If you’ve ever won the lottery, you probably feel elated and overwhelmed. You have a few options for claiming your prize, but it’s important to remember that you have to claim your money within a certain amount of time. If you don’t claim it soon enough, your money will remain in the lottery office until you do. That’s not always possible. Fortunately, you can use features such as a winning pattern to make your claim.

Online lotteries aren’t as widely available as in the past, but many states have begun offering them as of 2012. The majority of states have adopted a legislative process to introduce online lottery games, which is gaining steam as time goes on. Most states have added formal language to their lottery laws, such as adding “including sales over the Internet.” This avoids any potential challenges by future administrations. Although most states have a lottery, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico do not.

Although lottery ticket reselling is not legal in most states, you can find some companies online that will sell tickets for you. The websites use geolocation technology to prevent unauthorized sales. Although many states have banned the sale of lottery tickets online, they are increasingly becoming available on official state websites. If you want to play the lottery online, make sure you choose a site that allows you to use your credit card. Otherwise, you may end up buying a ticket for a price that is higher than what you paid for it.