Guide to WV Lotto Results & West Virginia Lottery Games

If you’re looking for all things related to the West Virginia Lottery, you’re in the right place! Read on and we’ll guide you through everything you’ll need to know in order to have all the best opportunities at striking gold in the West Virginia Lotto. One of the most notable lottery winners in America, Jack Whittaker, is a West Virginian, as rose to national fame after taking out the then largest jackpot in lottery history given out to a single ticket, for $314 million. We think that there’s plenty more luck to be had in the Mountain State, so let’s find out just how it can be you this time.

We’ve broken this guide down into easily-navigable sections so you can find the right game with the best odds and the biggest bang for your buck. We’ll first take you through the WV Lotto’s many Draw Games, with their tempting jackpots and various draw times. The other half of the lottery binary, Scratchers, are aplenty in West Virginia, and provide lottery players with instant wins to fill out the time between the WV lotto winning numbers drawings. While West Virginia doesn’t have as many alternative lottery games as other states, a difference in the legislation of the lottery in the state means that there is a lovely array of slot games to play online from the comfort of your own home! We’ll also give you a little of the history of how that situation came to be.

The Varied West Virginia Lottery Games Available

Okay, first thing’s first – let’s talk about games. The West Virginia Lottery covers a lot of the standard bases when it comes to its roster of games – from the big multi-jurisdictional national lotteries, to the ones that cover a smaller region of states, to the local gems that are unique to the state. There are two major categories of lotto games – Draw Games and Scratchers. West Virginia has games from both the major categories in spades, and also has a video lottery, one of the few states that does.

Draw Games: WV Lottos with Massive Jackpots

There’s a lot of fun and variation in the West Virginia Lottery’s Draw Games. They all have the same core format – select a set of numbers from a wider range, and match your numbers to an official set that’s drawn at a later date in order to win! Match more to win more, simple as that. Depending on the style of the Draw Game, the top prize can be hard to win, and that’s why some of these games have some of the most immense jackpots in the history of lotteries, period. There are also the more modest WV Lotto Draw Games, that are a lot easier to win, but have smaller prize pools, and don’t get us wrong – they’re definitely worth your while.

As you can see, the range of Draw Game lotteries in the West Virginia repertoire is wide and varied. A rule of thumb before you check the jackpots – the WV Draw Games with bi-weekly winning numbers drawings, such as Powerball, Mega Millions, and Lotto America, always tend to have the bigger jackpots and prize pools, and are therefore harder to win. The daily games, Daily 3, 4 and Cash 25 (to a lesser degree), have smaller prizes, but better odds. We’ll break each game down into their structure, odds and prizes in the individual game sections below.

Powerball: Big Jackpots

Powerball is arguably America’s favorite lottery, Draw Game or otherwise. It has a stellar reputation in West Virginia too, with that largest single-ticket win at the time in 2002, $315 million, going to a Powerball ticket holder. Due to these huge jackpots, the range of numbers to select from is quite wide: players must select five numbers from 69, and select an additional ‘Powerball’ from 26. On top of a $2 ticket, players can opt in to purchase a $1 ‘Power Play’, which increases the non-jackpot winnings by a random multiplier, and the overall odds by a fair margin. See your numbers drawn on Wednesday and Saturday evenings!

Mega Millions: The Big Game

Mega Millions is the Pepsi to Powerball’s Coke. It hasn’t got quite the sizeable jackpots as its counterpart, but it’s always a formidable contender. Formerly the Big Game until 2002, Mega Millions has been part of the West Virginia Lottery roster since 2010, when the two big games agreed to cross-sell their games in various states. It’s a five/70 game, with a ‘Megaball’ bonus number selected from 25. Like Powerball, players can go for a $1 ‘Megaplier’ in order to increase their non-jackpot winnings by a random multiplier drawn alongside the numbers, on Tuesday and Friday evenings.

Lotto America: New Regional Contender

Lotto America is one of the few regional lotteries that cover certain sections and swathes of the United States, and the only one of this kind available in West Virginia. It’s quite young, only beginning in 2017, and is now available in 13 states across the US. It’s a smaller game compared to the other two multi-jurisdictional lotteries, with a $1 ticket enabling bettors to select five numbers from 52, and additionally selecting one ‘Starball’ from 10. We like to think of it as a ‘mid-range’ Draw Game lottery, that combines affordability and bettor odds of the daily draws, with the larger prize pools of the big old national lottos. Drawings are on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, before Powerball.

Daily 3: Many Ways to Play

Daily 3 is quite a simple game taken at face value, but gains complexity when you take a look at all the ways in which you can play. Players can pick up a ticket for $1, and sometimes $0.50, depending on your bet, and must select three numbers from 0-9. The order in which you select the numbers is important, as it’s the way in which you bet those numbers that makes the whole game. You can play them for an exact match in the order you selected them, or in any order with two numbers the same, or all different, and in combos of exact and any. Check out the breakdown below for this almost-daily Draw Game.

Daily 4: More Ways to Play

Daily 4 takes what’s great about Daily 3 – the simplicity in number selection and the many ways to play – and runs with it. You select four numbers, again ranging from 0-9, and play them in a huge variety of different ways, and in different combos to increase your chances of winning. Again, you can play them for an exact match, and for matching in any order, but you can also play for the pairs of numbers. Like Daily 3, this WV Lotto Draw Game is drawn daily except for Sundays. Check out the table below.

Cash 25: Easy Does It

Cash 25 is another of West Virginia’s own homegrown Draw Game Lotteries, and it offers some of the best odds of the whole lot, thanks to a simple structure and a slim range of numbers to select from. It’s a six/25 game, meaning that the odds of winning the top prize are quite low, compared to the other big range Draw Games. On the other hand, this game doesn’t have a rolling progressive jackpot that builds, but the top prize is still substantial enough to make this game a West Virginia Lottery staple.

The Top West Virginia Scratchers with the Best Odds

Scratchers are great little sources of instant gratification for when your luck is out with Draw Games. Each state has their own varied spectrum of Scratch Off tickets, ranging in price, odds, and prize amounts. A general rule of thumb to go by when you’re playing the Scratcher game is that the more expensive the Scratcher ticket is, the better the overall odds will be in returning some cash back into your pocket, and usually the greater the top prize will be. We’ve compiled the top Scratchers with the best overall odds below.

1. Maximum Black (Odds: 1 out of 3.41)
2. Flawless Fortune (Odds: 1 out of 3.53)
3. Power 20X (Odds: 1 out of 3.54)
4. Power 10X (Odds: 1 out of 3.79)
5. Extreme Black (Odds: 1 out of 3.80)

There’s the most recently updated selection of Scratchers with the top overall odds of winning cash instantly. The real strength in Scratchers, apart from their instant win appeal and the fact that you can save many for scratching at a later date, is that they come in varied and exciting themes from which they distinguish themselves from others. Black and power seem to be the premiere styles in the more expensive tickets, while there are a heap more fun themes further down the list, full of treasures, gems and genies.

Alternative West Virginia Lottery Games

Almost all pf the Lottery playing states of the United States of America offer some form of alternative lottery game that bring different qualities of lottery with their own rules, styles, and fun to the table rather than the standard Draw Game or Scratcher style. In Pennsylvania, their form of unique lottery takes the shape of Fast Play games, instant wins that are printed out upon purchase, while Ohio even has a lottery TV show!

In the case of West Virginia, the state lottery offers numerous sites where residents can play the video lottery! These ‘slot’ machines are set up around the state, originally only at the four thoroughbred and greyhound racetracks, but now they are available at numerous sites of ‘adult’ environments, such as bars and clubs. You’ll have to check out the individual interactive betting machines themselves, but they usually act like normal slot machines – just spin the reels and cross your fingers.

Important WV Lottery Laws

As is the case for a number of important laws, many of the laws pertaining to the playing and cashing in of the winnings of lotteries are varied, and are dependent on which state you live in. What’s legal in Maryland , might not be legal in West Virginia, so players should keep in mind their conditions and entitlements when playing the lottery in WV. We’ve broken down the most important laws pertaining to the West Virginia Lottery into an easy to read table below.

Like many other states, the legal lottery age in West Virginia is 18 years old. It’s also sits on the average when it comes to state taxes, with 6.5% being quite typical compared to the no taxes in California, and the sky high 12% in New York. Thankfully, winners of the West Virginia Lottery can live out their post-jackpot winning days in relative peace and quiet, compared to most other states, as they are not required by law to have their names on public record along with their winning prize amounts or town.

History of the West Virginia Lottery

The West Virginia Lottery was brought in by voters in 1984, with 67% of the population wanting a chance at glory and a way to give back to their state at the same time. It officially began in 1986, with the first tickets being sold on the 9th of January, with 1.5 million tickets and upwards being sold on that first day. In that time, the West Virginia Lottery has delivered over $3 billion to its residents in prizes, making dreams come true and lives made.

More than just generating huge prizes for the state’s lottery players, the West Virginia Lottery raises a heap of revenue for many important projects in the state. Annually, the WV Lotto generates $520 million to put towards state tourism, public education, and senior services, along with a number of other projects through the state’s General Fund. In the Lottery’s long and storied history, more than $9 billion has been put towards these portfolios for the state. You can play the game guilt free knowing that your money goes to helping make West Virginia great.

Conclusion

There you have it, that (almost) concludes our guide to the West Virginia Lottery. We’re sure you’ve come away with all the important bits, but check below for our FAQ for any lingering questions. The Lottery has a lot to give, from the Draw Games at various levels and sizes, the great array of unique Scratchers to choose from, and the video lottery terminals available across the state. Don’t forget to check back here for all the WV lotto winning numbers and results, and head over to our Lottery in America homepage for all the other states. See you on the winners list!

Common Questions that People Also Ask

Just before you go, there’s bound to be some burning question that you’d like to have answered, or a clear and succinct answer on a matter that you might have missed in the guide above, or hey, just skipped entirely. We don’t blame you – you’ve got numbers to run and tickets to win. We’ve compiled and answered the most common questions in regards to the West Virginia Lottery, so you don’t have to search high and low for them yourself.