How someone gets a $50 seat
How do Broadway lotteries work
There are two primary avenues for discount tickets to Broadway shows — lotteries and rush. Rush are day-of tickets that can be obtained digitally, in-person at the box office, and sometimes through special eligibility (such as students). Lotteries can be entered a day or weeks prior to the show date for a chance to win. Each show may offer a unique combination of lotteries and rush (or none at all) at different prices, entry windows, and on different platforms.
The main four digital platforms
| Platform | Discount option | Open | Close | If you win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadway Direct | Lottery | ~10:00 AM | ~3:00 PM | 60 minutes |
| Telecharge | Lottery | 12:00 AM | 3:00 PM | 5 hours |
| Digital rush | 11:00 AM | until sold out | — | |
| Lucky Seat | Lottery | ~2 weeks ahead | weekly draw | varies |
| TodayTix | Lottery | varies by show | varies by show | varies |
| Digital rush | 9:00 AM | until sold out | — |
Platform-level typical values — individual shows can differ. Check the show’s own page for its exact window.
How does Monte work
Prior to Monte, the easiest way to learn about these lotteries was a combination of personal research and organization and various lists put together by Broadway news sites and fellow Broadway-lovers. Most of the available resources were very informative, but with different shows using different platforms and following different entry periods, the burden to track falls on individual Broadway go-ers, and most of us don’t have enough mental space to do all that.
Monte focuses on lottery windows, since most rush options are roughly instantaneous and vary in availability. Monte allows you to select the shows you want to watch, track their lottery windows, and send you to the right spot to enter. We’re also building out a reminder system too — more to come.
To get started, go to the Lotteries & rush or Shows page and start your list by hitting the stars next to the shows.
If you want to see all lottery options or all rush options, go to Lotteries & rush. If you have a specific show in mind and you’re curious what discount options they have, use the Shows page.
What Monte will never do
Three rules that don’t change, whatever else does.
No entry is ever filled in for you and no CAPTCHA is ever solved by Monte. Rules require human entry, so we can’t do that for you.
Monte can’t see whether you won. We can only remind you when results may be available. You have to check the results and claim your wins yourself.
The board is fully useful signed out. No login wall on the public list — but you do need an email if you want to build a personalized list of favorites and timelines.
We store your email address, a scrambled (hashed) version of your password, the shows you starred and, if you give one, your mobile number along with when, where and in what browser you agreed to texts. Our forms also note the page and country they were sent from. To limit abuse we keep short-lived counters tied to a scrambled version of your IP address. We never sell your information; we share it only with the services that run Monte — our host, Cloudflare, and our email sender, Resend.