Can you be too young to scratch a lottery ticket in an Ohio store? Here’s what the law says

Ohio's lottery age rule looks a lot like most other state’s, but with one exceptional caveat: the law doesn't just penalize the seller.

The Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3770 makes it illegal for a minor to even attempt to buy a ticket.

Here's what you should know.

The buying age is 18, no exceptions

Ohio law punishes both parties in the transaction, the attempted buyer and the seller.

• No person may sell a lottery ticket to anyone under 18.
• No person under 18 may attempt to purchase a lottery ticket
• The minor, not just the retailer, is named in the statute.
• Vending devices and sales agents fall under the same restriction
• There’s no carve-out for self-service kiosks.

An adult can gift a ticket to a minor

Ohio's statute and the state lottery commission don’t spell out a specific "gift to a minor" provision by name. But it does make it clear that giving lottery tickets to another person as a gift is broadly permitted, with no age qualifier attached to that specific clause

• An adult can buy a ticket and hand it to a child as a gift — the sale itself was legal because it went to an adult.
• The prohibition in (C) targets the sale and the minor’s attempt to purchase, not a completed gift transfer after the fact.
• Promotional or marketing giveaways of tickets are also treated as gifts under the same section.

If the minor ticket wins

• Prizes over $1,000: the lottery commission director must issue payment to the minor’s legal guardian
• Prize of $1,000 or less: the director may instead pay an adult family member legally responsible for the minor’s care.

The age line shifts for lottery sports gaming specifically — that threshold is 21, not 18, under the same section

Scratching in store is a gray area

The law’s language centers on sale and purchase and a retailer selling directly to a minor is the violation.

• The adult completing the purchase is the legal transaction. Nothing in Ohio law criminalizes an adult immediately gifting that ticket to a child in the store.
• Scratching itself isn’t a regulated act under Ohio code — there’s no statute addressing who physically operates a scratch-off after a legal sale.
• The catch is still at the payout window: if it wins big, the money routes through a guardian or responsible adult, not directly to the child.

Retailers caught violating the age rule face state-imposed penalties, and repeat violations can jeopardize a retailer’s lottery contract entirely.

If you have any questions you’d like answered or anything you would like to read more about, email me at srose@ledger-enquirer.com or find me on social media.

This story was originally published July 10, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Can you be too young to scratch a lottery ticket in an Ohio store? Here’s what the law says."