Big Fun Winning Big Cash Jackpots Playing VA Lottery Draw Games
Virginia has a long history of lottery games. Different types of lotteries go back to pre-colonial times. Virginia has used lottery proceeds to improve communities, build churches, libraries, and schools, including various historic Virginia colleges and universities.
After more than 100 years with a number of restrictions prohibiting many games-of-chance, Virginia launched a statewide lottery in September 1988. Since, the Virginia Lottery has generated more than $12 billion in revenue, a large percentage of these profits earmarked for education.
Draw games have always been popular with Virginia lottery players. The VA Lottery has a total of eight draw games. Five of these are Virginia-only games. There are three multi-jurisdictional games as well. Let’s take a look at these VA Lottery draw games and how you play each.
First Steps to Play Virginia Lottery Draw Games
To start playing VA Lottery draw games online, you have to complete two simple steps. First, set up a free account. You’ll create a username and strong password. The Virginia Lottery will ask for basic personal information and the last four digits of your social security number.
Once you’ve submitted your new account registration, you’ll need to fund your account. Making a VA Lottery deposit is simple as well. You’ll open your account page and choose to MAKE A DEPOSIT.
The VA Lottery has three deposit methods, ACH bank transfer, PayPal, or a debit card. The first deposit must be at least $10. Now you’re ready to pick numbers for any of the eight available online draw games on the VA Lottery.
VA Lottery Draw Games – Getting Started
With your new VA Lottery account and a minimum $10 first deposit, you’re ready to pick your draw game numbers. Here’s how you get to VA Lottery page listing each of the eight available draw games.
- From the VA Lottery homepage
- Select PLAY NOW
- Click How to Play Online
- Review the instructions for how to play the VA Lottery online
- Click the Games dropdown tab on the second menu bar, right-hand side.
- From the dropdown games menu, select Draw Games
There are five block rectangles with the name and logo for each VA Lottery draw game. You can click on the game icon, or the provided link to open a new page with instructions on how to play, prizes, and the odds for each draw game. Let’s take a look at all eight VA Lottery draw games in more detail.
VA Lottery-Only Draw Games
The Virginia Lottery has five draw games that are unique for Virginia Lottery players. While a couple of these mirror draw games from other states, ticket sales and prize awards are only for Virginia Lottery players. Here are the five Virginia Lottery-only draw games.
Bank a Million
- Drawings: Wednesday and Saturday
- Top Prize: $1,000,000
- Ticket Price: $2.00
- Odds of Winning: 1 in 3,838,380
Bank a Million has a unique ticket purchase option. You can play on $2 ticket picking six numbers between 1 and 40. You can split your ticket into two $1 tickets to have two chances to win $500,000.
Players can also split the $2 into four individual tickets, each with a chance to win $250,000. You can use Easy Pick or select your numbers manually. Bank a Million drawings can be viewed live at 11:00pm every Wednesday and Saturday.
CA$H5 with EZ Match
- Drawings: Seven days a week at 11:00pm
- Top Prize: Jackpot starts at $100,000
- Ticket Price: $1 with six options per play slip
- Odds of Winning: 1 in 749,398
CA$H5 with EZ Match is a five number matching game. Each play slip can have up to six sets of five numbers. You will select a set of EZ Match numbers. If any of these numbers match the numbers on your ticket, you win instantly.
EZ Match is an extra option that costs $1 per play. Tickets that do not win the EZ Match are still entered into that daily drawing. Multi-draw tickets for CA$H5 with EZ Match can be purchased for up to 91 consecutive daily drawings.
Pick4
- Drawing: Twice per day, seven days a week at 1:59pm and 11:00pm
- Top Prize: $5,000
- Ticket Price: $0.50 or $1.00
- Odds of Winning: 1 in 10,000
The VA Lottery gives you two chances every day to win up to $5,000 by picking four correct numbers. The Pick4 game on the VA Lottery is the same as most state Pick4 drawing games. However, VA Lottery players can select the multi-draw options to play up to 91 consecutive draws.
There are play options for the VA Lottery Pick4. You can win by hitting all four numbers in any order. You can also increase the cash payout by selecting Play it Straight. Furthermore, you win the maximum jackpot if your numbers are drawn in the exact order you predict. A Pick4 ticket can also be split $0.50 each on a ticket, to play both options on a single draw.
Pick3
- Drawing: Twice per day, seven days a week at 1:59pm and 11:00pm
- Top Prize: $500
- Ticket Price: $0.50 or $1.00
- Odds of Winning: 1 in 1,000
The VA Lottery Pick3 drawings are held daily at the same time as the Pick4 draw game. Players can use the Play it Straight feature, or win by matching the three selected numbers in any order. There is also the special Pairs option. Pick the first two numbers in exact order and the ticket is a winner no matter what the third number drawn is.
Keno
- Drawing: Keno drawings every four-minutes
- Top Prize: Up to $100,000
- Ticket Price: $1 to $10 per draw
- Odds of Winning: Vary depending on how many numbers are selected
Keno gives you multiple chances to win at different levels. You begin by picking between 1 and 10 spots. There is the option to play between $1 and $10 per draw. The VA Lottery lets you play up to 20 consecutive draws.
VA Lottery Keno drawings are held every four-minutes. You can use Easy Pick or select your own numbers. The number board has numbers between 1 and 80. A $10 ticket using the maximum 10 spots has a jackpot potential of up to $100,000.
VA Lottery National Draw Games
The Virginia Lottery offers players a chance to enter three multi-jurisdictional national draw games. They are Mega Millions®, Powerball® and Cash4Life®. Each has multiple drawing nights during the week, with potentially life-changing top prize jackpots.
Mega Millions®
- Drawing: Tuesday and Friday at 11:00pm
- Top Prize: Guaranteed $20 million minimum jackpot
- Ticket Price: $2
- Odds of Winning: 1 in 302,575,350
The Virginia Lottery is one of the original six states to sell tickets for “The Big Game”, the original Mega Millions. Players select five numbers between 1 and 70. Each ticket then has a Mega Ball between 1 and 25.
Prizes are awarded for matching as few as one number plus the Mega Ball, or just by matching the Mega Ball. Match all six numbers and your life will be changed financially forever. There are two Mega Millions drawings each week, and each can be viewed on the VA Lottery website.
Powerball®
- Drawing: Wednesday and Saturday at 11:00pm
- Top Prize: Minimum jackpot guarantee of $20 million
- Ticket Price: $2, plus $1 for PowerPlay®
- Odds of Winning: 1 in 292,201,338
Powerball is the second most popular national draw game available from the VA Lottery. Like Mega Millions, Powerball winning numbers are drawn on two nights each week. Game tickets require five different numbers between 1 and 69 and a Powerball number between 1 and 26.
Similar to Mega Millions, one matching number plus the Powerball wins cash, plus matching the Powerball number alone wins money. Match all five balls drawn to your numbers, plus the Powerball number, and you win the jackpot for that night’s drawing.
Cash4Life®
- Drawing: Every day at 9:00pm
- Top Prize: $365,000 per year for life
- Ticket Price: $2
- Odds of Winning: 1 in 21,846,048
Every day the VA Lottery gives you an opportunity to match five numbers and a Cash Ball to alter your life. The winning jackpot pays $365,000 every year for the rest of your life. Tickets only cost $1, and you can use the VA Lottery auto-renewal option to never miss a daily Cash4Life drawing.
There are seven chances to strike-it-rich each week. Players can use a $10 play option to pick a block of five separate numbers for each drawing. Multi-draw allows you to pick numbers for 26 consecutive Cash4Life drawings.
VA Lottery Draw Game Auto-Renewal
Once you have your VA Lottery account and have reviewed the types of draw games, you may elect to set up auto-renewal for one or more of the three multi-jurisdictional games. With VA Lottery Auto-Renewal, you’ll never have to worry about missing a drawing. Here’s how to set up auto-renewal.
- Pick the draw game you want to have auto-renewal set up.
- Choose your numbers
- On the final purchase tickets screen, click Auto-Renewal
- You’ll see the word YES
- Click YES and these same numbers will be entered automatically
- You can use the auto-renewal for manually selected numbers or Easy Pick
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who in charge of operating the Virginia Lottery?
- Where do revenues generated by the Virginia Lottery go?
- What happens to unclaimed prizes from Virginia-only Lottery draw games?
- Is there a subscription service to purchase VA Lottery draw game tickets?
- Have there ever been any big national draw game winners sold in Virginia?
- What are the cut-off times to purchase VA Lottery draw game tickets online?
- Where can you watch the drawing for VA Lottery draw games?
The Virginia Lottery Commission is an independent agency. There are no ties to any of Virginia’s branches of state government. The governor appoints an executive director. The remaining five members of the Virginia Lottery Commission are also appointed by the governor and serve five-year terms.
For the first two years, lottery profits went to the state’s capital projects fund. Beginning in 1990, proceeds were transferred to the Virginia General Fund. Voters approved a change in November 2000. The law created the State Lottery Proceeds Fund. All VA Lottery profits now go towards education.
Multi-jurisdictional draw games have separate rules for unclaimed winning tickets. After the period to claim a Virginia Lottery-only draw game prize expires, unclaimed winnings are reverted to the Virginia Literary Fund. These monies are used for educational purposes. Nearly $300 million unclaimed prizes were transferred in 2019 alone.
Yes, VA Lottery account holders can set up a subscription service to purchase tickets automatically for Mega Millions, Powerball and Cash4Life. By using auto-renewal for a designated draw game drawings will be entered and funds taken from the account holder’s linked checking account.
Yes. A retired Virginia truck driver has won the largest national draw game prize with a ticket purchased in Virginia. The February 20, 2004 Mega Millions jackpot paid $239 million. There have been nine Mega Million jackpot winning tickets sold to VA Lottery players and one Powerball jackpot.
Each of the VA Lottery draw games has a different cut-off time. Tickets for all VA Lottery draw games, except Powerball and Cash4Life, can be purchased online up until 10:45pm. Powerball ticket purchases must be finalized by 10:00pm. Cash4Life tickets must be purchased before 8:45pm.
Various Virginia television stations broadcast Powerball and Mega Millions drawings. All eight VA Lottery draw games, in-state and multi-jurisdictional can be viewed online. Go to the VA Lottery website homepage and click on the number countdown for upcoming drawing noted.