The lottery. It sells you the dream of becoming rich overnight and never having to worry about money because hey, you never know, right?
Well, slow down there cowboy. It is not easy to win the lotteries that can give you that kind of wealth. In fact, you have better odds of being hit by a meteorite than winning the biggest lotre online.
But, you do not have to shoot for the stars when you play the lottery. On a state level, the Ohio lottery gives you the option to go big or go home, or go for a prize that can give you some extra pocket money for the weekend.
What are your options? This is your complete guide for the Ohio lottery.
MultiState Lotteries
Some lottery drawings are bigger than just the state of Ohio but do include residents of that state.
These are the ones that you have to be the luckiest person in the world to win. Seriously, you will probably become president or die in a plane crash before hitting the jackpot in these.
But, here are three options if you want the big jackpot.
Mega Millions
The Mega Millions is a nationwide lottery draw that costs $2 to play. You must pick five numbers from 1-70, and then a number from 1-25 for the gold Mega Ball.
Want to know the odds of winning the jackpot? About 1 in 300 million. But, if you do win, you will likely take home hundreds of millions of dollars before taxes.
However, hitting the first five numbers can get you $1 million. Drawings are on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Powerball
This is similar to the Mega Millions in that it is a national lottery draw that costs $2 to plays. You must select five numbers from 1-69, and then one Powerball number from 1-26.
The odds of winning this jackpot are a little better, at a reasonable 1 in 292 million. But, like the Mega Millions, the jackpot can be hundreds of millions of dollars.
Hitting the first five numbers here also gets you $1 million, and the four of those plus the Powerball number is $50,000. Drawings are on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Lucky for Life
Unlike the first two national games, this one centers around winning a prize in perpetuity for life. You have to pick five numbers here from 1-48, and the Lucky Ball is a number from 1-18.
Odds go a lot lower here, at about 1 in 30 million for the grand prize.
The grand prize is $365,000 a year for life, and if you hit the first five numbers, then it is $25,000 a year for life. Drawings for this are nightly.
Ohio Lottery Draws
Now, we are getting to the more local games. These are the ones that have odds more in your favor to win, but the payout may not change your life.
Let’s take a look at a few of your options from this site, where all of the Ohio lottery results and Ohio lottery winning numbers are posted.
Rolling Cash 5
This draw has much better odds than the national games, with the odds at 1 in 575,000.
Here, you have to pick five numbers from 1-39, and there is no bonus ball that you need to hit. The jackpot starts at $100,000 and climbs depending on how long it takes for there to be a winner.
This is a daily draw at 7:05 P.M. EST.
Pick Games
This group of draws are very similar, so they are going to go in the same category here.
Ohio has three different options for Pick games. They are the Pick 5, Pick 4, and Pick 3.
For all of them, you must pick single-digit numbers and have all of them come out to win the jackpot. All three draws are twice a day at 12:29 P.M. and 7:29 P.M. EST.
The Pick 5 has a $50,000 prize and has 1 in 100,000 odds of you winning. The Pick 4 has a $5,000 prize and 1 in 10,000 odds of winning. The Pick 3 is just a $500 prize with 1 in 1,000 odds of winning.
All draws cost $1 to play. You can also claim prizes by either boxing your numbers, getting the first or last set of numbers, or making them part of a wheel.
For these, hitting the first or last four numbers in a Pick 5 will get you $5,000. Hitting a 4-way box in a Pick 4 will get you $1,198.
Classic Lotto and Kicker
This is the only state game that does not have a daily draw. It draws three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 7:05 P.M. EST.
The Classic Lotto costs $1 to play, and the Kicker is an additional $1.
You must pick six numbers for the Classic Lotto from 1-49. If you hit all six, then the jackpot is a minimum of $1 million. This increases by $100,000 every time there is no winner.
The odds of winning the Classic Lotto jackpot are about 1 in 14 million.
Getting five of those numbers is a significant drop in the prize money, but still decent pocket money at $1,500. The odds of this are about 1 in 54,000.
The Kicker is an option within the Classic Lotto that offers a jackpot of $100,000. This cannot be played separately, and the number must be computer-generated.
Players will get a six-digit number that they will have to match exactly in order to get the Kicker jackpot. The odds of hitting that jackpot are 1 in 1 million.
Matching five of those numbers will get you $5,000. The odds of that are 1 in 111,111.
Find Your Lottery
Not everybody is drawn to the same type of lottery game. Luckily, with the Ohio lottery, there is something for every type of player.
With eight draws listed above plus multiple ways to play those lotteries, you can find your way to getting one step closer either to some extra pocket money or your dream jackpot.
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