.

• Select five main numbers from 1 to 70, plus a Mega Ball between 1 and 25. The Mega Ball is selected from a separate set, so you can choose the same number twice if you wish.
• Decide whether to enter just the next drawing, or up to 10 in a row.
• Say ‘Yes’ to the Megaplier to potentially boost the value of your prize. The Megaplier draw randomly selects a number – 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x – and all non-jackpot winnings are multiplied by this value for those players who add have opted in. With the Megaplier, you can win up to $5 million without even matching all the numbers.
• You can also play Just the Jackpot in Texas. This is a way to enter two plays at a knocked-down cost, although you cannot win any prize apart from the jackpot. Even if you match five numbers out of six, you win nothing.

The overall odds of winning a Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24. Match the Mega Ball on its own to get $2, or receive a larger prize for getting more numbers correct.

Claiming Prizes

It’s easy to claim a prize if you win in Texas. If you’ve played through a courier service, you will be instantly notified and the money will be transferred to your online account in the majority of cases. For larger amounts, the messenger company will guide you through what to do so that you can claim from the Texas Lottery directly.

For prizes of $600 or more, the Texas Lottery encourages winners to send in their tickets by mail or go to a claim center. The lottery’s headquarters is located in Austin.

The Texas Lottery

The Texas Lottery has raised more than $37 billion for education and veterans since 1992, with ticket sales going from strength to strength since it started offering Mega Millions in 2003 and then Powerball in 2010.

You can stay anonymous if you claim a jackpot in Texas, and the biggest single win in the state went to a Mega Millions player who did just that. The lucky ticket holder, from Leander in Austin, won $225 million in September 2019 and kept their identity private. Texans haven’t had as much success on Powerball yet, but someone from the state did land a third of a jackpot worth $564 million in February 2015.