Lottery In South Dakota

Originally launched in 1987 after a statewide referendum voted to amend the constitution in the previous year. South Dakota now offers plenty of draw games, instant win tickets, and even video lottery games. Despite having a great website where you can check your tickets and enjoy player club perks, you can’t actually play any games online.

Legal Lottery Options in South Dakota

You can play the lottery in over 1,300 locations across the state and even enjoy 9,100 video lottery terminals. The South Dakota Lottery also offers a great website as well as mobile apps on both Android and iOS devices so you can check out the latest draw results and even get second chances of winning when you enter your non-winning scratch cards.

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

Multi-State Games

If you want to win some seriously life-changing money, then you’ll want to play some of the various multi-state games that are offered in South Dakota.

US Powerball

This is the mother ship of all lottery draws, beginning in April 1992, this multi-state draw game has paid out some of the biggest prizes in the history of any lottery game anywhere. In January of 2016, the Powerball would pay out $1.586 billion to three lucky winners.

Tickets are on sale for $2 with the option of Power Play which can increase your non-jackpot winnings by a multiplier at an additional cost. The Powerball is one of the most frequent multi-state draws, with games on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturday nights, so you have plenty of opportunities to play.

Mega Millions

Starting out in 1996 and originally called the Big Game, Mega Millions is right up there with the Powerball when it comes to the biggest lottery game. In fact, it’s responsible for the largest single payout in lottery history, with $1.537 billion being paid out to an anonymous South Carolina resident in October 2018.

Much like the Powerball, you can get tickets for $2 with the option to add extra cash to play the Megaplier, which allows you to boost your ticket and increase any non-jackpot wins by up to fives times their normal payout. Draws are held every Tuesday and Friday, which are the off days for the Powerball.

Lucky For Life

This game will let you get paid every day for the rest of your life if you hit the jackpot. Tickets are $2 and the game is drawn every night. Select the right five numbers and Lucky Ball and you’ll get $1,000 a day forever, there’s even a second prize where you can get $25,000 a year for life.

South Dakota Exclusive Lottery Games

There aren’t just multi-state games available to you in South Dakota, you can also participate in local draws that offer a much higher chance of winning with fewer numbers and thus better odds.

Lotto America

This is South Dakota’s biggest jackpot game, with a top prize that starts at $2 million and regularly gets into double figures. Much like the multi-state lottery games, you can increase your non-jackpot winnings with a multiplier, in this case, it’s coined the All Star Bonus. Draws are held every Wednesday and Saturday and tickers are just $1 with the optional extra of the All Star Bonus at a surcharge.

Dakota Cash EZ Match

This local lottery offers you a jackpot starting at $20,000 that grows until someone wins, it regularly passed the $100,000 mark. You can get the EZ Match instant win add-on for an extra dollar where you can win up to $100. Draws are held every Wednesday and Saturday night and tickets cost just $1 or $2 if you want the EZ Match addition.

Additional Games

In addition to draw games, you can also play various scratch cards, with tickets starting at $1 and going up to $20, and Prizes range anywhere from $100 up to $400,000.

You can also enjoy plenty of video lottery games, with over 9,000 of them located around the state. With these fun machines, you can play loads of classic games like keno and video poker for real cash.

South Dakota State Lottery History

• November 1986 – A statewide referendum voted to amend the South Dakota constitution and allow a lottery.
• September 1987 – The lottery sells its first instant ticket on September 30th.
• October 1989 – The state pioneers the first video lottery games in the United States.
• October 2009 – The first Powerball tickets are sold in the state for the November 4th draw.
• November 1990 – The state joins forces with the Multi-State Lottery Association to offer what we now call the Powerball.
• May 2010 – South Dakota begins offering Mega Millions.
• June 2017 – Lucky for Life tickets go on sale in South Dakota.

What Does the South Dakota State Lottery Fund?

The lottery funds plenty of great causes in South Dakota, with over 94% of earnings pumped back into local causes. The revenue is used to fund education programs, with around half the entire funds used to support schools, universities, and technical institutes. Funds are also used to help develop better natural resources in the state, promote responsible gambling, and fund local gambling treatment services. In addition to these great causes, there’s also money given for roads and lowering property taxes.

Where Can You Play the Lottery in South Dakota?

There are over 1,300 retail locations where you can play draw games or just grab a scratch card. There are also 9,100 video lottery terminals dotted around South Dakota. Sadly though right now you can’t play any form of lottery game online within the state.

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.