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Why You Can Trust Detroit Lottery

The Detroit Lottery’s mission is to generate revenue by managing lottery games that support educational funding within the state of Detroit. The Detroit Lottery upholds the highest principles of integrity, trustworthiness, and excellence, ensuring players have complete confidence in its games.

Responsible Gaming

How to Tell if Your Ticket is a Winner

The Lottery offers many ways for you to determine if you have a winning ticket:

  • Before giving your ticket to a Lottery sales agent, scan your ticket through the store’s ticket self-checker.
  • Scan your ticket with the Lottery’s mobile app ticket checker. You will need to create an account to use this feature.
  • Listen for a sound when the clerk scans your ticket through the Lottery terminal. If your ticket is a winner, the terminal will produce a trumpet sound. What does winning sound like? Make sure your audio is turned on and click on the Play button below.
  • Scan your ticket at a Lottery self-service vending machine.
  • In some instances, when certain winning tickets with large prize amounts are scanned, they will report a big win, but for your protection will not display the actual amount won.
  • Get the winning numbers from the Lottery’s website. You can select the game and draw date and enter the numbers from your ticket, or you can search winning numbers by game and date.

Cashing a Winning Ticket

  • Lottery self-service vending machines cannot pay prizes but can give up to $50 in credit toward play through the same vending machine (“reinvested”). If a prize is more than $50, the winning ticket cannot be processed through the vending machine.
  • When the retail clerk at a sales agent location cashes your winning ticket, compare the amount you are paid with the amount shown on the nearby Lottery transaction display to make sure they are the same. Ask the clerk for your receipt.
  • If you think you were not paid the correct amount by a sales agent location, document the date, approximate time of the transaction, ticket details, store name and clerk name (if you have them) and contact the Detroit Lottery’s Integrity & Investigations Unit as soon as possible.
  • When a store clerk at a sales agent location scans a ticket through a Lottery terminal, the nearby transaction display will show whether the ticket is a non-winner or a winner, and (unless it’s a big win) the amount won.
  • If your single prize is $600 or more, the sales agent location cannot cash your ticket. Make sure to get your original ticket and printed claim instructions from the retail clerk before leaving the store counter. A Lottery ticket is a bearer instrument, which means whoever holds it can redeem it. Sign the back of the ticket to confirm that it is yours and keep it safe until you can submit your claim to the Lottery.
  • If a Lottery sales agent refuses to pay your prize won (under $600), contact the Detroit Lottery’s Integrity & Investigations Unit with the store name or address and the date of the transaction.

Buying a Ticket

  • When you are given the ticket(s) you purchased at a sales agent location, check them for accuracy while still at the counter.
  • When you are handed Scratch-off tickets you just purchased, make sure the lamination coating is intact and has not been tampered with in any way. If the ticket has any small or obvious scratches in the laminated area, contact the Detroit Lottery’s Integrity & Investigations Unit as soon as possible.
  • It is your responsibility to resolve any errors before leaving the store. If the clerk is not providing satisfactory assistance, ask to speak to the manager.
  • Only purchase Detroit Lottery tickets from licensed lottery sales agents, through the Lottery’s subscription program or order tickets from a licensed lottery courier service.

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