Less than 18 months ago, the Virginia Lottery began offering residents online lottery tickets and instant gaming options. Since then, the organization has grown by leaps and bounds to offer one of the most impressive catalogs of online lottery games.
Recently, the Virginia Lottery reached a significant milestone for its short tenure: $1 billion in payouts to players.
As retail sales across the country dipped, online lottery games offered players throughout the US the option to enjoy their favorite pastime from the comfort and safety of home. Virginia’s online lottery website welcomed more than 213,000 unique players over the past year and a half. Since then, those players have racked up an impressive 196 million wins on traditional ticketed games and online instant lottery games. The vast majority of big wins come from progressive jackpot games. These are features in which the top prize continually grows until won. In the online arena, the largest win went to a woman from Aldie, who got a VIP Ultra payout of $209,149.
Despite the surge in online activity, retail lottery sales still make up 70% of the Virginia Lottery’s total revenue. Virginia’s biggest winner emerged with a $2 million Powerball payout. Three others won a respectable $1,000 a week for the rest of their lives playing Cash4Life.
Kevin Hall, Virginia Lottery executive director, has been reassured by players’ enthusiasm for online lottery options, saying, “Virginians have really taken to the convenience of playing the Lottery from their smartphones, tablets or computers. The Lottery is constantly looking for innovative and convenient ways to meet customer expectations while also providing lots of opportunities for our players to imagine the possibilities of a winning moment. Online lottery games continue to help support our mission of generating profits for K-12 education all across the commonwealth.”
The Virginia Lottery is open to all Virginia residents age 18 and older. To play online, players must register an account and complete identity and age verification to ensure they meet the legal qualifications for participation.
