The product
24Lottos is a global online lottery platform that lets users securely play top lotteries from anywhere in the world. Today it offers access to 50+ international lotteries, from Powerball and Mega Millions to EuroMillions and beyond, with weekly subscriptions, automatic results tracking, and winnings credited straight to the user’s account. It serves players across Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and South America.
My role
A Tel Aviv gaming company first hired me to modernize 36Lotto, a legacy local-lottery codebase, and then to build 24Lottos from scratch across multiple consecutive contracts. I was lead PHP developer, and the platform launched during my engagement and has operated continuously ever since.
The engineering challenge
Lottery platforms are deceptively hard. Draws happen on fixed schedules in different countries, so I engineered accurate cross-timezone draw countdowns that never drift. Real money flows in many currencies through many gateways, so the wallet system and payment integrations had to be precise and compliant. And I hand-built a fast mobile site on the “m” domain before responsive design with Bootstrap was common practice, because most of these players were on phones.
What I built
- Access to dozens of global lotteries including Powerball, EuroMillions, and Mega Millions
- One-time tickets, recurring subscriptions, and group “syndicate” play
- A complete wallet system with multi-currency support and transaction history
- Accurate cross-timezone draw countdowns and real-time results
- Automated prize crediting with commission-free payouts
- A hand-built fast mobile experience years before responsive frameworks were standard
- Persistent cart and in-session ticket management to reduce abandonment
- Fraud prevention, SSL encryption, and regulatory compliance
Stack
PHP, JavaScript, MySQL, Stripe and other payment gateways, and a custom CMS. Payment coverage spans cards, bank transfer, regional mobile money (M-Pesa, MTN, Airtel and others), and cryptocurrency.
Outcome
Built from scratch and launched during the engagement, 24Lottos has operated continuously since. The cross-timezone countdown engine, multi-currency wallet, and early mobile-first build solved the platform’s hardest problems and let it serve players around the world.