Abstract: A lottery by phone system which permits a caller to place bets with a state's existing lottery computer system via a telephone call from a touch-tone telephone which is connected via the public telephone network to a voice response unit which decodes touch-tones entered by the caller. The voice response unit prompts the caller with preprogrammed digitized audio messages and has each caller identified via a unique identification number. It permits such a caller to select which game to place a bet with and to have the option of picking their own numbers or having the system randomly pick numbers for them. It allows the caller to collect their winnings using a touch tone telephone via another telephone call, and to have the automatic interaction with the caller handle data entry errors, and to have caller queries regarding previous such bets answered by an operator.