Everything we found in Hawaii
Hawaii has no lottery and no casinos. Every fact below comes from the Hawaii Revised Statutes (read October 5, 2026) and the official Powerball FAQ (read October 8, 2026), linked in the sources.
No state lottery
Hawaii law creates no lottery agency and sells no tickets. Its penal code goes further than most states. HRS 712-1223: “A person commits the offense of gambling if the person knowingly participates in any gambling activity. Gambling is a misdemeanor.” HRS 712-1220 defines gambling as staking “something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance,” and defines a lottery as “a gambling scheme” in which players pay for chances, the winners are picked “by a drawing or by some other method based on an element of chance,” and the holders of winning chances “receive something of value.” No lottery bill had passed as of our review date.
A ticket bought in another state
Someone in Hawaii who holds a Powerball or Mega Millions ticket bought it on a trip. Two things follow:
- It is claimed where it was bought. The official Powerball FAQ says “Prizes must be claimed in the jurisdiction where the winning ticket was purchased.” A ticket from California is claimed in California.
- That state’s rules apply: its claim deadline, its tax withholding, its rule on whether a winner’s name is public. Read the page for the state printed on the ticket; for example California, Washington or Oregon.
We are not suggesting anyone travel to buy tickets. This page is for people who already hold one.
A pool of Hawaii residents
A pool is a private agreement among adults about who paid for a ticket and how a prize is shared; the agreement is the only record of it. The ticket’s own state decides how the prize is paid, and the agreement names who claims for the group. Because Hawaii’s statute is written broadly, whether it reaches a private agreement to share a ticket bought lawfully elsewhere is a real question for counsel. We found no official source that answers it, and we are not lawyers.
Pool creation on ShareTheWinning
Pool creation is not open for Hawaii, because Hawaii has no state lottery: there is no Hawaii lottery whose tickets a pool could play or record. The short answer at the top of this page says the same. A ticket bought in another state follows that state’s rules, so read the page for the state printed on the ticket; the split calculator and the “If we win” stop on the Journey use that state’s deadline, privacy rule and tax rate.
Read How a pool claims a prize and, after a win, You won. The first five things to do.
