Jackpocket NY: The Best Way to Play the New York Lottery Online
Since its official New York launch in January 2021, the Jackpocket app has given thousands of customers in the state access to online lottery tickets and earned the trust of the lottery community. App users have now won over $200M in lottery prizes using the app throughout the country.
The true popularity of the Jackpocket app became impossible to ignore during the recent Powerball run to record highs, as Jackpocket users accounted for an impressive 15% of total ticket sales in New York. Throughout the run, over $2.4M in lottery prizes were won by app users in New York alone, including two individual wins of $1M each.
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Although, like most states, New York does not allow players to purchase individual lottery tickets directly online, customers in the state can legally purchase tickets online through Jackpocket and one other lottery courier, Lotto.com. The NY Lottery online also offers a direct subscription service for playing the New York Lotto, Mega Millions and Cash4Life.
More lottery players across the United States are turning to online service providers every month, and with these three options, New York appears to be a serious hotspot for growth in the space. So, are all these options truly safe? Are they fun and easy to join? Which one is best for you? Jackpocket may be the best place to start…
What is Jackpocket?
Peter Sullivan (current CEO), Leo Shemesh, Eric Parker and Matt Silber founded Jackpocket in 2013 with a headquarters in New York City. The idea for the company actually originated from Peter Sullivan’s family, who were avid lottery players. When Sullivan noticed that his father was playing social casino games on his iPhone, he realized how valuable an online lottery service could be, and started working on the Jackpocket app.
By the end of the year, the first version of the Jackpocket app launched for Android devices, and the company has been using an approach focused on maintaining relationships with state regulators to expand ever since. The emphasis on a strong connection with lawmakers has allowed Jackpocket to become the first licensed third-party app in many states throughout the country.
Jackpocket is simply a platform that allows users to order lottery tickets online, through either a mobile device or a desktop browser, then purchases these tickets from the official state lottery system and stores them securely until the drawing occurs. The app makes it easy for consumers to play the lottery without ever leaving home. They even give new players a free lottery ticket when using a Jackpocket promo code.
The company now employs almost 200 people between its offices in Santa Barbara and New York City. In November 2022, the active user base on the Jackpocket app reached an impressive 2.5 million, and one of those users made history with the largest mobile gaming prize in US history at $9.4 million. The app also hit #3 on the list of top entertainment apps in Apple’s AppStore receiving over 108,000 reviews and an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5.
Along with several highly-successful funding rounds, Jackpocket has also built a powerful support network including partnerships with major sports teams like the New York Jets, Dallas Mavericks, and Colorado Rockies as well as powerful investors like Anchor Capital, Conductive Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Greenspring Associates, Tegna and others.
Playing the NY Lottery Online
The convenience of purchasing lottery tickets online continues to entice regular lottery players and other New Yorkers who like to play just a few times per year to look at their options, and with only three licensed choices, it’s important to know how each one works.
Jackpocket represents the most popular lottery courier service available in New York, but players can also use Lotto.com as their courier service. After that, the New York Lottery’s online subscription service serves as the only other option.
The NY Lottery’s Subscription Service
The official New York Lottery system offers a direct subscription service that allows customers to sign up to play multiple lottery drawings for the New York Lotto, Cash4Life and Mega Millions, with a minimum subscription length threshold set at two weeks.
You can register for the subscription service by going to the website and filling out the required information. You will be asked to provide your full name, date of birth, email address and social security number along with a username and password for your account. The service will also require verification of your physical location to comply with state lottery laws.
Once you complete the set-up process for your account, you can then choose which game you want to play, select how many drawings you want to subscribe for, pick your numbers and submit your payment accordingly.
While the platform does allow you to purchase a subscription and view active subscription information at any time, the New York Lottery does not offer refunds or credits for subscriptions.
If you win a prize, you will be contacted by “an official Lottery representative.” If the prize amount is $600 or less, the Lottery will automatically send your winnings to your prize account on the platform. You can then request a “cash out” payment and receive a check in the mail, or you can use your prize winnings to fund future subscription payments.
For prize amounts over the $600 threshold, a check will be mailed automatically from the New York Lottery.
Lotto.com
When compared to Jackpocket, the only other available lottery courier service in New York, Lotto.com is a very new platform. The company officially launched in June 2021, starting with the state where its headquarters are located, New Jersey.
The company, which describes itself as the “first digital platform for buying lottery tickets on any device, with no app download or deposit required,” expanded to New York, Texas and Colorado in July 2022.
Lotto.com’s launch came after an important partnership deal with QuickChek, a popular brick-and-mortar convenience chain with over 135 retail locations throughout the state of New Jersey. The agreement made QuickChek the “exclusive retail partner” of Lotto.com, and greatly increased the online lottery platform’s ability to build customer awareness and reach new consumers in the state.
“We are on a mission to modernize the lottery and make it more beneficial to the public. Lotto.com facilitates participation in state lotteries in the United States, directly supporting good causes by assisting in the funding of state-run programs in the fields of education, parks, emergency responders, veteran’s health, and other services vital to the state.” Lotto.com – Company Page
As a licensed courier service, Lotto.com purchases official lottery tickets based on customer orders on the platform, then holds them in a secure location compliant with state law. Once the tickets are purchased, they are scanned into the system so that players can view an actual scanned copy of their tickets.
Lotto.com focuses on “four essential pillars” when providing its service: convenience, security, safety and peace of mind. The platform keeps things simple and uncluttered to make the experience of playing the lottery online as easy as possible for new and existing players. It also makes security “first and foremost” by using multiple layers of protection, both digitally through the platform and physically where official lottery tickets are stored.
You can try it out by simply typing lotto.com in your browser. You should automatically be sent to your state’s version of the platform where you can see the different lottery games available through the service. In New York, Lotto.com offers Powerball, Mega Millions, the New York Lotto, Pick 10, and Cash4Life.
You will need to set up an account, which will require identity verification as required by law, then you’ll be ready to play. You will also be sent a unique Customer ID# and gain access to your account dashboard where you can view orders, results and other information for your account.
While Lotto.com does not offer a mobile app, it does feature a mobile-friendly website that can be saved to your mobile device’s homepage through your browser.
Why Choose Jackpocket
So what makes Jackpocket the most popular app for playing the lottery online in New York? It starts with the company’s original focus on staying closely connected to state regulators, which has allowed them to avoid any major legal obstacles and expand quickly throughout the United States.
With availability in 14 states and more coming soon, Jackpocket represents the most widely-available third-party lottery app in the country, and it’s building a long-term track record of success as it continues to expand. For consumers in New York, this history of success and experience in many different states means adds a lot of comfort and peace of mind when it comes to using the app for the first time.
Jackpocket offers several other major advantages for users wanting to play the lottery online:
Access to More Lottery Games
Jackpocket offers access to more lottery games than any other online service legally available in the state of New York. Users can choose from any of these eight different lottery games in the Jackpocket app or through the website:
- Powerball
- Mega Millions
- The New York Lotto
- Cash4Life
- Numbers
- Pick 10
- Take 5
- Win 4
The New York Lottery’s subscription service offers only three games (New York Lotto, Cash4Life and Mega Millions), and Lotto.com falls short with no access to Numbers, Take 5 or Win 4. For those that want the ability to access more of their favorite lottery games, Jackpocket stands out among the competition.
The Convenience of a Mobile App
Jackpocket also stands out as the only online lottery option in New York with a specialized mobile app. While users can still access the other options from their mobile devices via a mobile browser, the lack of a true mobile app is a significant flaw.
Through its mobile app, Jackpocket can better communicate with your phone and avoid unnecessary pop-ups and prompts. It can also sync with your phone to provide notifications in the way you want them to appear, improve the user experience with previously-saved information and much more.
Although Lotto.com does feature a very mobile-friendly website, it cannot offer all of the different capabilities provided by the Jackpocket mobile app, and this disadvantage is even more evident with the subscription service provided by the official NY Lottery system.
Improving Your Odds and Experience With Pools
The pools feature offered through the Jackpocket app may be the platform’s most impressive and valuable service. This feature allows users to improve their odds of winning by easily purchasing a ticket as part of a group.
Jackpocket automatically organizes all of each pool’s participants, calculates contributions, provides solid terms for the agreement and ensures that any winnings are distributed evenly between the group according to the percentage of tickets each individual purchased. While both the NY Lottery subscription option and Lotto.com offer some “group play” features, there are not as well-organized and managed.
The Jackpocket app also allows users to create their own private pools, which can add a great social element to the lottery experience by letting players enjoy the games with friends, family, coworkers and more. For players in New York, this feature is unique and only available through Jackpocket.
Other Helpful Features & Options
The Jackpocket app also offers an array of other helpful features and options for gameplay and funding. The platform’s “Daily Games” feature makes it extremely easy to find and play all of daily lottery games that are still open for orders. For games that do drawings both in the morning and the evening, you can use this feature to go directly to the game that draws next depending on the time of day.
The “Autoplay” feature is another added advantage of using the Jackpocket app. This feature works in a similar way to the subscription features provided by Lotto.com and the NY Lottery website; however, it expands greatly on that idea and allows players to create a custom-designed system for playing all of their favorite games based on a number of different criteria.
By using “Autoplay,” users can select which games they want to play, how and when they want to play them (including an option to set a minimum threshold based on jackpot amount), the number of entries they want to purchase in each drawing and more.
Along with the added gameplay features and expanded order options, Jackpocket also offers a greater range of options for both funding your account and withdrawing your winnings whenever you want.
Considering all of the factors involved with the three online lottery options in New York, Jackpocket seems to have the clear advantage. At the least, it’s worth trying out!
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Buy lottery, Powerball, and Mega Millions tickets from the comfort of your phone.
Available in 15 states: AZ, AR, CO, DC, ID, MN, MT, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, TX, WV
