Online Sportsbooks Will Allow Players To Bet On The Lottery

• Major sportsbooks are now offering fans the opportunity to bet on the results of lottery drawings for the Powerball and New York Lotto.
• COVID-19 could severely depress the purchase rate for lottery tickets; this could give an edge to players who bet at -1200 that there won’t be a jackpot winner.

NEW YORK – Major online sportsbooks have begun offering players the option to bet on the results of major lotteries like the Powerball and the New York Lotto.

The COVID-19 pandemic has largely shut down sports around the world, and in order to maintain business, sportsbooks have been forced to get creative in their search for new revenue-generating opportunities.

The disease will likely have a multi-billion dollar impact on the nationwide sports betting market even if play resumes by mid-April, which is looking increasingly unlikely.

Betting on the lottery, another popular pastime for gamblers, is a logical extension for sportsbooks, many of which already offer alternative gambling options like casino games and slots.

It might even capture a few regular lottery players who don’t want to leave their house to buy lottery tickets during an ongoing pandemic, but still want to have a vested interest in the drawing.

And for once, those lottery players could win some money.

Most of the betting options center around what the winning numbers will be, although there is also a prop bet on whether or not the Powerball will have a jackpot winner at all. The full array of lottery betting options includes:

Best Lottery Bets – Are There Any?

The number-based bets are all weighted proportionally based on concrete odds, with a house take factored in. Betting on the winning numbers is a simple roll of the dice.

Betting on whether or not there will be a jackpot winner could offer a nice opportunity to make money, given the widespread behavioral changes we’ve seen as a result of COVID-19.

The Powerball opened on April 19, 1992, and has conducted biweekly drawings ever since. It has been 1,456 weeks since April 19, 1992, meaning there have been 2,912 total lottery drawings.

The official Powerball website shows that there have been 381 jackpot winners in that time span, meaning that in a vacuum, every drawing has a 13.1% chance of producing a winner.

But the Powerball does not operate in a vacuum, and the COVID-19 pandemic has likely taken a huge toll on the total number of lottery tickets purchased nationwide.

Many people are electing to stay home whenever possible to slow the spread of the disease, and holding onto whatever disposable income they have in case they need it in an emergency.

Lower ticket sales translate to fewer opportunities to hit a jackpot, which means that the actual probability of a jackpot winner is likely much lower than 13%.

News tags: Coronavirus | COVID-19 | lottery | New York | New York Lotto | Powerball