Quote Originally Posted by Silverbane View Post
The lotteries occur on a regular cycle of 9 days, with 5 days for entering and 4 for claiming if you win.
The easiest way to see what stage the current lottery is in is, from the main menu bar, Duty -> Timers, Estate tab, click "Housing Lottery status"
Wow I'm really glad the game does absolutely nothing to make this information known to me whatsoever!