The history of the lottery goes back to the early 1700s. Newspaper advertisements from the colonial period show that hundreds of lotteries existed by the 18th century. The lottery was introduced in Puerto Rico in 1934 and New Hampshire became the first US state to operate a lottery in 1964. Today, forty-five states and the District of Columbia operate lottery games, and the Virgin Islands are set to begin operating a lottery in 2021. The United States has many different types of lotteries, including drawing games and instant win games.

The four-digit game, requires players to choose four fewer than the number that appears on the winning ticket. A five-digit game, also known as Pick 5, has a fixed prize structure and no minimum number of tickets required to play. In addition, the daily number games usually have a fixed payout structure and a force majeure clause to protect against non-performance by the lottery. There are also a number of variations of this game, ranging from the same game to different variants.

While there are a number of legal ways to claim your lottery winnings, online purchasing is safer and more secure when conducted through an authorized vendor. Official lottery websites are regulated by the state and offer the same tickets at the same price as their land-based counterparts. But beware of scams that claim to sell tickets and send you to a site that has no connection to the lottery. In addition to official lottery websites, you may also come across online lotteries.