Bingo has traditionally been viewed as a harmless game played primarily by retirees, although in reality, bingo is enjoyed by both young and old alike. Bingo is one of only three legal forms of gambling in Georgia. The other two legal forms of gambling are the Georgia Lottery and raffles. Every night across the state, thousands of players crowd into auditoriums and bingo halls in hopes of winning cash prizes. Annually, millions of dollars pass through the hands of Georgia bingo operators.
- Analysis of all the $3 scratch off tickets in the Georgia lottery. See available prizes and important metrics for all games that will help inform your buying decision.
- Bingo is one of only three legal forms of gambling in Georgia. The other two legal forms of gambling are the Georgia Lottery and raffles. Every night across the state, thousands of players crowd into auditoriums and bingo halls in hopes of winning cash prizes. Annually, millions of dollars pass through the hands of Georgia bingo operators.
GA Georgia bingo halls, USA, listed by city: (Directory listing. Use this form to add, to update or to remove a Bingo Hall listing.). A-I. Bingo Halls (In the Georgia bingo listings, day and time of play, type of games, facilities etc., if shown, are indicative and may change.Phone before you go. Listings that don't show when 'Submitted' are old pre-2001 listings.
A 1976 constitutional amendment made an exception to the state gambling laws by legalizing bingo for nonprofit organizations. The amendment, however, provided no restrictions or regulation of the bingo activity. During the next two years, many legitimate nonprofit organizations struggled to operate bingo within the intent of the law while many professional bingo operators freely used or created nonprofit organizations to make a profit from bingo.
In 1978, the Supreme Court upheld a 1977 bingo law that empowered the Department of Revenue to enforce the bingo statute and required all organizations operating bingo to be licensed. The law also provided operational restrictions for bingo games that allowed the legitimate non-profit groups to continue operating bingo, but put the organized gamblers out of business.
In 1980, the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation that gave the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the authority to enforce and regulate bingo. There are currently 137 active and 29 inactive bingo operations in Georgia. In 2016, the average game grossed $143,406 annually with many games located in metropolitan areas grossing over $300,000 annually. Collectively in 2016, bingo licensees grossed over $24 million. During this period, prizes paid to players totaled over $16 million and charitable contributions by bingo licensees totaled $810,669.
Georgia's bingo statute is one of the most restrictive in the country. Georgia allows $3,000 per week to be paid in prizes. The amount of the prizes directly relates to the amount bet by bingo players and limits the profits that can be made by the operator.
Annually, the GBI investigates approximately 5 new license applications and 2,000 new bingo workers/officers. Bingo licensees must maintain records of all bingo receipts and expenditures, prizes paid out and the names and addresses of winners. Bingo equipment cannot be altered and must be in good working condition. All bingo operators must be active members of the licensed organization and approved by the GBI before they are allowed to assist with bingo operations. A database of 10,411 approved individuals is currently maintained by the GBI and updated daily.
The majority of Georgia's bingo operators, consisting of veterans groups and service clubs, run their bingo games as a fund raising activity as intended by law. However, bingo is the lifeblood for some organizations and the main purpose for their existence. Although Georgia's bingo games are on a restricted scale, bingo is a cash flow business that leaves ample room for misuse.
Bingo is not the only form of gambling found in some of these organizations. Illegal lotteries, pull-tabs and slot machines have been used by some to generate additional income. Since 1981 about 50 organizations have lost their bingo license through suspension or revocation for repeated rule violations or for conducting illegal gambling activities. Many of these organizations and their officers have been charged with commercial gambling or related crimes.
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Georgia is one of just a few states that offer legal online lottery games in the US.
Learn more about Georgia’s legal online lottery, the games you can play, and answers to commonly asked questions about playing the lottery online.
What is the Georgia Lottery Players Club?
When you sign up for an account with the Georgia Lottery Players Club, you can can take advantage of certain special promotional offers.
Membership in the Georgia Lottery Players Club is free and can be upgraded to allow members to play online lottery games.
Benefits of membership in the Players Club include the ability to:
- Enter non-winning tickets into second-chance drawings.
- Get coupons for lottery games.
- Receive invitations to exclusive events and giveaways.
- Sign up for special emails with winning numbers, latest news, jackpot alerts, and winner stories.
Upgrading a Georgia Lottery Players Club account also allows players to:
- BuyMega Millions, Powerball, Fantasy 5, and Keno tickets online.
- Play exclusive interactive Diggi Games.
- Get paid automatically on wins up to and including $5,000.
What games can I play on GA Lottery online?
There are three types of lottery games available online in Georgia. These include:
- Draw games
- Keno
- Diggi Games
Draw games
The Georgia Lottery officially started online sales of its most popular draw games in November 2012. The games include:
- Powerball
- Mega Millions
- Fantasy 5
Powerball is one of the most popular lottery games in the United States. The multi-state draw game is offered in 44 states, Washington, D.C., US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Jackpots start at $40 million.
Tickets are just $2 each, and the draws are held on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Powerball is known for its huge jackpots. In fact, the largest ever recorded was $1.6 billion.
Mega Millions began as “The Big Game” multi-state lottery in 1996. The draw game was renamed The Big Game Mega Millions six years later. It became Mega Millions in 2002. Mega Millions is now a multi-state draw game offered in 44 states, Washington, D.C., and the US Virgin Islands.
Tickets are just $1. Jackpots start at $40 million. Draws are held Tuesdays and Fridays.
Fantasy 5 is a daily jackpot game that draws five of 42 numbers. Tickets are $1 each. Jackpots begin at $125,000. Fantasy 5 has been available through the Georgia Lottery since 1994.
Keno
Keno is a lottery-style game offered at many casinos. Players choose a ticket cost and up to 10 different numbers from 1 to 80. A random number generator selects a total of 20 numbers and players win based on how many of the numbers they chose are drawn.
Georgia Lottery Keno games give players the chance to win up to $100,000 more than 300 times a day. Draws are held every four minutes. Players choose:
- Up to 10 of 80 numbers.
- The amount to play per draw from $1 to $10.
- The number of consecutive draws to play up to 20.
- Whether to play a Multiplier chosen randomly at the start of each draw.
- Whether to play Bulls-Eye, a randomly chosen number at the end of each draw offering additional prizes.
Diggi Games
The Georgia Lottery’s Diggi Games are available exclusively on the web and mobile devices. Many of the games are electronic versions of scratch-off games that are also available at Georgia Lottery retailers.
Online, the games feature different graphic interfaces rather than a physical ticket. The object is usually to match prize amounts or specific symbols leading to a prize. Games range in cost from 50 centsto$10 each.
Some of the most popular Diggi Games online include:
- Holiday Gold
- Hammer Strike
- Lucky Falls
- 50X The Money
- Star Match
- Silver Stars
- VIP Gold
- Double Cash Doubler
- Spooky Loot Tropical 8’s
- Wheel Of Fortune Winning Words
- Lil’ Ladybug Bingo
- Glitter & Gold
- Cash Cookout
- Ghostbusters Spectral Search
- Lightning Keno
- Super Cash Spectacular
- Champion Raceway
- Armadillo Trail
- Fort Knox
- Bubble Craze Keno
- Super Scoop
- Mega Crossword
- Monkey Drop Mole Madness
- Medieval Money Dragon’s Loot
- Captain Money Beard Pirate Plunder Cove
- Spiral Spin
- Crossword
- Astro Cash
How to sign up for the GA Lottery Online
Sign up on the Georgia online lottery website is a safe and secure process. In order to purchase online lottery products, players must register for a Georgia Lottery Players Club account and opt in to make the purchase of online lottery products available.
Players must be Georgia residents and 18 years of age or older. The Georgia online lottery verifies this information on sign up. Plus, sign-up requires the release of some personal information including your date of birth.
Players can also download the Georgia Lottery Mobile App for iOS and Android devices through the Georgia Lottery website. Georgia Lottery Players Club sign up, and all online lottery products are available through the app.
How to make a deposit online
Once you register for a Georgia Lottery Players Club account and your information is verified, you can purchase online lottery products using an iHOPE Discover debit card.
The iHOPE Discover debit card is a prepaid debit card that comes with a GA Players Club account upgraded to enable online and mobile purchases of lottery games.
Account holders can load funds to their account through the Georgia Lottery’s website or mobile app. Funds can only be added with a Visa debit card, Debit MasterCard, or from a checking or savings bank account.
There is no monthly fee for iHOPE Discover debit card users who play the Georgia Lottery at least once a month using their card account.
What happens when I win?
Once you’ve signed up for a Georgia Lottery Players Club account and started playing online lottery games, you might want to know how to collect your winnings.
Prizes up to and including $5,000 won on tickets purchased using an iHOPE account are automatically paid to the player’s account. For prizes above $5,000, players will be notified by email to visit a Georgia Lottery district office to complete the prize claim.
About 7-10 business days after you register for a Players Club account, you will receive a physical iHOPE card in the mail. Cardholders can use it to shop everywhere Discover is accepted. Plus, ATM withdrawals are also available.
Georgia Lottery online and the law
In December 2011, the US Department of Justice released a legal opinion on the Wire Act concluding that anything outside of sports betting events falls outside the act’s reach. This effectively told states the sales of lottery tickets on the internet is legal.
Lawmakers in Georgia approved the launch of online lottery sales in the summer of 2012. After a false start, Georgia became the second state in the country to offer online lottery ticket sales in November 2012.
Who oversees the GA online lottery?
The Georgia Lottery Corporation, or Georgia Lottery, is overseen by the state government in Georgia.
The lottery takes in more than $1 billion annually. Georgia law dictates half of the money goes to prizes, one-third to education, and the rest to lottery operating and marketing efforts.
The Georgia Lottery Corporation is governed by a seven-member board of directors appointed by the governor. The Lottery for Education Act also creates a joint committee of the Georgia General Assembly to serve as the Georgia Lottery Corporation Legislative Oversight Committee.
It is made up of the House Regulated Industries Committee and Senate Economic Development Committee. The lottery is accountable to the governor and the General Assembly through the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee. It is also accountable to the public through regular and ongoing audits and public reports.
The education money funds the state’s HOPE Scholarship and Pre-K Program.
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Are the online lottery games fair?
The Georgia Lottery Corporation’s seven-member board of directors provides oversight for all lottery games. It is responsible for the overall management and operation of the Lottery. This includes assuring the accountability and integrity of the lottery.
How can I protect my account?
All Georgia Lottery Players Club accounts are password protected. Users should protect the password the same way they do with all online accounts.
The Georgia Lottery also has a number of safeguards in place for the protection of players and their information.
Benefits of the online lottery for Georgia
The Georgia Lottery’s stated mission is to maximize revenues for specific educational programs.
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In its 2017 fiscal year, the Georgia Lottery transferred more than $1.1 billion to the Lottery for Education account. That meant an average of $3 million was raised every day for HOPE and Pre-K, accounting for 25.7 percent of lottery revenues.
The Georgia Lottery now ranks fourth among traditional state lotteries in terms of highest per capita returns to beneficiaries.
Do online lottery sales take away from regular lottery sales?
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No. In fact, ticket sales have gone up almost every year since Georgia started the lottery. Fiscal 2017 was one of the down years, as Georgia Lottery ticket sales declined from $4.247 billion in 2016 to $4.218 billion. However, the decline was more about 2016 highs than 2017 lows.
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Lottery officials have claimed lottery sales in 2016 were abnormally high because of a $1.6 billion jackpot and an extra day of sales due to the leap year. Online ticket sales have only helped increase lottery ticket sales across the state.