CA Lottery Official App
reviews and complaints

You ask to put your Ca Driver L in the registration form for second chance .. However your offer no place to put the DL.. This Part of the
App is really confusing as every time
You put your address in it states
Address cannot be verified. The app also logs you off and your info
Is gone and you start over again.
Any why so much security its an
Over reach just to play Ca lottery
And to enter in second chance ..
Whoa ...it’s like trying to get jumbo
Home mortgage.. just crazy...
Count me and as I see all over the
internet basically the same complaint... it’s just so much RED TAPE .. and takes a lot of time to
Just register. Simplicity please.

I loved this app more than anything but this latest update is not as good as it was before
It took away an easy login that saved your user name— now it only gives you the option to stay logged in which isn’t very secure in my opinion.
It doesn’t refresh the draw games easily which makes it a pain. You have to manually refresh when it used to do it automatically.
Also it doesn’t scan in tickets for second chance as it did in previous version I rarely had any issues NOW it takes a dozen times to scan a ticket and keeps giving errors!
All in all I wish I’d NOT updated, it was a great app and now it’s a pain in the everything to use, sad. SMH
PLEASE FIX!

The ONLY function this pathetic excuse for an app serves is to scan scratcher cards for 2nd Chance entries. And for this the app requires your physical (residing) address, full name, email address, and can never, ever, be changed or updated!? What?! There is something very suspicious and fraudulent going on here that warrants an investigation by the California Attorney General and the Lottery Commission. There is absolutely NO reason an app with such limited function and utility such as this should require the amount of user information it demands.
And it's a fraud if anyone involved in the production of this garbage app got paid (or is still being paid).

Would it be possible to add some features to this app that would allow you to sign on with your account and register your losing scratchers for the 2nd chance. Also "mabye" can we get the ability to scan our tickets using our cameras by taking pictures of the barcode? Saving it to our accounts and when the drawing finally happen we get some alert thru the app telling us if we have any matching numbers. I hate having to go back to the store just to use their machine when I buy multiple games in one ticket because it's a pain having to check line by line . It's also a bother having to turn on my computer to enter a few number so that I may register my losing scratchers :( :( :*(

Although the current CALOTTERY ‘app’ is useful, it lacks many desirable features that were available in a previous version. For example, when one signs out, the username and password should not be deleted. The present version also is not as speedy and accurate in scanning CALOTTERY second chance scratcher tickets. On the other hand, a truly handy feature is its ability to scan barcodes to determine if a CALOTTERY scratcher ticket is a winning ticket, though without entering the ticket information into one’s CALOTTERY second chance account. This feature is desirable because, probabilistically, it always is better to save one’s CALOTTERY scratcher tickets and enter them all at one time.

And all the thousands and thousands of tickets that I have bought on scratchers this is the least amount of money you have ever been giving on your tickets I don’t know how you get away with printing one in 51 and six or one and three you know the odds it’s pretty well known that once you buy a ticket it’ll be seven more tickets before you get another winter especially on the two dollar tickets which is a total fraud the other thing that so frustrating which I quit wanting to play your game is thatIn the fast cash part of many of your tickets there’s never anything there it’s a total insult to the people that obviously you don’t care from one who’s played your game for so long I feel so ripped off

The updated scratchers information page is extremely time consuming, confusing, and lacks consumer attention . The first thing I noticed is that the player no longer can go to the picture of the game and scroll to number of winners and amount of prizes available at a glance. The new method requires that the player put the name of the game to the ticket. Some games have similar names. The other irritating thing I noticed is how all the detailing information is at the top like a spreadsheet. Too much going up and then scrolling down. I play regularly and check tickets and information on the games constantly. I like to do it as a hobby and would like to see the convenance that it had before. I give the new scratcher page a 0.

From the rating and non-feedback here I am sure they don’t read comments. I suggest all users to submit comments on their website directly. Maybe it will get to different and more competent people.

“Please READ the rating of your iPhone App on Apple website and address all the frustrated users there. Please replace the current iPhone App developer with a COMPETENT developer who knows what they are doing.

The iPhone App cannot even gives BASIC service. I get “ server busy” message constantly. I cannot check on the past wining numbers. I cannot submit second chance lotto. The scanner works one time for each time I reinstall it and one time only. The current App is below average in functionality and has dismal rating. The Cal lottery can do much better. ”

I’m disappointed because I play quite a bit & what is frustrating is if I play the Lottery mega millions or powerball, the lottery has made it where there are larger jackpots but I don’t think we should provide winners with so much money that they can’t possibly spend it in their lifetime, I think there should be more winners with less money (given how many individuals are under the poverty line). More than likely there will still be pretty large jackpots at a reduced amount.
But my suggestion more than likely will go unheard but I really think it would be a better result. Otherwise, I don’t think I’ll play much longer as no matter if I play scratchers or the california lottery, I just don’t win enough to justify using that money for fun versus necessity.

So I did all the updates from the App Store all the updates for the phone and still when I try to scan a ticket or some fantasy five claim ticket in the app it keeps saying that it cannot recognize the barcode or it is not allowing the camera to focus at a close range. It Has to be almost 12 inches away from the camera and by this point, the barcodes are too small that the camera can’t get it plus there is no way for us to zoom in manually.

And when we try to enter the scratcher manually, sometimes the vendors will tear the bottom, seven digit code on accident, and we have no way of checking to see if it’s actually winter just to make sure

this app really needs to get it together or Apple needs to step up to the plate and fix the camera on this iPhone 14 pro max

I’m very happy now because I don’t trust the people working in the stores when they scan your ticket and if the ticket winners 100 dollars they try to trick you and telling you congrats you won a 20 dollar especially if you don’t know how to play or you don’t know how to check your ticket which is happened to me before I have won five hundred dollars in the bingo ticket and I already check the ticket and showed me the price which is five hundred dollars but I want to the store to see what will the clerk who worked there and definitely I was right the guy told me that I won 50 dollars only and I started to laughing I asked him to give me my ticket back and when he handled the ticket to me I said shame on you and I left the store but now I’m safe now thank you for this app

I’ve been submitting non winning tickets for years and years . Many many tickets. I try I try and. It’s to difficult to win the 2nd second prizes. I feel so stupid giving my money to the California Lottery. I’m just flushing my money down the toilet. It’s a rip off. I am not being a negative. I have better luck going to. San Manuel Casino. I feel taking advantage of. All The money i’ve been spending over the years on scratchers and not winning anything worth talking about . And then. I submit them the non winning tickets To the 2nd chance . And I still don’t win anything. Other. Then wasting my money and time. All this money. I’ve waisted over the years. I could’ve done so much for my family. Instead of giving it to the California Lottery. The only people winning is the California Lottery.

Back in the day,( 20$ years ago I use to have to input the number off of each non winning ticket into the second chance lottery app in order to be eligible for the second chance drawing . It would take me a very long time to input my non winning scratchers because I had a hard time reading the number . Now the update improved input of my non winning second chance tickets are simply scanned into the lottery app by my cell phone in seconds . I’m so thrilled for this new and fun way to imput my tickets now that it’s so fast and easy to do .
Thank you California Lottery for a excellent job inproving the all around experience of the journey of using the user friendly lottery app from start to
finish.
My sincere pleasure in thanking your team for thier help in making the whole process extremely easy now.

OkI did it I pick my numbers .. I take a chance I close my eyes and say ok ...I would like one more lotto ticket and this is a quick pick for my faith in the random numbers and then I select a few scratchers too just becuz I have the faith and believe in what is to come will be TRUE!
This is my whole heartily investment and I am aware , making a conscious decision that this is a one in a...it’s a gamble and I am a entering a second chance too so when it will be a winner it may be me ! Yes I am, yes a Believer I believe it like I’m receiving it so as long as the vision of perceiving it is alive,and if there is a mighty deep down ,Will there’s a way.yes and in Higher calling it could be you or it could be me ! Best of luck it is in the law of the universe and a constant belief we are in it to win it for the greater good

UPDATE 9/20/2022:
The scanner is GREATLY improved once again! It’s still not five stars simply because it used to lock on & scan your ticket instantaneously. With just a bit more effort I think this app could be much more efficient.

Thank you for fixing a once sitting problem, I’m glad to be able to use my California lottery app without agitation once again!

On to feature requests, I believe it would be helpful when there are winners in say the top two tiers, instead of just “1 winner” add in the city at least, where the ticket was purchased.

Why? You know it’s broken; clearly, there’s an issue. Do you peer-review code BEFORE releasing it to the public? I know you’ve read these one-star comments, because you’ve deleted mine regarding this very same complaint. They’re rolling in daily. Why not revert until you figure it out?

It is obvious that the changes they make are oblivious to the comments they are getting. Right off the bat it is clearly a bad app. I suspect it’s going to function but it starts with login with no button to create a new account. I will wander around and look for that but it is a really dumb design. All the updates are social media marketing or they recently added an address to the address book and bothered to tell us. Unless this is being written by high school students to help them with their education you need to get new programmers. If you are sending this overseas I have to ask why. Pay somebody $10,000 and fix the app so it actually is friendly and works. // OK it’s been a while and I’ve looked at every screen and the app and fall the links to the website and I cannot find anywhere to create a login. I thought for sure it was dumb and I would still find it but it’s really some weird mystery. The app is terrible. The app is terrible. If you work for the lottery and you are not paying attention you’re living in a cloud. This app is absolutely terrible.

After many painstaking attempts to change my password as it decided it would not take mine any longer...disjointed user interface. Verified my information on my account as prompted for 2nd Chance. All of the information was of course the same so I hit ‘Save’ only to get a new message telling me that I could only have 1 account. I only have 1 account. No help from the website as to how they think I have more than 1 account when they already have my info.
Then I was given an email that my information needs to be confirmed manually and ...get this...I should send in a copy of my ID and a copy of a rental/utility/mortgage payment...to unknown people so I can PLAY, yes play, 2nd Chance...SAY WHAT?!? Then they’ll destroy those copies to protect my identity. Ummm...You’re all up to speed on what Not To Do to have your identity stolen, right? Why do I need to verify my identity, which you’ve already done, Before I’ve won anything? Why would I send unknown people my identity information and if it’s in those hands the first time, why wouldn’t it stay safe there if kept...because it’s not safe going there And it’s not safe being kept there. Someone should investigate this.

I want to love this app but there are some SERIOUS drawbacks. First, I keep losing. That’s no fun. Come California Lottery, just let me win occasionally, enough to keep my hopes and dreams afloat.

Second, some might call this a perk but it just depresses me. The app is lightening fast when it scans my ticket and tells me I am not a winner. Come on already. At least take a few seconds to think about what you are about to tell me. Heartbreak. Every time. Instantly. Here are some ideas for improvement:

1) Stop being so darn speedy. Like have an hourglass that flips around a few times or some bars that flash across the screen and imply that you are actually thinking about my ticket. I mean, I need a few final moments to dream about the house I am going to build. Stop dashing my hopes so rapidly.

2) It’s not fun. I want noises or music or something. Like a drumroll or some suspenseful music. Then, when I lose, (like ALWAYS do) I want to hear sad sounds like “wa-wa-waaaa” followed by maybe a hopeful prompt to buy again with hopeful sounds.

Come on California Lottery. I know I have a greater chance of getting struck by actual lightning than I do of winning the lottery so make the experience worth my $2. I’ve spent actual decades planning how I’m going to blow all that money. Add some flourish already to augment my dreams.

Thank you from a semi-faithful ticket buyer and always optimistic lottery life planner-outer.

The app at face value seems pretty decent. It isn't until you delve deeper do you realize how many basic features it really is missing.

The most glaring omission is the lack of a barcode scanner. That's right, this app is suddenly less convenient than your nearest convenience store. Whereas the store can scan a stack of tickets in mere seconds, you'll be spending many minutes to do the same by having to look up each ticket individually across up to 3 different games. Highly inconvenient, almost counter-intuitive to even having an app in the first place.

The second most glaring problem related to the first: you cannot look up tickets older than a month an a half (give or take). Yes, that's right; even though the back of the ticket states 180 days, you only get to look up tickets in the last 35 or so. For anything older, you're forced to close the app and check the numbers on their website. It's almost more convenient to just go straight to the website.

With these two major problems, it almost seems silly to even have an app. Why have an app if a store can scan the tickets quicker? Why even have an app if a ticket is good for 180 days, but the app is only allowed to look up the last 30-40 days? Why not just force everyone to go to the website (you likely will have to anyways) instead of getting their hopes up with a very limited app that does less than the actual website itself?

Only reason for 2 stars is because the 2nd chance scanner works amazingly well. So well, in fact, that there should be no reason they can't do the same for the barcode of the ticket itself. Too bad 2nd chance is only available on one of their three most popular draw games so it's very limited in terms of usefulness.

Why are you saying I have to verify who I am when I already have an account? I’ve tried numerous times and all I get is I need to verify my account. Nothings changed and I’m just going around in circles with this crap!

Its a scam only very very rare wins wake-up people you guys are flushing your money into toilet like some anonymous wins billion dollar lottery in Illinois it’s always like this some anonymous means no one wins simple as that

The new barcode scanner is completely awful and barely works. please fix it! The old one worked perfectly I don't know why this is but I can't stand it it's so irritating. Otherwise I would give this app five stars every time.

The scanner/camera feature of this app is broken since latest update. Used to find and capture the barcode almost instantly, now after 10 to 20 seconds nothing happens with the focusing bars, or a can’t scan this ticket error pops up.

It was working perfectly fine before updating to the latest version. Don’t you guys test the app before publishing it? Please fix it! It wont scan the tickets. The old version used to scan the tickets in just a second even from far away.

This app does not let me create an account. I tried 3 different emails and it says that I already have an account .(fyi -I have never created an account before) I pressed forgot password but I never received an email to reset the password.

After scanning the ticket, the app no longer preserves the photo of the ticket. Its just a black screen showing you if you won or not. It hasnt worked on the current iOS 15.4.1 for over a year.

This feature is very important when you have a lotto pool.

This app is so limited. I want to look at all the Scatchers games but this app only allows me to the newest scratcher games. Also what happened to the most common numbers from the Draw games and where the last winning tickets?

This app is NOT user friendly. Don’t like it.

I was forced to get this app just to play the second chance lottery and they have made it incredibly hard. First I can't even log in without it saying I need to sign in on their website so when I do it doesn't show in the app and doesn't let me go anywhere. The app clearly has bugs and issues that they aren't solving.

I loved this app before it updated. It was so easy to scan tickets. But since I just updated, EVERY TIME I scan a ticket, it says there is an error. I did like some of the new features like check a ticket but how can you if it won't scan correctly. I have quite a bit of tickets I need to enter so I really hope they fix this A.S.A.P!

This app as well as ca lottery website is completely non functioning. Can't submit 2nd chance drawing, keeps asking for profile update. No need nothing has changed but even still trying to update says you are trying to create an additional profile & are only allowed one? I'm just filling out requested info. Bottom line NO Way to submit 2nd chance tickets. This is a scam.

I’m stuck in a catch 22 loop as well, can’t login to the 2nd chance because it keeps making me revering my account, reset the password, than the “error verifying your account” nightmare. Tried deleting and reinstalling, useless. Would be nice if the app actually worked, but for now I wish I could give it negative stars since the entire point of the app isn’t working. Fail.

Ho-hum, same result as everyone else. Doesn't work. ID verification doesn't work no matter what I try. No way to enter the Second Chance drawings anymore. I guess I could go get DNA, retinal scans, and notarized pictures of me holding my CDL in front of my mailbox and wait 10 weeks. But I guess that's what the CA Lottery wants. Because this App (and their website) is a joke.

I applied the 4/4/22 update and now the camera is super zoomed in and the app mostly generates can’t scan errors. When it does scan a code, 1 or 2 or a few will work before the dreaded rectangle/hung screen appears and you’re lucky if you get the something wrong with our system error. This happens for both check a ticket and 2nd chance and on my iphone and ipads and the problems seem to have shown up in the past 4 weeks for me!

It’s a great app and easy to use but for some reason it won’t let me sign in to scan my 2nd chance tickets. It says I need to update my info and I did it twice and it still doesn’t work and then when I got that to work then I made a account to scan my second chance and it won’t let me sign in supposebly wrong password but it’s not. Please help Supposedly they where going to fix it and gave me a number to call and it was a machine and wasn’t even helped Still need help with the app

Early this week I couldn't log in to my app acct asking to verify my info on the calottery website, so i did. All my info in the site are correct yet it keeps telling me to verify my email. I retyped all my info still didn't worked! Changed psswd so many times thinking it would work and didn't!

Just so frustrating! Made me stop buying my daily scratchers since I couldn't get into my app! After a year using the app and you just decided to do a verification and it doesn't even work?

I used this app for over a year straight, never won despite submitting thousands of tickets. Ok, not lucky maybe. Now can't use app at all, error tells me need to verify account. All info is accurate, all legal straight up from DL and refuses to accept and say I need to mail copies of my id. Mail? Can't take a photo and email electronically? Same phone that I use for the app? I smell something fishy going on. I wonder sometimes if the lottery is a scam and this is fueling that thought for sure.

Both the app and site are asking me to verify my information in order to scan my 2nd chance tickets. I follow the link. The information on my profile is all correct so I hit save, like it asks. Then I get an error saying that information is already being used for an account. It won't update. I tried reentering everything and it still won't update or verify the information, it thinks I'm registering a new account with information that is already being used on an existing account. Very frustrating so I can't play until this is fixed.