There are only a handful of ways to find out whether a lottery ticket won, and they trade off the same two things: how authoritative the answer is, and how likely you are to actually do it before the claim deadline passes. Here they are, most-authoritative first, and an honest note on where each one lets you down.

1. The retailer terminal (the definitive answer)

Hand the ticket to any lottery retailer and they'll scan its barcode through the lottery's own terminal. This is the gold standard: it checks the ticket's serial number against the state's system, not the printed numbers, so there's no reading error. For a confirmed winner up to the store's cash limit (often a few hundred to a thousand dollars), you get paid on the spot. The catch: you have to be at a store, during hours, with the physical ticket, and a shady clerk scanning your ticket out of your sight is the oldest trick in the book, so watch the screen or check it yourself first.

2. Your state lottery's official app or website

Most state lotteries publish an app that scans a ticket's barcode, and every one posts its winning numbers online within minutes of the drawing. This is authoritative and free. The honest limitation is coverage and memory: you need a separate app for each state you play in, and you still have to remember to open it after the draw, which is exactly how tickets end up in the billion-plus dollars that goes unclaimed every year.

3. Matching the winning numbers by hand

The old-fashioned way: look up the winning numbers for your ticket's exact drawing date and compare, digit by digit. It's free and always available. It's also where mistakes happen, reading the wrong drawing (midday vs. evening matters, and a ticket is only entered in the drawing printed on it), missing a small win, or misjudging a boxed digit play. Our per-game pages lay the numbers out with the payout so you can check a line without arithmetic: find your game under winning numbers, or see what each match pays on the payout chart.

4. A photo scanner (the "so you don't have to remember" method)

This is the category we build in, so read it with that in mind. You photograph the ticket, modern vision reads the printed numbers, and it's checked against that drawing's official results, including old tickets, months later. The point isn't that it's more authoritative than a barcode (it reads printed numbers, not the serial); the point is that it removes the step people skip. With WonYet you scan once and the answer comes to you when the drawing's results are in, down to the small wins, free to start, no card. We compared ourselves honestly against the other scanner apps here, including where they beat us.

Whatever you use, three rules

• Sign the back the moment it might be a winner. An unsigned ticket is a bearer instrument, whoever holds it can claim it.
• Check it against the right drawing. The date (and midday/evening slot) printed on the ticket is the only drawing it's in. Last night's numbers tell you nothing about a ticket from last month.
• Verify anything big through official channels before you celebrate or quit anything, a retailer terminal or the state lottery is the final word. Then read what to do if you win.

The best method is simply the one you'll actually do. If "I'll check it later" is how your tickets usually die, pick the one that checks for you.

Always verify your results through official lottery channels before claiming any prize. WonYet is not affiliated with Powerball, Mega Millions, or any lottery organization. · All lottery names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners.