Lottery In Arkansas

Arkansas was one of the original hotspots for gambling back in the 1800s, with Hot Springs being famous for gambling, saloons, and gangsters. Eventually, these kinds of corrupt criminal activities would tarnish the lottery’s name and it would be subject to prohibition. Arkansas residents were free to play the lottery again after a ballot was held in November 2008. The state would go on to join the Multi-State Lottery Association in July the following year to offer Powerball and Mega Millions tickets shortly after.

Legal Lottery Options in Arkansas

There are more than 1,900 retail locations where you can purchase tickets for the various lottery games in the state of Arkansas. With the state offering the local stores a 1% commission on winning tickets, every time a customer wins, so does the local business owner.

Although the state has a lottery website and mobile apps in place, you cannot use these online services to purchase tickets of any kind currently. However, it’s still worth signing up for because you can claim prizes from non-winning tickets and earn points with the Arkansas Player’s Club.

Below we take a look at all the draw games you can play from Arkansas.

Multi-State Games

These games offer some of the biggest prize pools around the world when it comes to lottery draws. You can get billions of dollars in jackpots in some cases, so if your aim is to win some serious amounts of cash, the type of money where you could buy your own island, these are the games for you.

US Powerball

This game is drawn three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights. With jackpots that start at a cool $40 million, this is one of the largest lottery prize pools in the world, and in fact, it’s had the largest payout ever in January 2016 when three players would split a $1.586 billion jackpot.

Tickets start at just $2 per game, with the option to add power play from $1 which will increase any non-jackpot winnings by a multiplier.

Mega Millions

Yet another huge lottery, much in the same way that the US Powerball game is, Mega Millions often sees hundreds of millions paid out as a jackpot. This lottery was responsible for the largest single payout in history, when a South Carolina resident won $1.537 billion on October 23rd, 2018.

Just like the Powerball game, tickets are $2 but you’ll also have the option of paying extra and using the Megaplier which again will increase any non-jackpot wins. Make sure to play this game every Tuesday and Friday night for a chance to win some serious cash.

Lucky For Life

Last but not least when it comes to multi-state lottery games you can play from Arkansas, it’s the Lucky For Life game that will see you get paid every day for the rest of your life if you win this jackpot. Match all five balls and the lucky ball and you’ll get $1,000 a day, every day, for your life, and if you miss out on the lucky ball and match just the five regular balls, you’ll still get $25,000 a year for life. Tickets cost $2 and this game is drawn every day.

Arkansas Exclusive Lottery Games

You aren’t just able to buy tickets for the long odds multi-state games in Arkansas, you can also play some in-state games that pack a serious jackpot punch too. Plus you are much more likely to get a payday with these games because there are fewer numbers to choose from, which greatly increases your odds of a jackpot win.

Cash 3 & Cash 4

Often known as Pick games in other states, these lucky number games are drawn 13 times a week in Arkansas, with a midday draw and evening draw every day other than Sunday, when there is just an evening draw. You can get tickets for as little as $0.50 and the Cash 4 game boasts a top prize of up to $5,000.

Natural State Lottery

This local game is drawn every Monday to Saturday evening and boasts a jackpot of hundreds of thousands typically. Tickets are just $1 and you only have to select five numbers from 1-39 to be in with a chance of winning some life-changing money.

Additional Games

You can have a chance at winning a progressive jackpot with the AR Fast Play game. This instant ticket game allows you to play from just $1 and win a jackpot that starts at $1,000 as well as plenty of other prizes.

You can also find a wide selection of scratch-off games on sales around the state. Tickets range anywhere from $1 up to $20 and offer prizes of up to $1,000,000.

Arkansas State Lottery History

• November 2008 – A ballot is held to decide the legality of a lottery within Arkansas. Voters approved which would pave the way for residents to play the lottery for the first time since the 1880s.
• July 2009 –Arkansas joined the Multi-state Lottery Association, allowing the sale of multi-state draw tickets such as Mega Millions and Powerball.
• September 2009 – The state of Arkansas begins to sell scratch-off tickets.
• October 2009 – The first Powerball tickets are sold in the state for the November 4th draw.
• January 2010 – The first Mega Millions tickets are sold in the state for the February 2nd draw.
• August 2012 – Arkansas begins its own in-state progressive game called the Natural State Jackpot.
• February 2013 – Stephen Weaver would win $1,000,000 on a scratch card and then his wife would buy another ticket winning $50,000.
• April 2017 – Eliberto Cantu wins $177 million on the Mega Millions and helps rebuild a local Arkansas church.

What Does the Arkansas State Lottery Fund?

The lottery in Arkansas has raised more than $1 billion in proceeds so far that go towards helping local Arkansas college students. So far over 650,000 scholarships have been awarded by the Arkansas Academic Challenge to help people that may not have been otherwise able to further their education.

Where Can You Play the Lottery in Arkansas?

There are more than 1,900 retail locations within state lines where you can go and purchase draw and instant lottery tickets. It’s well worth downloading the official Arkansas Lottery App from either the iOS app store or the Google Play store so you can locate your nearest retailer.

Ciaran McEneaney

Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.