Alcohol, Houses, and Other Surprising Things You Can Win in the Lottery
Everyone knows that the lottery is a tax on people who can’t count – your chances of winning are ridiculously small . That doesn’t stop many people from playing, whether it’s a random lottery for fun or an organized attempt to win a billion dollars or so.
But a lottery is just a system for collecting entry fees and delivering a prize—a price that doesn’t have to be money. Sometimes the best and fairest way to award something, sell something, or provide access to something is a lottery, because it leaves everything to chance, eliminating bias, and because it can actually be a more profitable way to transfer property than an outright sale. Here are some of the coolest lotteries where you won’t win any money.
Liquor
You might think that you don’t need a lottery to buy whiskey, a product that’s available in most places at relatively reasonable prices. But what about rare and expensive whiskeys? A bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 23 Years Old would cost you thousands of dollars at the store, for example, but this year the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is holding a limited-release whiskey lottery, and the 2025 lottery included the opportunity to buy a bottle for just $400 .
Other states have similar lotteries for rare spirits — Ohio holds an annual Bottle Lottery in the fall, and the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board also holds one every year. These lotteries aren’t limited to whiskey — tequila and other spirits are often included — but they all work the same way: Winners get a chance to purchase extremely rare and expensive bottles at deep discounts.
House
If you’ve been thinking about buying a home lately, you may have noticed that they’re a bit pricey – home prices have risen 30% in five years on average. One solution might be to win a house in the lottery.
It actually happens. Recently, a woman in Ireland put her house up for grabs on the site Raffall.com . She charged people $7 a ticket, thinking she would actually make more money selling tickets than she would have in a traditional sale — and it seems to have worked, as the American woman won the lottery and the house.
Other housing lotteries pop up from time to time — the CHEO Foundation, for example, holds an annual lottery that includes a “ dream home ,” and some communities use lotteries to help people afford homes. In Uniondale, New York, for example, the Uniondale Community Land Trust uses a lottery to sell homes in the city — though the home isn’t free. The final price is determined by the lottery winner’s income, though it’s expected to be about a third of the market value. And Newark, New Jersey, recently held a lottery that sold homes for as little as $1 .
Fireflies
If you’ve never lived in an area where fireflies thrive, or if you live in an area where fireflies have disappeared, you know how cool they are. However, if you want to see a truly spectacular firefly show in nature, you’ll need to enter a lottery to win the chance.
Each year, some national parks hold lotteries to provide a limited number of people with access to top-notch firefly viewing. The Great Smoky Mountains Firefly Viewing Lottery is held each year in late May and early June, when the insects’ mating season is in full swing. Likewise,Congaree National Park holds firefly-themed events around the same time of year . Access to both events is granted through a lottery.
Some state parks are also joining the firefly movement—this year , Lamar Alexander Rocky Forma State Park in Tennessee launched its own lottery to see nature’s tiny light show.
Outdoor activities
Keeping our natural wonders clean and in good condition usually means restricting access. Too many visitors to national parks and protected wilderness areas leads to erosion, damage, and pollution. Since the best way to reduce damage is to limit the number of people who have access, lotteries are often used to restrict access fairly. Here are some examples of outdoor activities you can’t attend unless you win the lottery:
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The challenging hike to the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park requires a permit, which can only be obtained through a lottery .
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Rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is only possible with a lottery permit.
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To hike Left Form North Creek Canyon (also known as the Subway Hike), you must win a seasonal lottery .
If you don’t have a specific plan, you can check recreation.gov for open lotteries; if something is run by lottery, it’s probably something special.
Broadway shows
Broadway shows remain an immersive experience for New Yorkers and tourists alike—and expensive. The average ticket price for a Broadway show is about $119 , and it’s not getting any cheaper. Even if you live in or near New York City, the cost of attending a show can easily be $1,000, depending on how many people are attending and other details.
If that’s too much for your blood, you can always try a lottery. Individual shows often hold ticket lotteries ( Hamilton is probably one of the most famous, offering $10 tickets to all performances), so a little research into the shows you want to see may reveal a chance to win. The Broadway Direct website maintains a list of public lotteries you can enter, too.
Winning the lottery is always exciting, but since winning huge amounts of money is not the recipe for happiness and problem solving you might think , winning a non-cash prize in one of these lotteries is likely to be a more enjoyable experience.