Governor Wallace G. Wilkinson signed legislation in December 1988 to set up the Kentucky Lottery and it was an historical event. That’s because the Kentucky Lottery was the first in the United States to be set up as a corporation. The voters had spoken a month earlier during the General Election with 60% in favor of the state establishing a lottery. April 4, 1989 marked the first day of sales.
Since that day, the Kentucky Lottery has created new games, become part of the drawings for others, and continued to expand its offerings in the Blue Grass State. In fact, Kentucky now allows for the purchase of online lottery tickets through the app. Third-party sellers are not permitted in KY as of yet.
Like most states in the southeastern part of the U.S., lottery proceeds mostly go to fund education initiatives, predominantly with scholarships and grants for higher learning.
Kentucky Lottery players must be 18 or older.
Kentucky Lottery Games
Kentucky has a lot to offer. The Lottery motto is “Fueling Imagination. Funding Education” and very little is left to the imagination because so many games are a reality. Kentucky has eight draw games, including the big multi-state lotteries and some state-specific ones. All of those are able to be purchased online, as well as FastPlay games.
Scratch-offs are only available at approved retailers, but the FastPlay games are basically scratchless scratch-offs to be able to play digitally.
Kentucky also goes all-in with the holiday themes for their branding and marketing, offering a lot of special seasonal games and promotions.
Note: Kentucky has two time zones. All times going forward are in ET, but part of the state is in CT, so just subtract an hour for the drawing times.
It is also worth noting that Kentucky does have sports betting, but it is independent of the lottery.
Kentucky Lottery Draw Games
Powerball
Kentucky is one of 45 states to participate in the Powerball drawing on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday around 11 p.m. ET. Each play costs $2 and there are optional $1 add-ons for the Power Play multiplier for non-Jackpot prizes and also Double Play, which is not available in all states, but provides a second opportunity to win with an 11:30 p.m. ET drawing.
Players select or have the computer select five of the 69 white balls and one of the red Powerballs, which range from 1 to 26. The rolling Jackpot starts at $20 million and grows until a grand prize winner matches every number.
Kentucky added Powerball in January 1991 when it was still named Lotto America. It was rebranded as Powerball in 1992.
Mega Millions
Kentucky was one of 23 states and jurisdictions to start offering Mega Millions in January 2010. Each Mega Millions play costs $2 and drawings are held on Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. ET. Players select or have the computer select five white balls from 1 to 70 and a yellow Mega Ball from 1 to 25.
Like Powerball, there is a $1 optional add-on to multiply non-Jackpot prizes with the Megaplier.
Kentucky also offers the “Just The Jackpot” option for $3, which is a match ‘em all or bust game with two chances to win. Either all six numbers need to match or the ticket is rendered a loser.
Lucky For Life
Another multi-state lottery game is Lucky For Life, which is drawn daily at 10:35 p.m. ET. Five numbers from 1 to 48 and a Lucky Ball from 1 to 18 are drawn and matching all six means winning $1,000 a day for life. Matching all five regular numbers without the Lucky Ball means $25,000 a year for life.
Each play costs $2 and there are no add-ons or multipliers, but you can decide how many draws you want when you submit your ticket.
The states that participate in Lucky For Life are Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.
Cash Ball 225
Cash Ball 225 is the state-specific lottery with the conclusion of Kentucky 5 in November 2024. This lotto game is drawn daily at 11 p.m. ET. Four white balls from 1 to 35 and one Cash Ball from 1 to 25 are selected. Each play costs $1 and there is an EZmatch additional add-on for $1 to possibly win $500 instantly.
The top prize for the game is $225,000.
Pick 4
Like most state lotteries, Kentucky offers the Pick 4, which is a four-digit number with balls from 0 to 9. This game is drawn twice daily, at 1:20 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET. The top prize is $5,000 for matching all four numbers straight across.
Each play costs 50 cents or $1 and you can play numbers Straight, Box, or Straight/Box.
Pick 3
Similarly, Kentucky offers the Pick 3, a three-digit numbers with balls from 0 to 9. This is also a daily game with drawings at 1:20 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET, but the top prize is $600. Each wager is 50 cents or $1, but there are more options for this game, as you can pay to play Straight, Box, Straight/Box, Super Straight, or Pairs.
Interestingly, unlike many lotteries, Pick 3 is not drawn with the normal ball machine, rather a random number generator computer system.
Cash Pop
Many states have adopted Cash Pop, but each drawing is an independent event for that specific state. Cash Pop numbers range from 1 to 15 and players can pick how many numbers they would like to wager on. There is even an option to cover all of the numbers and hope that the prize amount overshadows the wager amount.
Prize amounts are randomly drawn by the computer and so is the winning number. Each draw costs $1, $2, $5, or $10 per number.
This game runs daily and is drawn every four minutes. A game like this really underscores the value of being able to play on the lottery app with so many drawings in fast fashion.
The top prize is $2,500 with a $10 wager.
Keno
Kentucky has also adopted Keno, a game where players can select anywhere from 1 to 10 numbers (or spots) and hope to match as many as possible. There are 80 numbers available in Keno and each game has 20 spots drawn. Matching 10 of 10 spots would lead to the grand prize, which could be as high as $300,000 with a $100,000 base game prize and then multiplier and Bulls-eye options to increase prize amounts.
The multiplier is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10 times the amount and it is equal to the cost of the base wager.
Drawings are held every four minutes.
Kentucky Lottery Fast Play Games
The Kentucky Lottery has Fast Play Games, not to be confused with the Instant Play games that are available online. Fast Play games are only available for purchase in-person at Kentucky Lottery retailers. The computer determines where or not you win at time of purchase, as a ticket is printed with winning numbers or symbols and you have to match them up to see if you’ve won.
Players can determine how much they want to wager and some games have Progressive Jackpots that are available. Jackpots start at $10,000 and players risking lower amounts will have the opportunity to win a percentage of the Progressive.
The Kentucky Lottery has over a dozen of these games available at approved retailers and vending machines.
Kentucky Lottery Instant Play Games
Instant Play Games are essentially a cross between a scratch-off and a slot machine. In fact, many slot machine titles like Hexbreaker, Double Diamond, Siberian Storm, and Cleopatra are part of the suite of games.
These are online-only, hence the similarities to a slot machine. Players choose their risk amount and follow the instructions of the game to see if they’ve won. Games start as low as two cents and go as high as $50.
Chances of winning will vary based on the game and the risk amount, but these are readily available in the Kentucky Lottery App or on the Kentucky Lottery website.
Kentucky Lottery Scratch-Offs
For those looking to go the more traditional route, the Kentucky Lottery offers dozens of scratch-off tickets, ranging from $1 all the way up to $50. The website has all of the games organized by price and also shows the start date and end date (if known) for the games so that players can see how many top prizes are left and also when they will need to redeem winning tickets in order to avoid expiration.
Kentucky Lottery App
The Kentucky Lottery App is the place to buy lottery tickets, or you can buy them on the website. It also allows you access into The Fun Club, which is the loyalty club for lottery players. Players can not only purchase games and get a 100% match on their first deposit up to $849, but they can also enter second-chance promotions and check tickets to see if they’ve won.
There are a lot of seasonal online promotions, along with perks for following the KY Lottery on social media or referring friends to the app.
How To Claim Kentucky Lottery Prizes
Prizes up to $600 can be claimed at any Kentucky Lottery retailer.
Prizes up to $600 online will be deposited into the player’s account. Anything over $600 comes with email instructions on how to process the claim and collect the winning.
A Prize Claim form is required for anything over $600 and up to $5,000, which can be cashed at certain retailers, at an Authorized Cashing Agent, or a Super Cashing Agent.
Prizes from $5,000 to $25,000 require an Authorized Super Cashing Agent or a trip to the Kentucky Lottery Headquarters in Louisville.
Prizes of $25,000 or more require the Kentucky Lottery Headquarters.
All prizes under $99,999 can be claimed by mail by sending them to the Claims Department in Louisville at 1011 W. Main St, with a zip code of 40202.
Kentucky Lottery Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, the Kentucky Lottery app and website allow for online ticket purchases. However, Kentucky does not work with third-party sellers like Jackpot.com or Jackpocket.
Players must be 18 years of age or older to enjoy the Kentucky Lottery.
There are more than 3,100 approved lottery retailers in the state of Kentucky.