How To Play Maryland Lottery Games
Accessing the Maryland Lottery has become quite easy. To start, you can play by visiting a participating retailer, a self-service kiosk, or online.
Depending on the game you want to play, you’ll purchase tickets and wait for the drawing results on the designated days. For certain games where you select numbers, you can manually choose the numbers of purchase tickets that pick them for you. There are numerous options, as you’ll find on the Maryland Lottery website, including Mega Millions, Bonus Match 5, Multi-Match games, and so much more.
Can you play the Maryland Lottery online?
Yes. You can play the Maryland Lottery by using their mobile app.
The app is available for iOS and Android users. This app lets you check winning tickets, see current jackpots, find a retailer near you, set alerts, scan tickets, and more. You can download it from the app store for your device or find a direct link to it on the Maryland Lottery website.
However, you cannot directly purchase tickets on the mobile app. Instead, you'll create them on the app and bring the barcode for your tickets to a retailer to complete the transaction.
Where To Buy Lottery Tickets in Maryland
You must visit a participating retailer to purchase Maryland Lottery tickets in person. These retailers are available throughout Maryland. You can find them on the Maryland Lottery website by using your exact location by typing in a zip code. There are 4,400 retailers in the state where you can purchase tickets and claim your winning lottery prize.
How To Use The Maryland Lottery App
The Maryland Lottery does have a mobile app that you can download and play various games on. You can create ePlayslips for games, including Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Bonus Match 5, Powerball, Mega Millions, Multi Match, Cash 4 Life, Keno, Packaged To Go Keno, and Racetrax for virtual horse racing betting. After creating these, you'll bring the barcode to a participating Maryland Lottery retailer; they'll scan it, and you'll get your tickets.
To start, visit the Maryland Lottery website and click the direct links to the mobile apps for iOS and Android users. You can also visit the Apple App and Google Play Store and download them directly there.
When you open the app, you can immediately start creating ePlayslip's.
- ePlayslip: Create tickets for several drawing games online and bring the barcode to a participating retailer to complete the transaction.
- Find A Retailer: Search for a nearby retailer where you can complete your ticket purchases.
- Check Your Tickets: Scan your tickets using the mobile app to see if you have a winning ticket.
How To Claim Maryland Lottery Winning Numbers
If the winnings are up to and including $600, you can redeem them at a verified Maryland Lottery retailer.
With any winnings over $600, you must submit and claim documents identifying you, such as your driver's license, passport, and social security card.
Should you win more than $600 and up to $5,000, you’ll redeem it and any Expanded Cashing Authority Program, which can be found on the Maryland Lottery website.
Now, if you win up to and including $25,000, you must allow up to 30 days and visit selected casinos to redeem your prize. These include the following casinos:
- Horseshoe Casino, 1525 Russell Street in Baltimore (Baltimore City)
- MGM National Harbor, 101 MGM National Avenue in Oxon Hill (Prince George’s County)
- Live! Casino, 7002 Arundel Mills Circle in Hanover (Anne Arundel County)
- Ocean Downs Casino, 10218 Racetrack Road in Berlin (Worcester County)
- Hollywood Casino, 1201 Chesapeake Overlook Parkway in Perryville (Cecil County)
- Rocky Gap Casino, 16701 Lakeview Road NE in Flintstone (Allegany County)
You must provide documentation for all winnings above $600, including your government-issued ID and proof of your social security number.
If you win a draw game, Fast Play ticket, or scratch-off ticket, you can remain anonymous at the MD Lottery.
Multi-State Draw Games
At the Maryland Lottery, you can play a combination of MD-based lottery games and Multi-State draw games. The Multi-State draw games feature the more well-known nationwide lottery games with massive prizes such as Powerball, Mega Millions, and more. Below, we'll look at those Multi-State Draw Games.
Maryland Powerball
To start playing Powerball, select five numbers from a pool of 1 to 69. From here, you'll choose a sixth but separate Powerball number of 1 to 26. Tickets cost $2 per ticket, but you can spend an additional $1 on the Power Play feature, which multiplies your winnings on everything except for a jackpot. Drawings occur three times per week, per the MD Lottery website, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. The jackpots start at $20 million but grow each drawing if there isn't a winner. The largest jackpot ever came in November 2022. A player in California hit a $2.04 billion jackpot.
The odds for matching one white ball start at 1 in 92, while the jackpot is 1 in 292,201,338. Winnings start at $4 and include $7, $100, $50,000, $1,000,000, and the jackpot winnings.
- Drawings Day/Time: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights.
How To Watch the Powerball Drawing
There are many ways to watch the Powerball drawing. You can watch local television stations like NBC, ABC, or CBS. Additionally, the Maryland Lottery website may have a live stream under the "Watch Drawings" section. Finally, you can watch it on the Powerball YouTube channel or check the winning numbers on the MD Lottery mobile app.
- City/Station/Affiliate/Channel: WBAL-TV at 11:22 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Maryland Mega Millions
For Mega Millions, players start by selecting five numbers from a pool of 1 to 70. Next, you'll choose the Mega Ball, a sixth number of 1 to 25. Like Powerball, tickets cost $2, but you can spend an additional $1 on the Megaplier feature, which multiplies your winnings on everything except for a jackpot. Drawings occur twice per week on Tuesdays and Fridays. The jackpots start at $40 million. The largest Mega Millions jackpot came in October 2018. A player in South Carolina won $1.537 billion.
The odds for matching one white ball start at 1 in 89, while the jackpot is 1 in 302,575,350. Winnings start at $2 and include $4, $10, $200, $500, $10,000, $1,000,000, and the jackpot winnings.
- Drawings Day/Time: Tuesday and Friday nights.
Maryland Cash4Life
With Cash4Life, you'll rather receive money and winnings for life instead of one massive jackpot payout. To start, you'll choose five numbers from a pool of 1-60. You'll also choose one Cash Ball from 1-4. Tickets cost $2, and drawings are held daily at around 9:00 p.m. ET. The largest prize you can win is $1,000 per day for the rest of your life. The second prize is $1,000 per week for life.
The odds start at 1 of 5 for Prize Tier 9. The odds there are 1 in 13.
The odds for the grand prize are 1 in 21,846,048, while the second prize is 1 in 7,282,016.
- Drawings Day/Time: Daily at around 9:00 p.m. ET.
MD Lottery Games
We discussed the Multi-State draw games above, but you can play several MD-based draw games, too, and not have to go up against the rest of the United States. These games include Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Bonus Match 5, Keno, Multi-Match, and Racetrax.
MD Bonus Match 5
With MD Bonus Match 5, there are nine game boards lettered A through I. You can purchase one board ($1), three boards ($2), four boards ($3), six boards ($4), seven boards ($5), or nine boards ($6).
You will then select five numbers from 1 to 39 on each board. You'll match five, four, or three of the five numbers to win. The top prize is $50,000, and you have a 1 in 575,757 chance to win. The winnings start at $2, then go to $15, $30, $400, $600, then the $50,000 grand prize.
- Drawing Day + Time: Daily
Maryland Keno
To play Keno in Maryland, you'll start by deciding how many numbers from one to ten you want to play per game. Then, you'll wager $1 to $20. You can also play between 1 and 20 games. Like other games, there are ways to multiply your winnings with Bonus or Super Bonus. The maximum wagers are $100 per payslip, $200 for a payslip with a Bonus, and $300 for a Super Bonus. At the retailer, there's a television with the games. You'll watch the game to see if you win. The numbers available are between 1 and 80.
- Drawing Day + Time: Continuously throughout the day.
MD Multi-Match
For $2, you'll play 18 numbers and have four ways to win. The first six numbers are chosen by you or are generated, and the next two sets of six are randomly chosen. You can win per line; the fourth way is by combining the matches in all three lines.
The numbers you'll select from are 1 to 43, and the drawings are on Monday and Thursday nights. If you match between three and five numbers on any one line, you'll get $1,000 for that line. If you match between five and 18 numbers on all three lines combined, you'll get $2,000 more. Finally, if you match all six on any one line, you'll receive the jackpot, which starts at $500,000 and increases as the big prize isn't won. The odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 6,096,545.
- Drawing Day + Time: Monday and Thursday evenings.
Maryland Racetrax
With Racetrax, you can now bet on horse racing via a 3-D graphically animated lottery game. Each race consists of 12 horses. Races happen every 4.5 minutes, and before each race, you'll spin a wheel to see if any bonuses are available for you.
Select a bet type similar to real horse racing—Win, Show, Exacta, Quinella, Trifecta, and more to start playing. You'll select your horses, bet amount, and number of races from here. Then, the game randomizes the finish, and you'll see if you won. You can purchase a bonus, and it equals the amount of your wager. So, if you wager $2, the bonus cost is $2. The bonus allows you to increase your winnings by up to 10x.
- Drawing Day + Time: Every 4.5 minutes.
Pick 3
With Pick 3, there are numerous types of wagers available including Straight, Box, Straight & Box, Front Pair, Back Pair or Combo (Combination).
Here's how you wager on Box bets.
- 3-way Box: Play a 3-digit number with two digits the same.
- 6-way Box: Play a 3-digit number with all digits different.
- Now for Straight & Box:
- 3-way: Play a 3-digit number with two digits the same; 2 bets, straight and box.
- 6-way: Play a 3-digit number with all digits different; 2 bets, straight and box.
With Front Pair, the first two digits must match the winning number in exact order and for Back Pair, the last digits must match.
The wager with the best odds is Front Pair and Back Pair at 1 in 100. The hardest to hit is 3-Way Combination, 6- Way Combination, and Straight with 1 in 1,000 odds.
The payout those hardest wagers to hit is $250 on a $0.50 bet and $500 on a $1 wager.
- Drawing Day + Time: Twice a day in the evenings and midday.
Pick 4
Pick 4 is similar to Pick 3. The ways to win include Straight, Box, Straight & Box or Combo (Combination).
Instead, you'll choose one of the following for a Box bet.
- 4-way Box: Play a 4-digit number with three digits the same.
- 6-way Box: Play a 4-digit number with two pairs.
- 12-way Box: Play a 4-digit number with two digits the same.
- 24-way Box: Play a 4-digit number with all digits different.
- For Straight & Box you'll do one of the following:
- 4-way: Play a 4-digit number with three digits the same; 2 bets, straight and box.
- 6-way: Play a 4-digit number with two pairs; 2 bets, straight and box.
- 12-way: Play a 4-digit number with two digits the same; 2 bets, straight and box.
- 24-way: Play a 4-digit number with all digits different; 2 bets, straight and box.
The hardest wager to hit with Pick 4 is a Straight at 1 in 10,000 odds. The payout is $2,500 for a $0.50 bet and $5,000 for a $1 wager.
- Drawing Day + Time: Twice a day in the evenings and midday.
Pick 5
The differences for Pick 5 include Box, Front 3, Back 3, Front 4, and Back 4 bets.
For Box bets, these are the following ways:
- 5-way Box: Play a 5-digit number with four digits the same.
- 10-way Box: Play a 5-digit number with three of one digit and a pair of matching digits.
- 20-way Box: Play three of one digit with two distinct different digits.
- 30-way Box: Play two pairs with a distinct different digit.
- 60-way Box: Play a pair with three distinct different digits.
- 120-way Box: Play five distinct different digits.
Then, these are the other ways to win:
- Front 3: The first three digits align precisely with the winning number's order.
- Back 3: The final three digits must correspond to the order of the winning number.
- Front 4: The first four digits need to match the winning number in terms of their order.
- Back 4: The back four digits must precisely match the winning number's order.
Drawing Day + Time: Twice a day in the evenings and midday.
Maryland Scratch-Offs & Instant Win Games
The Maryland state lottery offers other games, including Scratch-Odds and FAST PLAY. These games are done on-demand as you purchase them, and you don't wait for a drawing like Draw games.
The cost of these games is the following for Scratch-Offs:
- $1 Games
- $2 Games
- $3 Games
- $5 Games
- $10 Games
- $20 Games
- $30 Games
- $50 Games
And the following for FAST PLAY:
- $1 Games
- $2 Games
- $3 Games
- $5 Games
- $10 Games
- $20 Games
- $30 Games
With Scratch-Offs, there are numerous types, including Bingo, Crossword, and Second Chance. With these games, you'll visit a retailer, purchase a ticket, follow the game's rules, and see if you win.
With FAST PLAY, they're like Scratch-Offs, but no scratching is involved. There are numerous types of games, including Connect 4, Battleship, Yahtzee, Double Win, Cash Connect, and many more. With these games, you'll pay the price, a ticket prints out, and you'll see if you win.
Maryland Scratch Offs: Best Odds
Below are the best three Scratch-Off Maryland lottery games we could find that involve price and odds:
- $100,000 Cash: This game is $30 and has a 1 in 2.79 odds of winning.
- $100,000 Lucky: This is a $30 ticket and has odds of 1 in 2.79 of winning.
- 50 Years: This is a $50 ticket and has odds of 1 in 2.44 of winning.
Maryland Lottery History
Beginning on January 2, 1973, the Maryland state lottery went into effect after voters approved a constitutional amendment in the state the year prior. It started with 94 employees for operations, 3,800 sales agents, and 51 banks to disburse funds. The first game, Twin Win, went live on May 15, 1973. Bonus Match 5 became a game in September 1995.
Fast-forward to November 25, the Lottery and Scientific Games agreed to an $81 million deal to bring Racetrax to the fold.
In 2007, the government passed a bill that allowed 15,000 video lottery terminals in five locations throughout the state.
On December 18, 2022, drawings started to be performed on digital drawing systems instead of mechanical drawing machines.
Top Maryland Lottery Winners
There have been many lottery winners in Maryland; below, we'll look at the top three.
- January 20, 2021: Winning $731.1 million from Powerball, the ticket was sold in Alleghany County. It was sold at Coney Market in Lonaconing.
- March 30, 2012: A Maryland state lottery player was one of three nationwide to win Mega Millions, taking home $218.6 million. The other winner was in Virginia and Delaware.
- March 18, 2014: Another Mega Millions winner, this MD player split with a fellow winner in Florida to bring home $207 million. It came from Lady's Liquors in La Plata.
Maryland Lottery Tax Revenue
During the Fiscal Year 2023, Maryland Lottery, Casinos, and Sports wagering contributed $1.589 billion in gambling tax revenue to the state. Of that amount, $714.3 million came from the lottery. The Maryland General Fund received $651.6 million. Contributions were also sent to Baltimore City School Construction, Maryland Stadium Authority, MDOT Bus Rapid Transit Fund, and many more.
Maryland Lottery FAQ
Author
Richard graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BA in Journalism. He has written for Bleacher Report, among other organizations. For BetMaryland.com, he combines his interests in sports and gambling to seek out the best sportsbooks and casinos.
