Online lotteries are becoming a more viable form of income stream for affiliates in the iGaming world. It’s a lucrative niche with plenty of opportunity for growth as most lottery players around the world are presently unaware of the fact that they can buy lottery tickets online.
How It Works
There are several different formats for online lotteries:
- Official lottery vendors. As U.S. states look for creative ways to boost their coffers, some have turned to online lotteries for revenue. Minnesota was the first state to legalize online lottery sales. Illinois launched online lottery sales earlier this year. Several other states are considering following suit. These official online lottery sites seem to offer little upside to affiliates. Minnesota’s online lottery system does not have an affiliate program. Official online lottery sites likely wouldn’t stand to benefit from offering an affiliate program as much as an online casino or poker room would.
- Lottery Messenger Services. These websites enable visitors to buy tickets from a number of lotteries from around the world. For a fee, the service purchases lottery tickets at customer request. They typically charge more than double the actual face value of the ticket leaving plenty of room for affiliates to make a cut. Small winnings can be sent to the customer or credited to their lottery account. For large prizes, the site typically works with the lottery commission to receive a check in the name of the player which they distribute by courier. These messenger services have no affiliation with any lottery commission and do not share in any prize winnings. Additionally, they encourage players not to buy lottery tickets in a jurisdiction where they do not have an address for payout processing purposes.
- Private Free Lotteries. Some online lotteries award free tickets to customers when they visit an advertiser’s website or watch a commercial. These tickets compete to win a private jackpot ran by the site. Typically, the site will use the numbers from an official lottery drawing although they are not affiliated with that commission. Some of these free lottery sites offer affiliate programs.
- Private Casino Lotteries. Online casinos also offer lottery jackpots. Some casinos have online lottery scratch-off tickets. Games like keno qualify as an online lottery under this category as well.