Applied to the lottery or for the lottery? [closed]

Which preposition should I use in the following sentence:

I applied ____ greencard lottery.

Would it be:

I applied for the greencard lottery.

or

I applied to the greencard lottery.

If both are fine, how would I decide which one to use? If neither are fine, how should I convey the thought I am trying to convey?

You don't apply for a lottery. You're trying to combine "apply for" and "take part in".

What you want to say is "I applied for a green card by participating in the green card lottery." That is a bit wordy, so you might say "I participated in the green card lottery."

You could also say "I submitted my application and took part in the green card lottery."

I think you really wanted to add an "a" and "in the". Like,

I applied for a green card in the visa lottery.

The green card is what you hope to receive, the visa lottery is how the green cards are allocated among applicants.