California State Lottery

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The California State Lottery began on November 6, 1984 after California residents passed Proposition 37, the California Lottery Act, authorizing the creation of a state lottery.

The minimum age to purchase lottery tickets in California is 18.

Contents

[edit] Lottery Act

The lottery act was passed to provide extra money to schools without imposing additional taxes. Thus, the California State Lottery is mandated to provide at least 34% of its revenues to public education, supplementing, (not replacing), funds provided by the state.

A mandated minimum of 84% of all funds must be given back to the public in the form of money given towards education or prizes. Of the 84%, 50% must be given back in the form of prizes, the rest may be given towards education (making up part of the 34%) or more in prizes.

A maximum of 16% is to be spent on administration, such as running the games, wages, etc.

The Lottery Act mandates that a commission, appointed by the Governor, is to operate and administer the lottery.

California, by law, is a pari-mutuel state, meaning that prize values are not fixed, but are dependent on sales and number of winning tickets. However, the Lottery has recently set fixed prize levels for its Hot Spot game, and is clear that, for this game, the pari-mutuel rule will no longer be enforced.

[edit] History

The California State Lottery began on November 6, 1984 after California residents passed Proposition 37, the California Lottery Act, authorizing the creation of a state lottery with a majority (58%) supporting the act.

California joined Mega Millions on June 22, 2005 becoming the 12th state to join the multi-state lottery. A draw was held in Hollywood, CA to commemorate the event.

California, while never desiring to offer Mega Million's rival Powerball, was briefly a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), because an "international" lottery game that would have included a number of states was in the works; however, the game never came into fruition.

[edit] Games & game info

[edit] SuperLotto Plus

California Super Lotto is a game played in the style of Mega Millions, in the state of California every Wednesday and Saturday. Five main winning numbers are selected from a set of 47 rubber balls, as is a "Mega number" which is chosen from a separate set of 27 rubber balls. California has historically offered a number of jackpot-style games, beginning with the "6-49" game in 1986, which was changed at various times to a 53 number game (in 1990) which included a seventh bonus number, then to a 51 number game which lasted until sometime in the year 2000.

The current 47/27 variant began in the year 2000 and continues to this day under the name Super Lotto Plus.

On February 16, 2002, the California Lottery's then-highest payout of $193 million was won by three winning tickets.

In 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as part of his redesign of state government, suggested that California join a multistate lottery. The next year, California became part of Mega Millions.

Overall chances of winning a prize are 1 in 23. Chances of winning the jackpot are 1 in 41,416,353. The minimum jackpot prize is $7 million.

[edit] MEGA Millions

MEGA Millions allows you to pick 5 numbers, 1 through 56, and a final number, called a MEGA number, 1 through 46. The game costs $1 to play. You may pick 2-8, 16, or 20 extra plays during your purchase. Drawn every Tuesday and Friday at 8pm US Pacific time, 11pm US Eastern Time. The prize money ranges to the high millions.

Overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 40. Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 175,711,536. The minimum jackpot prize is $12 million.

[edit] Daily 3

Daily 3 allows you to pick a set of 3 numbers, zero through nine, and choose a playstyle: straight, box, or straight/box. The game costs $1 to play. You may choose up to 14 extra plays during your purchase. There are two draws every day.

[edit] Scratchers

Scratchers are scratchcard lottery games that you scratch off a top layer to see if you won a prize. The prizes are smaller than other lottery games, but there are better odds (averaging 1:5). There are currently 37 types of scratchers, ranging in price from US$1 to US$5.

[edit] Daily Derby

Daily Derby is a mock horse racing betting game. You choose three horses, one to finish first, one to finish second and one to finish third. You then choose a time from 1:40:00 to 1:49:99 as your race time. You mark the last three digits of the race time on your playslip. You may choose from 7-14 extra plays during your purchase. The game costs $2 to play. Drawn every day at 6:35pm and televised at 6:59pm.

[edit] Hot Spot

Hot Spot works by choosing how many plays you want per ticket from 2,3,5, or 8. You then pick numbers 1 through 80 to bet on. You finally choose how much money you would like to spend: US$1, US$2, US$3, US$4, US$5, US$10, US$20. You can choose up to 100 consecutive draws which occur every four minutes from 06:05 until 02:00 the next day. Many lottery retailers have monitors that display Hot Spot drawings and recent results from other lottery games.

[edit] Fantasy 5

Fantasy 5 allows you to pick five numbers 1 through 39. You can pick up to 5 plays per ticket, and up to 12 advance plays per ticket. Tickets cost $1 per play. Drawn every day at 6:35pm and televised at 6:59pm. Grand prizes start at $50,000 and can reach upwards of $500,000. The game is marketed as "The Better Odds Lotto Game!"

[edit] The Big Spin

The Big Spin is a television game show created as part of the California Lottery. Although the lottery has had several methods for choosing contestants, appearance on the show is currently a prize in one of the lottery's scratch-off games. The top prize is fixed at $3,000,000.00.

[edit] Instant games

California instant games range in price from $1 to $5, with higher priced tickets typically putting out a higher percentage of sales back into prizes. The payout percentages for each price point are as follows:

$1 $2 $3 $5
53% 55.8% 60% 64%

[edit] Daily 4

A "pick 4" type game that is set to premiere in May 2008. Each play will cost $1 and drawings will be held once per day. Playstyles, like the Daily 3, will offer the straight, box, and straight/box option.

[edit] Payment Options

All prizes on scratchers, Fantasy 5, Daily Derby, Daily 3, and non-jackpot Super Lotto Plus and Mega Millions prizes, are paid out in one payment, less 25% Federal taxes if the prize is over $5,000. California recently stopped deducting State Tax on lottery winnings. For Super Lotto Plus and Mega Millions jackpots, the player may choose a single cash payout for 50%-60% of the jackpot, or a 26-year annuity. The Super Lotto Plus annuity payment schedule is on a graduated basis, (every year the payment is slightly more than the previous year, such that the 25th payment is twice as much as the first), whereas payments in the Mega Millions annuity are the same every year. Until 2005, when California joined Mega Millions, the payment choice on Super Lotto Plus had to be made when the ticket was bought. Now, like most US lotteries, there is a 60-day window after winning in which the choice of lump sum or annuity is to be made.

[edit] External links