Welcome to the most comprehensive guide to the Wyoming Lottery out there. The WyoLotto is very young, as far at lotteries go, being founded in the middle of 2013 after many failed attempts to kick start one in the 1980s and 90s. A few classic lottery standards are actually still prohibited in Wyoming, as the sparsely populated and reasonably religious state has a few economic and cultural aversions to the gambling concepts behind lotteries, but there is still plenty of fun to be had.

The word lottery next to lotto balls..

Stick with us through this overview of all things related to the Wyoming Lottery and we’ll make sure you’ve got the best opportunities of winning any kind of cash prize – from big to small. We’ll guide you through all of Wyoming’s Draw Games, from the famous heavy hitters to those small local variants. Wyoming doesn’t have any Scratch Off tickets due to restrictions in the state’s lottery laws regarding instant wins, but we’ll take you through Colorado’s best instead. In the way of alternative lottery games, the Wyoming Lottery offers occasional raffles, a nice twist on the regular Draw Game format. The Wyoming Lotto’s history provides a little precedent and explanation of why the lotto is the curious way it is today in this interesting state.

The Various Wyoming Lottery Games Available

Frist thing is first, the exciting and generous Wyoming Lottery games on offer in The Cowboy State. There are generally two major types of lottery to play in the United States, Draw Games and Scratchers. While Wyoming doesn’t have a selection of Scratchers to choose from, they’ve got a nice rounded choice of Draw Games that range from the big multi-jurisdictional heavy hitters that are available across the nation, to the more regional games, to the local gems that are Wyoming’s pride and joy.

Draw Games: WY Lottos with Huge Jackpots

Draw Games are those classic style of Lottery that you’re likely pretty familiar with already. It’s a style that is old – very old – with its origins in the Chinese Han Dynasty a few hundred years BC. They’ve been a part of US culture since the first European settlers, and their popularity has only grown. You simply select a set of numbers from a wider range and tune it to an official drawing at a later date to see if your numbers match. Match all your numbers to win the top prize, sometimes a rolling jackpot that builds and builds! Due to the often immense prizes, these games have the highest odds and are sometimes quite difficult to win.

Wyoming Lottery Number Drawing
Game Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
8:59 PM 8:59 PM
9:00 PM 9:00 PM
8:38 PM 8:38 PM
2:00 PM 2:00 PM
*Times Based on MST

As you can see from the table above, the Wyoming Lottery Draw Games all have bi-weekly draws. Starting from the top there is Powerball and Mega Millions, the two competing pseudo-national Draw Games that offer immense jackpots of your wildest dreams. Then there’s Lucky for Life, another multi-jurisdictional lottery that, due to its size, has some great odds and tantalizing prizes. Lastly, there’s Cowboy Draw, Wyoming’s own twist on the Draw Game variant. Often state lotteries offer a daily draw game or two, but due to Wyoming’s tentative approach to gambling, there is not one on the roster yet. Regardless, we’ve put together breakdowns for the Draw Games on offer in Wyoming below, check them out for the structure, odds and prizes.

Powerball: History Making

Like it or not, Powerball is on every lottery players’ mind, and in their dreams. In 2016, the game made history by generating a record jackpot of $1.56 billion, split between three winning tickets across the country. None of those winning tickets, or any winning ticket, has come from the state of Wyoming, and we think a lucky ticket will be drawn any day now. Powerball is a five/69 game, with a bonus ‘Powerball’ being drawn from 26 numbers, and you can pick up a ticket for only $2, and even increase your non-jackpot winnings through an additional Power Play for only $1 more.

Matching Numbers Prize Amount Odds
5 + Powerball Jackpot 1:292,201,338
5 $1 Million 1:11,688,054
4 + Powerball $50,000 1:913,129
4 $100 1:36,525
3 + Powerball $100 1:14,494
3 $7 1:580
2 + Powerball $7 1:701
1 + Powerball $4 1:92
Powerball only $4 1:38

Mega Millions: Win Big

Mega Millions is the counterpart to Powerball – offered in almost all states across the United States, the game has almost the same legendary reputation as the other multi-jurisdictional Draw Game. It has a similar structure, prize pool, and odds as Powerball, offering immense jackpots for a little bit of a risk. Players can pick up a ticket for $2 and opt for a Megaplier bonus for an additional $1, increasing their non-jackpot winnings by sometimes up to 10 times! It’s a five/70 game, with a ‘Megaball’ bonus of one in 25. Check out the odds and prize breakdown below.

Matching Numbers Prize Amount Odds
5 + Megaball Jackpot 1:302,575,350
5 $1 Million 1:12,607,306
4 + Megaball $10,000 1:931,001
4 $500 1:38,792
3 + Megaball $200 1:14,547
3 $10 1:606
2 + Megaball $10 1:693
1 + Megaball $4 1:89
Megaball only $2 1:37

Lucky for Life: Set up for a Lifetime

Lucky for Life is available across approximately half of the states of the US, centered around the mid-west and east coast jurisdictions. It joined Wyoming’s lottery roster in 2016, providing a nice alternative to the only other two lotteries available at the time, the two big boys. The prize pool is a little smaller, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth playing, not by any means at all. Win the top prize and you’ll net yourself a cool $1,000 a day for the rest of your life! It’s a five/48 game with a one/18 Lucky Ball, and drawings are bi-weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays.

Matching Numbers Prize Amount Odds
5 + Lucky Ball $1,000 a day for life 1:30,821,472
5 $25,000 a year for life 1:1,813,028
4 + Lucky Ball $5,000 1:143,356
4 $200 1:8,433
3 + Lucky Ball $150 1:3,413
3 $20 1:201
2 + Lucky Ball $25 1:250
2 $3 1:15
1 + Lucky Ball $6 1:50
Lucky Ball Only $4 1:32

Cowboy Draw: Two Chances Every Ticket

Cowboy Draw is Wyoming’s own Draw Game Lottery with a fun Cowboy twist to keep things fresh and entertaining. Tickets are a bit steep, at $5 each, but they get you two plays so you can keep your chances of taking out the jackpot pretty high, which starts at $250,000 and grows after each non-jackpot winning draw. It’s a simple game, which is why Wyomingites love it. Play five numbers from a range of 45, and then play another five! Cowboy Draw players can also get extra lucky, and until June 15 2020, any $1,000 winning ticket will be doubled!

Matching Numbers Prize Amount Odds
5 Jackpot 1:610,879
4 $1,000 1:3,054
3 $20 1:78
2 $5 1:6

The Best Wyoming Scratchers with the Greatest Odds

Scratchers, or Scratch Off Tickets, are those instant win cards that you can purchase from lottery retailers across the lottery playing states of the United States. Each state has their own unique Scratch games, that are printed in finite amounts so there are fixed odds depending on how many tickets are out there. Wyoming, for cultural and legislative reasons, does not have any Scratch Off lottos to offer its residents, so many keen bettors head over to neighboring Colorado for a play. We’ve got the top Scratchers available in Colorado listed for you below, according to their overall odds.

  1. $3,000,000 (Odds: 1 out of 2.70)
  2. $3,000,000 Black Titanium (Odds: 1 out of 2.70)
  3. Surplus Revenue (Odds: 1 out of 2.71)
  4. Towering Trea$ure (Odds: 1 out of 2.71)
  5. MY $1,000,000 (Odds: 1 out of 2.88)

We’ve previously listed the best Scratchers from Colorado according to their overall odds of returning any kind of cash prize back to the pocket of the bettor. This means that there are some other lotteries that aren’t as expensive as this selection, which ranges between $10 and $30 per ticket, and some other Scratchers that give bigger jackpots. A good rule of thumb for Scratchers – the more expensive the ticket, the better the overall odds of winning, and the bigger the prize. Here’s hoping that Wyoming continues to develop its lotteries and legislation will pass Scratchers in the near future!

Alternative Wyoming Lottery Games

Many states offer some unique alternative lotto games to the standard fare, and Wyoming, while offering a small roster of lottery games compared to other states, has a game akin to the Draw Game in its repertoire – the humble raffle. Alternative lottery games are useful as a bit of a mental and leisurely break from the two main game types – Draw Games and Scratch-off lotteries.

Other states offer varied assortments of unique lotto games, from sports betting in New Hampshire, to digital online ‘Treasure Play’ games in Montana. Due to Wyoming’s young lottery history, the alternative lottery roster has yet to be extensively developed, but we’re sure that it will expand beyond the raffles in the near future as the games become more popular in the Cowboy State.

The Wyoming Raffles are a one-time only kind of Draw Game, where a draw date is announced far in advance, and players can purchase a ticket (which is usually a bit more than the usual Draw Game fare) and receive a set of numbers based upon when the ticket was printed. This means that there is a finite amount of tickets printed for one raffle, so it is clear what kind of odds you have at winning.

Important Laws Regarding WY Lotteries

Not all states are created equally, and while bound together by federal law, their lotteries can differ from state to state depending on their cultural and legislative quirks that preceded the current lottery law. In Wyoming, for example, the very sparse population (the lowest in the country!), paired with the religious tendencies of the population, has made lotteries not very popular throughout history, resulting in the state today disallowing Scratchers and other instant win games on the grounds of instant gratification. Presently, a burgeoning lottery scene has only recently been allowed in Wyoming, thankfully, and have some atypical laws because of this that make playing the lottery very beneficial.

Legal Age for Lottery Games: 18+
Tax on Winnings: N/A
Anonymity for Winners: Yes
Limit to Claim Win: 6 Months
Online Lottery: No

Most likely to promote revenue and sales in the burgeoning Wyoming Lottery, the state has some of the friendliest lottery laws we’ve seen going around! Wyomingites don’t have to pay any state taxes on their lottery winnings, which is absolutely fantastic, as some states have to pay up to 12%! Federal taxes still stand, but that’s a major drawcard to move out to Wyoming now. Residents of Wyoming also don’t have to proclaim their identity to the entire world when they take out a big win, and they can live their lives post-win in obscurity and privacy, without fearing any peeping toms intruding on their wins.

History of the Wyoming Lottery

The Wyoming Lottery had its first tickets sold on August 24, 2014, becoming the 44th state in the US to create a lottery. After many failed attempts since the 1980s to begin a lottery in the Cowboy State, the legislation was finally passed in 2013 after a case was made for the loss of revenue in lottery ticket sales by Wyomingites heading across the border to purchase tickets in Colorado. There’d be a lot of money in Scratchers too, and many critics consider it to be a poor decision in terms of revenue raising for the state of Wyoming.

Overview of the Wyoming Lottery
Company: Wyoming Lottery Corporation Founded: July 1st 2013
Headquarters: 1620 Central Ave Suite 100, Cheyenne, WY 82001 Social Media: Facebook
Website: wyolotto.com Biggest Win: $5 Million

The money raised by the Wyoming Lottery goes to some beneficial and respectable causes, so you can bet freely knowing that your lottery ticket is ethical. In annual revenue, the first $6 million raised goes towards cities and counties, into a general fund to distribute evenly. The surplus of the revenue left over from the $6 million then goes to schools. We’re hoping that Scratchers and other forms of lotteries can continue to be legalized in Wyoming so that more money can be put back into not only cities, counties and schools, but also bigger prizes.

Conclusion

There you have it, Wyoming is a small state in not only population size but also the lottery, but there are still so many opportunities to be had in the various games on offer in the Cowboy State. There are those four varied Draw Games that offer decent odds for massive jackpots; Scratchers over the border in Colorado that give out some instant wins; and a fun raffle that cycles through prizes each year. Remember to check back here for all the Wyoming Lottery winning numbers and results, and head over to our homepage to learn about the different lottery options in all the other states .

Common Questions that People Also Ask

There’s bound to be a few lingering questions that you’re burning to have answered, or maybe you’ve jumped straight down here to get some specific knowledge about the games of the Wyoming Lottery. Either way, we’ve got you sorted. We’ve collected some of the most common and frequently asked questions regarding the Wyoming Lottery, and answered them for you.

Which Wyoming Lottery has the best odds?

Draw Game Lotteries come in all shapes and sizes, even in Wyoming with its relatively slim selection of Draw Games. There are those games that offer you huge jackpots at high odds, and those other games that give more regular drawings but have a lighter prize pool because of it. We think that the more chances you have, the better – they halve the odds each time you play – and that’s why we think Cowboy Draw is the best WY lotto to play, with each play giving you double the chance of winning.

Which Wyoming Scratcher has the best odds?

Scratchers also come in all shapes and sizes, and as our top five Scratchers’ list shows, they’ve got some pretty decent odds too. Although the Wyoming Lottery doesn’t have Scratchers officially, players can head over to Colorado to play their printed games. The top game there, $3,000,000, has a top prize of, you guessed it, $3 million, which is the top prize across all the Scratchers in that state. That’s generally the rule of thumb, the bigger the prize, the better the odds.

What are the taxes Wyoming Lottery winners have to pay?

Thanks to some pro-lottery laws due to wanting to increase the popularity of and grow the relatively new lottery scene in Wyoming, residents of the state who luck out and win big don’t need to pay any state taxes on their winnings. It’s great to support the state and all, but when the lottery raises revenue for important projects already, the government can afford to let a few pennies slide, at least we think so.

How long can I wait before I collect my winnings?

According to state legislation, Wyoming Lottery winners can wait up to 6 months, or 180 days, from the date of drawing in order to cash in their winning ticket and collect their lottery winnings. It’s often a good idea to wait for the hubbub that surrounds the drawing of major lottery tickets to subside and die down before claiming your big win, but in a state like Wyoming that protects winners’ anonymity, there’s no real need to wait to be quite honest!

Is there a Wyoming Lottery app?

No, unfortunately the Wyoming Lottery does not offer an app from which you can access key info and updates about the state’s games. As the Lottery is pretty new in Wyoming, we’re hoping that it’s only a matter of time for the organization to put one together so players can check winning numbers, scan their tickets, and maybe even offer a few second chance promotions.

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