Cookie policy

This page lists every item LotteryChecks stores in your browser: what it is, why it is stored, how long it stays, who owns it and how you can change your mind.

You can change your mind at any time. Press to open the settings panel and change your answer. The change takes effect at once, without reloading the page.

What cookies are

A cookie is a small text file that a website leaves in your browser and can read back on a later visit. This site also uses two other kinds of storage that work in a similar way, localStorage and sessionStorage. The law treats all three alike, so this page counts all of them, not only the ones called “cookies”.

Items fall into 3 groups. The first group cannot be switched off because the site would not work without it. The other two are your choice. The advertising group stays off until you allow it. The analytics group starts working from the first page you open, and stops and deletes what it stored as soon as you reject it. Google Analytics is the exception: it always waits for permission.

Necessary cookies

Always on, cannot be switched off

This group cannot be switched off, because without it the site cannot do what you ask. You would be logged out as soon as you logged in, or asked about cookies again on every page. This group is not used to track behaviour and is not sent to anyone outside this site.

Name	Stored in	Owner	What it is for	How long it stays
plh_consent	Cookie	LotteryChecks	Remembers your answer about cookies so you are not asked again on every visit	12 months
authjs.session-token	Cookie	LotteryChecks	Remembers that you are logged in. It is set only when you log in.	30 days, or until you log out
theme	localStorage	LotteryChecks	Remembers whether you chose the light or the dark theme	Until you clear your browser data

Analytics cookies

Your choice

We use the LotteryChecks visitor counter, Histats and Google Analytics 4 to see how many people visit and which pages draw interest. The LotteryChecks counter and Histats start counting from the first page you open and keep the values in the table below in your browser. If you reject, both stop at once and the values already stored are deleted from your device. Google Analytics follows Consent Mode: it does not read or write analytics cookies until you accept, but it may send cookieless measurements to build modelled statistics. You can change your mind at any time from the Manage cookies link in the site footer, and the whole site keeps working whichever you choose.

Name	Stored in	Owner	What it is for	How long it stays
plh_sid	sessionStorage	LotteryChecks	A random number for one visit, used to count how many pages are opened in that visit	Disappears when you close the tab
plh_seen	localStorage	LotteryChecks	A marker that this browser has opened our site before, used to tell new visitors from returning ones	Until you clear your browser data
_ga	Cookie	Google Analytics	Tells individual users apart for traffic statistics, without using your name or email	Up to 2 years by default (your browser may limit it to less)
_ga_*	Cookie	Google Analytics	Keeps the state of a visit for the Google Analytics property	Up to 2 years by default (your browser may limit it to less)
Hst, c_ref_, c_pd_*	Cookie	Histats.com	Counts each page view, tells visitors apart and shows the statistics counter in the site footer	Up to 1 year

Advertising cookies

Your choice

This site earns income from Google AdSense advertising, which is what allows it to be free to use. If you allow it, Google uses cookies to choose ads that match your interests and to measure whether ads work. If you reject, ads still appear but they are general ads not chosen from your behaviour. Ads do not disappear.

Name	Stored in	Owner	What it is for	How long it stays
__gads, __gpi, IDE, test_cookie	Cookie	Google (AdSense / DoubleClick)	Chooses ads that match your interests, limits how often you see the same ad and measures ad results	From a few minutes to 13 months, depending on the cookie

How your answer is stored

It is stored as a cookie named plh_consent in your own browser. It is not stored in our database and is not tied to a user account.
It lasts 365 days. After that we ask again, because consent given long ago and never reviewed should not be treated as still valid.
If we change what is stored, we raise the version number (it is now version 3) and ask you again, rather than applying your old answer to something new that you have never seen.
If you clear your browser data, your answer is cleared too and the banner appears again. That is normal, not an error.

If I reject advertising cookies, do the ads disappear?

No. They change to general ads that are not chosen from your interests. We pass your answer to Google through a standard called Consent Mode v2, which is the method Google requires websites to use to say what a user has allowed. Advertising income is what allows this whole site to be free to use.

You can also switch cookies off in your browser

Besides our settings panel, every browser has its own option to block or delete cookies, usually in the settings page under privacy and security. Blocking everything stops some things from working, for example you are logged out as soon as you log in. That is a limit of blocking necessary cookies, not a fault of the site.