North Dakota Lottery

The North Dakota State Lottery is one of the most interesting in the country because of the fact that they can only offer multi-state lotteries. This means that every lottery game that they offer has to also be offered in another state.

North Dakota is also the only state in the US mainland that doesn’t sell scratchers. Wow, no wonder their population is one of the smallest in the country. How do people even begin to live without the luxury of scratchers?? I mean, it’s bad enough that it’s -10 degrees there for three months of the year, but no scratchers?? C’mon…

The North Dakota State Lottery started offering multi-state lottery tickets in 2004. They’re still well behind just about every US state with lottery legislation and finding ways to increase their budget through a state lottery. It’s actually somewhat confusing how they could still be at the point where they only offer multi-state tickets. After seeing how successful it has been for other states as far as helping to increase budgets with important state issues you would think that they would have moved on and started following other states’ model. These poor North Dakotians have no idea what they’re missing with no scratchers, I’ll tell you what.

Mega Millions & Powerball Are Still Offered

The North Dakota Powerball is one of the 45 states in the country that offers one of the largest jackpot games in the world. At least this would make it somewhat alright for us to be without scratchers. The North Dakota Powerball started in 2004, the same year they started any type of lottery, and at that time was the only lottery game that the state offered.

The North Dakota Mega Millions got its start at the beginning of 2010 and has been going strong ever since. With jackpots starting at $40 and $15 million, the North Dakota Powerball and Mega Millions certainly make up for the state having so little to offer as far as lottery options go.

The Powerball and Mega Millions are the head honchos of jackpots for the entire country so North Dakotians still have a great opportunity to win a quite hefty paycheck.

The North Dakota Hot Lotto Adds a Big Third Option

The North Dakota Hot Lotto is actually one of the best third options in the country when it comes to jackpot size. The jackpot for the game starts at $1 Million and regularly reaches into $2 and $3 million. That’d be one heck of a chunk of change to pick up from what is considered a secondary game.

The Hot Lotto is similar to Powerball in that you have to pick five numbers and then an additional number that they call ‘the Hot Ball’. Whoa, that sounds pretty intense ehh? The Hot Lotto, however, only has you pick five numbers between 1-49 and then a hot ball that is between 1-19. The North Dakota Powerball on the other hand forces you to pick five numbers between 1-59 and then a ‘Powerball’ number between 1-35.

The North Dakota Hot Lotto is actually a sweet little secondary game and it’s only offered in 16 other states. Once again, it’s just another thing that ever so slightly can ease the pain of not having scratchers available.

The Wild Card 2 and 2 by 2 Lottery Offer Solid Last Options

The Wild Card 2 is actually still a pretty significant jackpot game as the jackpot starts at $200,000 and regularly grows into the $300 and $400 thousand dollar range. Its concept is kind of interesting as you draw five numbers 1-33 and then actually choose a wild card, which is the suit and the name of one of the 16 cards. Meaning you have Jacks, Queens, Kings, and then Aces and lottery players are charged with picking the right one among them. It’s kind of a unique concept for a jackpot game.

The 2by2 seems like more of a glorified scratch off in North Dakota than anything else. The jackpot starts at $22,000 and there are multiple ways to win. It’s played by picking two white numbers that are 1-26 and then doing the same for red numbers between 1-26. It’s only played in two other states and is drawn nightly so the top prize rarely reaches over $22,000.