State Lottery – US Lottery Games

Lottery USA – State Lotteries

The State Lotteries of the United States of America are some of the most widely played and popular of all the lottery games across the world.

Most of the USA Lottery companies offer various games that include the following – one or more Multi State lotteries, a flagship State Lotto game and numerous other in-State lotteries plus various Instant, Scratch Off and Pull Tab games.

US Lottery companies as we know them today began back in 1964 when the New Hampshire Sweepstakes Commission – known as the New Hampshire Lottery today – first started selling lotto tickets.

USA State Lottery Companies

All in all there are 47 USA Lottery Companies – that includes 44 State Lottery companies, plus lotteries from the District of Columbia, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Apart from the Puerto Rico Lottery in 1934 and the Virgin Islands Lottery in 1957 – the first modern day US Lottery companies to be created with the intention of raising monies for good causes were the New Hampshire Lottery in 1964 followed by the New York Lottery in 1967.

The positive results of these companies quickly established lotteries in the United States as a viable way of realising funds not only for charitable purposes but also for much needed services.

This quickly paved the way for the creation of many other State Lotto companies to be formed over the following years right up to the very latest US Lottery companies – the Arkansas Lottery that was established in 2008 and the Wyoming Lottery in 2013.

USA State Lottery Games

Firstly, we will look at the flagship State Lotteries. These games are only available to play within the actual State that hosts them unless you buy lottery tickets online which you are able to do so for many of them from anywhere around the world.

Most of the flagship USA Lotteries are jackpot lotto style games with a top prize that – if not won – will a rollover and increase in size once, twice or even three times per week.

These US Lotteries are IN-State games and each is the primary game offered by that particular individual State Lottery company (apart from the countrywide, MultiState Lottery games).

Some of the smaller USA Lottery companies have typical Pick 3 and Pick 4 style games as their principal IN-State offerings.

Here’s an easy-to-read table that shows all of the principal USA Lottery games available including whether the lottery has a rollover jackpot or not plus whether or not you can buy lottery tickets online for the game.

	State / Dist.	State Lottery	Min.Jackpot	Rollover	Online ?
1	Arizona	The Pick	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
2	Arkansas	Natural State Jackpot	$ 25,000	Yes	In-State
3	California	Super Lotto PLUS	$ 7 Million	Yes	Yes
4	Colorado	Colorado Lotto	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
5	Connecticut	Connecticut Lotto	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
6	Delaware	Multi Win Lotto	$ 50,000	Yes	In-State
7	Dist.of Columbia	DC 5	$ 250,000	No	In-State
8	Florida	Florida Lotto	$ 2 Million	Yes	Yes
9	Georgia	Fantasy 5	$ 100,000	Yes	In-State
10	Idaho	Weekly Grand	$ 1,000/wk.	No	In-State
11	Illinois	Illinois Lotto	$ 2 Million	Yes	Yes
12	Indiana	Hoosier Lotto	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
13	Iowa	$100,000 Cash Game	$ 100,000	No	In-State
14	Kansas	Super Kansas Cash	$ 100,000	Yes	Yes
15	Kentucky	Decades of Dollars	$ 250,000	No	In-State
16	Louisiana	Louisiana Lotto	$ 250,000	Yes	Yes
17	Maine	Gimme 5	$ 100,000	No	In-State
18	Maryland	Multi Match	$ 500,000	Yes	In-State
19	Massachusetts	Megabucks Doubler	$ 500,000	Yes	In-State
20	Michigan	Classic Lotto 47	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
21	Minnesota	Gopher 5	$ 100,000	Yes	In-State
22	Missouri	Missouri Lotto	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
23	Montana	Montana Cash	$ 20,000	Yes	In-State
24	Nebraska	Nebraska Pick 5	$ 50,000	Yes	In-State
25	New Hampshire	Gimme 5	$ 100,000	No	In-State
26	New Jersey	Pick 6 Lotto	$ 2 Million	Yes	Yes
27	New Mexico	Roadrunner Cash	$ 25,000	Yes	In-State
28	New York	New York Lotto	$ 3 Million	Yes	Yes
29	North Carolina	Carolina Cash 5	$ 50,000	Yes	In-State
30	North Dakota	None	None	N/A	In-State
31	Ohio	Classic Lotto	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
32	Oklahoma	Oklahoma Cash 5	$ 25,000	No	In-State
33	Oregon	Oregon Megabucks	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
34	Pennsylvania	Match 6 Lotto	$ 500,000	Yes	In-State
35	Puerto Rico	Loto	unknown	Yes	In-State
36	Rhode Island	Wild Money	$ 20,000	Yes	In-State
37	South Carolina	Palmetto CASH 5	$ 100,000	Yes	In-State
38	South Dakota	Dakota Cash	$ 20,000	Yes	In-State
39	Tennessee	Tennessee Cash	$ 200,000	Yes	In-State
40	Texas	Lotto Texas	$ 4 Million	Yes	In-State
41	Vermont	Gimme 5	$ 100,000	No	In-State
42	Virgin Islands	Virgin Islands Lottery	$ 175,000	No	In-State
43	Virginia	Decades of Dollars	$ 250,000	No	In-State
44	Washington	Washington Lotto	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
45	West Virginia	Cash 25	$ 25,000	No	In-State
46	Wisconsin	WI Megabucks	$ 1 Million	Yes	Yes
47	Wyoming	Not Yet Decided	n/a	n/a	In-State

Multi State Lottery Games

Certain USA Lottery games are played across more than one State and these are known as Multi State lottery games.

The biggest of these MultiState Lottery games are the Powerball  which is run by the Multi State Lottery Association (MUSL) and Mega Millions which is run by the Mega Millions Consortium.

These games are played across 47 States and Jurisdictions and 46 States and Jurisdictions respectively and are two of the largest world lotteries being played with anticipation and enthusiasm right across America twice every week as well as all around the world. A full list of the US Lotteries that take part in each Powerball and Mega Millions draw can be found via the links shown above.

Another large Multi State Lottery in the USA is the Hot Lotto which is played across 14 States and is also run by the Multi State Lottery Association (MUSL). Once again – a full list of the US Lotteries that take part in the Hot Lotto game can be found by clicking the above link.

Other US Lotteries that are played across more than one State in America include the following Multi-State Lottery games…

2by2 which has a double jackpot feature on Tuesdays and is offered seven nights every week by the Nebraska Lottery, Kansas Lottery and North Dakota Lottery. 2by2 is run and operated by the MUSL which is also responsible for the Powerball.

MegaHits which is a video lottery game that is offered by the Delaware Lottery, Rhode Island Lottery, Ohio Lottery, the West Virginia Lottery and the Maryland Lottery. MegaHits is also administered by the MUSL as part of its overall portfolio.

Cash4Life is a Multi State lottery offered by a total of 9 different States in the USA. The New York Lottery, New Jersey Lottery, Pennsylvania Lottery, Virginia Lottery, Tennessee Lottery, Maryland Lottery, Georgia Lottery, Indiana Lottery and most recently the Florida Lottery all offer the Cash4Life game which is drawn twice every week on both Mondays and Thursdays. Players can win a jackpot of US$ 7,000 every week for the rest of their lives or instead choose a cash option of US$ 7 MILLION.

Lucky for Life is another Multi State lottery offered by a grand total of 23 different States and Jurisctions. This "Game of a Lifetime" is drawn Mondays and Thursdays and you can win a cool US$ 1,000 a day for life or choose a US$ 5.75 MILLION cash option. Participating States are: Arkansas, Colorado, Conncticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Morth Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Wyoming. The States of Nebraska, South Dakota and West Virginia are joining in 2017.

Wild Card 2 was offered twice per week on Wednesdays and Saturdays by the North Dakota Lottery, South Dakota Lottery , Idaho Lottery and the Montana Lottery. Wild Card held its final draw on February 24th 2016 when it was withdrawn by the MUSL.

Tri State Lottery Games

Another highly popular US Lottery that is operated across more than one State is the Tri State Megabucks PLUS which is run by the TriState Lottery Consortium of 3 USA Lottery companies – the Maine Lottery, New Hampshire Lottery and Vermont Lottery.

The very first Multi State Lottery game to be launched in America – on September 14th 1985 – the Tri State Megabucks became the Tri State Megabucks PLUS on July 26th 2009.

In addition to the Tri State Megabucks PLUS  – there are other games offered by these three USA Lottery companies from New England which also come under the “TriState Lottery” umbrella – these are Pick 3, Pick 4, Gimme 5 and the above mentioned Lucky for Life.

Other USA Lottery Games

Nearly all of the US State Lottery companies also offer popular Pick 3 and Pick 4 type games. These US Lottery games are generally drawn either once or twice every day and have a whole range of prizes that are smaller than the jackpot lotteries.

As the names suggest – with these games you simply choose either 3 or 4 numbers depending upon the game.

Which State Lotteries Came First?

Here is a complete list of all the USA State Lottery and Jurisdictional Lottery companies throughout America in the order that they were first created.

From a historical point of view it is interesting to see which US Lotteries were the pioneers and forerunners of the modern day USA Lottery companies that we see today as well as the “new kids on the block” – those US Lotteries that are still in their infant years and currently making a name for themselves.

	STATE / DIST.	LOTTERY COMPANY	CREATED	FIRST TICKET
1	Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico Lottery	1934	1934
2	Virgin Islands	Virgin Islands Lottery	1957	1957
3	New Hampshire	New Hampshire Lottery	1964	1964
4	New York	New York Lottery	1967	1967
5	New Jersey	New Jersey Lottery	Nov.1969	Dec.16th 1970
6	Connecticut	Connecticut Lottery	Jun.1971	Feb.15th 1972
7	Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania Lottery	Aug.26th 1971	Mar. 7th 1972
8	Massachusetts	Massachusetts Lottery	Sep.27th 1971	Mar.22nd 1972
9	Michigan	Michigan Lottery	Aug. 1st 1972	Nov.13th 1972
10	Maryland	Maryland Lottery	Nov. 7th 1972	May 15th 1973
11	Maine	Maine State Lottery	1973	Jun. 1974
12	Ohio	Ohio Lottery	May 1973	Aug.1974
13	Rhode Island	Rhode Island Lottery	Mar.1974	May 21st 1974
14	Delaware	Delaware Lottery	May 31st 1974	Oct.1975
15	Illinois	Illinois Lottery	Jul.1st 1974	Jul.30th 1974
16	Vermont	Vermont Lottery	Jul.1977	Feb.14th 1978
17	Arizona	Arizona Lottery	Nov.1980	Jul. 1st 1981
18	Washington	Washington Lottery	Jun.30th 1982	1982
19	Colorado	Colorado Lottery	Jul. 1st 1982	Jan.1983
20	Dist.of Columbia	Washington DC Lottery	Aug.1982	Aug.25th 1982
21	Oregon	Oregon Lottery	Nov.1984	Apr.25th 1985
22	California	California Lottery	Nov. 6th 1984	Oct. 3rd 1985
23	Iowa	Iowa Lottery	Apr.18th 1985	Aug.22nd 1985
24	West Virginia	West Virginia Lottery	Apr.1985	Jan. 9th 1986
25	Missouri	Missouri Lottery	Jun.11th 1985	Jan.20th 1986
26	Montana	Montana Lottery	Nov. 4th 1986	Jun.24th 1987
27	South Dakota	South Dakota Lottery	Apr. 2nd 1987	Sep.30th 1987
28	Kansas	Kansas Lottery	1987	Nov.12th 1987
29	Wisconsin	Wisconsin Lottery	Apr.1987	Sep.14th 1988
30	Florida	Florida Lottery	Jun. 4th 1987	Jan.12th 1988
31	Virginia	Virginia Lottery	Dec. 1st 1987	Sep.20th 1988
32	Idaho	Idaho Lottery	Nov. 8th 1988	Jul.19th 1989
33	Ketucky	Kentucky Lottery	Dec.16th 1988	Apr. 4th 1989
34	Indiana	Hoosier Lottery	May 1989	Oct.1989
35	Minnesota	Minnesota Lottery	Jun.1989	Apr.17th 1990
36	Louisiana	Louisiana Lottery	Oct. 6th 1990	Sep. 6th 1991
37	Texas	Texas Lottery	May 29th 1992	May 29th 1992
38	Georgia	Georgia Lottery	Nov.1992	Jun.29th 1993
39	Nebraska	Nebraska Lottery	Feb.24th 1993	Sep.11th 1993
40	New Mexico	New Mexico Lottery	Apr. 5th 1995	Apr.27th 1996
41	South Carolina	South Carolina Lottery	Jun.13th 2001	Jan. 7th 2002
42	Tennessee	Tennessee Lottery	Apr.2003	Jan.20th 2004
43	North Dakota	North Dakota Lottery	Apr. 4th 2003	Mar.25th 2004
44	Oklahoma	Oklahoma Lottery	Nov. 2nd 2004	Oct.12th 2005
45	North Carolina	North Carolina Lottery	Aug.31st 2005	Mar.30th 2006
46	Arkansas	Arkansas Lottery	Nov. 4th 2008	Sep.28th 2009
47	Wyoming	Wyoming Lottery	Jul. 1st 2013	Aug.24th 2014

NO State Lottery Yet?

There are certain US States that have still not yet formed their own State Lotto company and therefore do not offer any State Lotteries. These are now few in number and it is likely at some point in the future that this information will change.

When it does and further USA Lottery companies are created – we will be sure to update the details on this page as well as the rest of the website.

Currently – the States in America that do not have their own USA Lottery company are…

Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah.

US State Lotteries – The Future?

Apart from adding new games and changing existing ones from time to time, one possible future development for the US Lottery scene is the creation of a single, US National Lottery game.

This has already been discussed by various USA Lottery companies and one idea talked about is the viability of a merger of the already huge Multi State Powerball and Mega Millions games into one massive USA National Lottery.

Time will tell whether this possibility will come to fruition and if we hear any further news on any kind of national USA Lottery we will write about it here.

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