Lottery couriers have emerged as a uniquely American phenomena, and in the face of regulatory change and increasing digitisation major players in the space are eyeing up new opportunities.
The businesses essentially function as a bridge between retail and online lottery purchases, enabling customers to order a lottery ticket which is then purchased on their behalf at a retail vendor by a courier and delivered to them electronically.
Leadership of lottery couriers believe that their businesses are playing a key role in the omnichannel journey for lottery customers in the US as Tom Metzger, Chief Executive Officer and founder of one of the US biggest couriers, Lotto.com, said at the SBC Summit Canada last month.
“Omnichannel is all about knowing who your customer is and connecting that digital customer to retail,” he said, adding that the firm’s role is in harnessing a ‘flywheel effect’.
Lotto.com and other couriers “are running that big circle from digital back to retail, cross-marketing, and understanding your customer,” he said.
Lottery couriers and the new landscape
Lottery couriers are active across most of the US – the aforementioned Lotto.com, alongside Jackpot.com, Jackpocket.com and Lottery.com, being by far the biggest companies in the space.
Regulators have been paying more and more attention though. A dramatic saga in Texas involving accusations of integrity violations following a $90m bulk purchase in 2022 and suspicions around an $83.5m winning ticket in early 2025 shone a controversial light on courier activity.
As it stands, only two US states regulate couriers – New York and New Jersey, though others like Arizona have been moving to do the same.
According to Lotto.com’s Chief Legal Officer, Rob Porter, speaking at the SBC Summit Americas earlier this month, New Jersey’s regulations are ‘very extensive’, with checks into courier systems and background checks on key staff members.
“I think some of the newer regulations coming out of Colorado and Oregon are interesting because they’re licensing the retailer,” he said.
“They’re looking at the retailer as an extension of the retail store.
“That is one of the ways that states are trying to ensure that when couriers operate they are doing so for the benefit of the jurisdiction.”
Lotteries are, with good reason, considered much lower risk than sports betting or casino gambling, whether online or offline.
This low risk nature is true for both responsible gambling and money laundering.
Mike Silveira, Chief of Staff at Jackpot.com, remarked that the risk of money laundering may be low in lotteries, but “that doesn’t mean that the protections shouldn’t be in place, that doesn’t mean that the same standards shouldn’t be upheld”.
“I would put our compliance capabilities and the standards we’re held to up against anyone,” he said.
Where will couriers go from here?
The lottery courier space is coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny but is also becoming highly competitive.
As with any industry seeing a lot of competition, it’s logical that companies within it will start to look for opportunities for expansion.
“Lottery is the biggest top funnel in the gaming industry with the lowest barrier to entry,” said Silveira. “There’s a huge opportunity to bring lottery players into our ecosystem and find other things that engage them and interest them.”
In Jackpot.com’s case, the firm is looking into peer-to-peer gaming.
He added: “Obviously Jackpocket is part of the DratKings ecosystem, and there’s all sorts of other verticals their players are being cross-sold into.”
Expanding into P2P – and maybe even instant win games – may be on the horizon for lottery courier firms, though all within an increasingly bright regulatory spotlight.
In Metzger’s case, his vision for Lotto.com is for it to remain at the converge of retail and online lottery engagement, and a key concern is about preventing cannibalisation.
“We market the lottery’s own products. In the US it’s Powerball and Mega Millions, here (Canada) it’s Lotto Max,” he said.
“We draw in incremental players who don’t shop for lottery tickets at retail, and in exchange for our services and the marketing dollars we charge a convenience fee, between 20-25%.
“Our business model is a self-fulfilling plan of omnichannel and drawing new players, and the proof is in the pudding. We currently operate in 12 states in the US, and we have seen that retail sales in these states dramatically outperform the states that don’t have Lotto.com.”
He concluded: “We want to make sure that digital and retail are both growing, and we don’t want digital to cannibalise retail. You’ll never see Lotto.com put up a billboard saying ‘skip the line at retail and use Lotto.com’.”