Can I Play Lottery in
MAHARASHTRA ONLINE?
The lottery in Maharashtra is State-approved like the other government lotteries in India. However, it is only a paper lottery. Neither the game nor the tickets are available online.
For those of you who wish to play the Maharashtra lottery online, a better alternative would be world lotteries. You can not only buy tickets online but also select your own numbers.
This article discusses in detail the Maharashtra lottery, its various schemes, prizes, ways to purchase tickets, and the legal online alternatives you should consider.
Top 3 Sites to Play Online Lottery in Maharashtra
An Overview of the Maharashtra State Lottery
Initiated by the Finance Department, the Maharashtra State Lottery has been functional since 12 April 1969. The Lottery was started to curb the detrimental effects of illegal gambling activities like Satta Matka and offer residents of the State the opportunity to win big using small investments.
Over the years, the State Lottery Department of Maharashtra has publicly conducted various draws and successfully produced several happy winners.
Currently, 18 schemes are conducted and at least one draw happens every day except on Sundays and national holidays including Republic Day (26 January), Independence Day (15 August), and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October).
The periodicity of government lottery draws in Maharashtra is either weekly, monthly, or yearly as follows:
Weekly Draws
The Maharashtra State Lottery Department runs the following weekly draws Monday through Saturday at 4:15 PM:
- Sagar Lakshmi – Monday
- Padmini – Tuesday
- Akshay – Wednesday
- Akarshak Puskaraj – Thursday
- Vaibhav Lakshmi – Friday
- Maharashtra Lakshmi – Saturday
The cost per ticket is ₹50. All the weekly schemes offer 7 prize tiers, which also include a consolation prize. The maximum you can win off a ticket to these draws is ₹7 lakhs and the minimum is ₹100.
Mini Draws
Weekly draws in Maharashtra are accompanied by mini draws, which happen 4 times per week on 4 specific days between 3 PM to 5:15 PM as follows:
- Maharashtra Diamond Mini – Monday
- Maharashtra Platinum Mini – Wednesday
- Maharashtra Gold Mini – Thursday
- Maharashtra Silver Mini – Saturday
Players can buy tickets to these mini draws at ₹10 each. All the schemes offer 3 prize tiers where the top prize is either ₹1 lakh or ₹2 lakhs and the minimum prize is either ₹500 or ₹700 depending on the draw you enter.
Monthly Draws
Only 1 monthly draw – Maharashtra Sahyadri is conducted every month at 4 PM. The date of the draw varies. Each ticket to this lottery is priced at ₹50. Maharashtra Sahyadri Lottery offers 10 prize tiers where the highest prize is ₹25 lakhs and the lowest is ₹100.
Special Draws
The State Lottery Department conducts 7 yearly draws (also known as Special Draws or Lottery Bonanza) in Maharashtra as follows:
- Maharashtra Gudhipadva Bumper – April (4:30 PM) – ₹100/ticket
- Rashi Samruddhi – October (4 PM) – ₹25/ticket
- Maharashtra Super 100 – October (3:30 PM) – ₹100/ticket
- Maharashtra Super 500 – October (3:30 PM) – ₹500/ticket
- Maharashtra Super 1000 – October (3:30 PM) – ₹1,000/ticket
- Maharashtra Dasara Bumper – October (3:30 PM) – ₹100/ticket
- Maharashtra Diwali Bumper – November (3 PM) – ₹200/ticket
Ticket price varies from one draw to the next as mentioned above. Priced at ₹25 each, the cheapest tickets are those of the Rashi Samruddhi draw.
The costliest are those of the Maharashtra Super 1000 draw, which cost ₹1,000 per ticket. The top prize a yearly lottery draw in Maharashtra can pay you is ₹1 crore. The lowest prize is ₹100.
World Lottos – Legal Alternatives to Maharashtra Govt Lottery
For players who yearn for the convenience of playing the lottery online, the following world lottos are a better alternative to the Maharashtra Govt Lottery:
Min jackpot: ₹150 Crores
Record win: ₹16,500 Crores
Min jackpot: ₹139 Crores
Record win: ₹1847 Crores
Min jackpot: ₹9 Crores
Record win: ₹128 Crores
Min jackpot: ₹17 Crores
Record win: ₹255 Crores
How to Buy a Lottery Ticket in Maharashtra?
Assuming that you want to play the lottery in Maharashtra regardless of the medium, there are two legit ways to buy tickets:
Offline
As discussed earlier, you need to buy tickets offline from authorized sellers while playing the Maharashtra paper lottery. There is no way to make online purchases.
To buy a ticket, visit your nearest lottery seller authorized by the State Government or visit the Lottery Department directly. Pay upfront to receive your paper ticket. Write your full name and address at the backside of the ticket to mark your ownership and proof of purchase.
Do not fold this ticket or dog-ear it. Remember to keep it in a safe place. Prizes are paid out only when you can produce the winning ticket intact.
Also, note that certain websites act as third parties selling tickets to the Maharashtra lottery online. Beware of such sites because the practice of accepting money online in exchange for the doorstep delivery of tickets is illegal as per the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998.
Online
If you don’t fancy buying a paper lottery ticket in Maharashtra, pick a world lotto you can play from the State. Several international lottery sites on the web accept Indian players and let them enter official draws or bet on the outcome of those draws for the same odds of winning and the same prizes.
All you need to do is follow these 7 simple steps:
- Register with an online lottery site we recommend.
- Pick your favorite world lottery to play.
- Decide the date on which you want to enter a draw.
- Pick the number of lines manually or via the automated selector.
- Add the ticket(s) to your cart.
- Checkout and complete the payment.
- Receive confirmation of the purchase via email.
Which Is Better: Maharashtra Government Lottery or International Online Lotteries?
International online lotteries come with multiple benefits that can overshadow those offered by the Maharashtra Government Lottery.
The first and foremost advantage is the availability of tickets online. While you can choose your favorite world lotteries and buy tickets to the draws online, you can only buy paper tickets to lotteries in Maharashtra.
To buy a physical ticket, you have to visit the seller in person. However, a digital ticket or entry to a world lotto can be bought right from the comfort of your home.
Secondly, the variety of international lotteries you get online is incomparable to the limited 18 draws in Maharashtra.
You have the likes of the US Powerball, Mega Millions, EuroMillions, EuroJackpot, Mega-Sena, German Lotto, and Oz Lotto that pay top dollar. In a way, you can play lotteries from all over the world from Maharashtra.
Yet again, losing or damaging tickets isn’t a problem when you play lottos online. You are handed out a scanned copy of the original paper ticket or email confirmation regarding the purchase of the entry.
However, like all govt lottery tickets in India, those of the Maharashtra lotto draws come with the risk of being mutilated, damaged, or simply lost. Remember, no ticket, no prize.
Let’s also remember that the real fun in playing lotteries largely lies in picking your own lucky numbers – numbers that you perhaps connect with and believe will be drawn.
Do you have this privilege while playing paper lotteries? Never. Tickets to the government lottery in Maharashtra come pre-printed with a series of numbers. They are fixed and cannot be changed whatsoever.
Claiming your winnings is another hassle when you play the paper lotto. There are documents you need to submit along with the winning ticket and passport-size photographs.
As if that wasn’t enough, you must also get the documents duly signed by concerned government officials. We all know how much a person has to run from pillar to post when it comes to getting documents signed in government offices.
This drawback is absent in online lotteries. When you win, you must verify your identity by simply submitting soft copies of the required documents. No signature from government officials is required. Prizes are paid out in your account, which makes the whole process smooth.
Last, but not least is the sizes of the top prizes these lotteries have to offer. International lotteries always pay out bigger prizes compared to the top ₹1 crore paid out in Maharashtra annual draws. Even if you win a lower-tier prize, you could receive something bigger than that amount.
Check out: International Lottery Winners From India
Maharashtra Lottery Rules
Online lotteries (existing and future) of all other Indian States have been banned in Maharashtra. In other words, the government lotteries of these states.
The State of Maharashtra is free to conduct paper as well as online lotteries as per the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998. Presently, the State has chosen to run only paper lotteries by agreeing to pre-announce the following information before the draws:
- Name of the lottery draw and scheme
- MRP of the ticket
- Total tickets in print
- Total cost of the printed tickets
- All information about authorized ticket sellers
- Prize structure and value of the prizes
- Periodicity of draws
- Location of draws
- Procedure of payout of prizes
Despite the authenticity and government-approved seal, Maharashtra lotteries come with major drawbacks, which we have discussed earlier. Additionally, a player always runs the risk of buying a fake ticket, which leads to no win.
Numerous such cases have been registered in Maharashtra in the past, the most famous being that of Suhas Kadam, a 44-year old Nalasopara resident who had won a staggering ₹1.11 crore off a fake ticket. Needless to say, Kadam never received his payment.
Of course, you can avoid such mishaps by simply resorting to playing international lotteries online. They are safer, better, and more rewarding.
More states where lottery is legal
Assam (Bodoland), Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, West Bengal
