How Old Do You Have to Be to Buy a Lottery Ticket in Georgia?

You have to be at least 18 years old to buy a lottery ticket in Georgia. The rule applies to every product the Georgia Lottery sells, at every certified retailer and on the Lottery’s own website.¹ There’s one wrinkle most people don’t know about: an adult can legally buy a ticket and give it to a child as a gift, and if that gifted ticket wins, the prize is still payable.

The 18-and-Over Rule Covers Every Type of Ticket

Georgia’s minimum age is 18, and it doesn’t matter which game you’re playing. Scratch-off tickets, Powerball, Mega Millions, Cash 3, Cash 4, Cash Pop, Fantasy 5, Keno, and the Lottery’s online-only Diggi Games all fall under the same age restriction.¹²

A person under 18 cannot walk into a store and buy a ticket for themselves. Retailers are expected to check identification when there’s any doubt about a customer’s age, and selling to a minor is a violation of both the statute and the retailer’s contract with the Georgia Lottery Corporation.

Buying a Ticket as a Gift for a Minor

This is the part of the law most people miss. Georgia’s statute specifically allows an adult to purchase a lottery ticket and give it as a gift to someone of any age, including a child.¹ Scratch-offs in a birthday card or a stocking are legal in Georgia. What’s off-limits is the minor doing the buying.

If a gifted ticket ends up being a winner, the prize doesn’t go directly to the child. Georgia pays the prize to an adult family member or legal representative on the minor’s behalf, following the rules that govern custodial accounts under Georgia’s Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.¹ The child still benefits from the winnings; an adult just manages the money for them.

Where You Can Legally Buy Tickets

Only retailers certified by the Georgia Lottery Corporation are allowed to sell tickets. No one else, under any circumstance, may sell a lottery ticket in Georgia.¹ Convenience stores, gas stations, and grocery stores you see with lottery signage have gone through a certification and contracting process with the Corporation, which also audits them for compliance.³

You can also buy tickets online through the Georgia Lottery’s own platform. Cash 3, Cash 4, Cash Pop, Keno, Mega Millions, Powerball, Fantasy 5, and the Lottery’s Diggi Games are all available for online purchase.² Buying online means creating an account and verifying your identity, which functions as the digital version of the ID check a clerk would do at the counter. The 18-and-over rule applies online the same way it does in person.

Businesses that want to hand out lottery tickets as part of a promotion, such as a giveaway with a purchase, need prior approval from the Georgia Lottery Corporation.¹ The age restriction still applies to any tickets given away this way.

What Happens When the Rules Are Broken

Two very different enforcement tracks exist depending on who breaks the rules.

For retailers, the consequences are contractual. Every retail contract with the Georgia Lottery Corporation lays out grounds for cancellation, suspension, or revocation, and violating the lottery statute or any Corporation policy is one of them. The Corporation’s chief executive officer can also terminate a retailer’s contract whenever doing so serves the public interest, after providing notice and a hearing.⁴ For a store, losing the contract means losing the commission income that comes with selling tickets.

Separately, Georgia treats lottery fraud as a serious crime. Counterfeiting a ticket, tampering with equipment, or trying to rig a drawing carries a fine of up to $50,000, up to five years in prison, or both.⁵ Those penalties reach anyone who uses coercion, fraud, or deception to influence the outcome of a prize.

Note that these are lottery rules. Charity raffles in Georgia are governed by a separate statute, licensed by county sheriffs rather than the Georgia Lottery Corporation, and have their own age rules that let minors participate when accompanied by an adult.⁶ If you’re asking about the state lottery, the answer stays the same: 18 to buy, any age to be gifted a ticket.