Part of the complete guide: Crypto lottery: the complete guide
The basic flow
- 1Pick your number of tickets on the Buy tickets page and enter your email.
- 2Press "Pay with crypto" to go to the payment page.
- 3Choose Ethereum (ETH) as the coin.
- 4Copy the amount and address. Double-check the first and last characters of the address after pasting.
- 5Send the exact amount from your wallet. Your wallet shows the gas fee before you confirm.
- 6Wait for the confirmation message and then look for your email.
What gas is, and why it matters here
Gas is the fee paid to the network to process your transaction. It is paid in ETH on top of what you send. It depends on how busy the network is, not on how much you send, so for a $5 or $10 purchase it can be a noticeable fraction.
When Ethereum is quiet, fees can be small. When it is busy, they can exceed the price of a ticket. Check what your wallet proposes and consider waiting or switching coin or network if the fee looks too high.
ETH price moves
The ticket price is $5, so the amount of ETH changes with the market. The payment page locks an exact ETH amount for a limited time. Send within the time window and you pay what it showed. Do not send a rounded amount of your own.
Different networks, same coin
ETH also exists on layer-2 networks such as Arbitrum, Base and Optimism. Some payment pages let you choose. Whatever you select, the wallet network must match. If you hold ETH on Ethereum mainnet and the page asks for ETH on Arbitrum, send from Arbitrum or choose the other option.
Wallet or exchange?
- From your own wallet: you control the transaction and see the fee. Good for most people.
- From an exchange: withdraw to the payment address. You pay the exchange's withdrawal fee, and it may have minimums.
- Never send from an exchange to an address you have not checked twice.
If it does not go through
If the transaction is pending for a long time, the gas was too low for current demand. Most wallets allow you to speed up or cancel. If the payment window expires after you sent funds, contact us with the order number and transaction hash.
Example: how fees change the real cost
| Scenario | Ticket | Network fee | Total cost | Fee as share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quiet Ethereum mainnet | $5.00 | about $0.30 | about $5.30 | 6% |
| Busy Ethereum mainnet | $5.00 | about $3.00 | about $8.00 | 60% |
| Arbitrum One | $5.00 | about $0.02 | about $5.02 | under 1% |
The fee figures are illustrations to show scale, not quotes. Always read the fee in your wallet.
Cancelling or speeding up a stuck payment
If a transaction sits pending because the fee was too low, most wallets let you resubmit it with a higher fee or cancel it by sending a zero-value transaction to yourself with the same nonce and a higher fee. Do not create a second payment for the same order until you know the first one failed or was cancelled.
Keeping some ETH for later
If you plan to play regularly, keep a small reserve of ETH for fees. Running out of ETH while holding tokens is a common beginner problem: you have funds but cannot move them.
Example: a small ETH payment on mainnet
You pay for two tickets ($10) with ETH from a wallet on Ethereum mainnet. The payment page shows 0.0029 ETH at the moment. Your wallet estimates a network fee of 0.0004 ETH, about $1.40 at the time. You approve it. After a few blocks, the page confirms, and your two ticket numbers arrive by email. The fee was 14% of the order, which is why many people choose a stablecoin on a low-fee network for small purchases.
Tips for ETH payments
- Keep a small ETH reserve for fees.
- Check the network and the amount in the wallet prompt.
- Pay early in the week, so a slow confirmation does not miss the cut-off.
- Keep the transaction hash until your ticket numbers arrive.
Ready?
A weekly draw you can check yourself.
$5 tickets, a public random value, and every result published with the data to recompute it.
Frequently asked questions
How much ETH do I need?
Enough for the ticket total plus the network fee. The payment page shows the exact amount for the tickets.
Can I pay with ETH on Arbitrum?
If the payment page offers it, yes. Fees are usually much lower than on Ethereum mainnet.
Why is the amount not a round number?
It is converted from dollars at the current rate and locked briefly.
Will I get my lottery number instantly?
You get it as soon as the payment is confirmed, usually within minutes.
Is ETH on Arbitrum different from mainnet ETH?
It is the same asset on a different network. Make sure the network matches the payment.
Can I pay with ERC-20 tokens?
The payment page lists accepted coins and networks.
What if the fee is higher than the ticket?
Wait, or use a low-fee network.