How Many Us States Have Lotteries

Lotteries were widespread in the early American republic. In 1832 it was reported that 420 lotteries had been held in eight states in the last year. Lotteries also helped fund many college buildings, including at Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Yale. After the Civil War, the Southern states used lotteries to finance Reconstruction. The first modern government-run US lottery was established in Puerto Rico in 1934, followed by New Hampshire in 1964; today, lotteries are established in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

In the United States, lotteries are run by 48 jurisdictions: 45 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Lotteries are subject to the laws of and operated independently by each jurisdiction, and there is no national lottery organization. However, consortiums of state lotteries jointly organize games spanning larger geographical footprints, which in turn, carry larger jackpots. Two major lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball, are both offered in nearly all jurisdictions that operate lotteries, and serve as de facto national lotteries.

In fiscal 2018, Americans spent $77.7 billion on various lotteries, up about $5 billion from 2017.^[1]

History[edit]

1. A number of states have started to roll out online lottery services over the last few years, whether it is a full range of games or a select few. Find out where you can play over the internet in the U.S. And which other states might be offering online lotteries soon.
2. 44 States already have a domestic lottery service, and since a portion of state revenue.

Historian Neal Millikan using newspaper advertisements in the colonial era found at least 392 lotteries were held in the 13 colonies.^[2]

Lotteries were used not only as a form of entertainment but as a source of revenue to help fund the colonies. The financiers of Jamestown, Virginia, for instance, funded lotteries to raise money to support their colony.^[3] These lotteries were quite sophisticated for the time period and even included instant winners.^[3] Not long after, each of the 13 original colonies established a lottery system to raise revenue.^[3]

In the early post-independence era, legislators commonly authorized lotteries to fund schools, roads, bridges, and other public works.^[4] Evangelical reformers in the 1830s began denouncing lotteries on moral grounds and petitioned legislatures and constitutional conventions to ban them.^[5] Recurring lottery scandals and a general backlash against legislative corruption following the Panic of 1837 also contributed to anti-lottery sentiments.^[5] From 1844 to 1859 alone, 10 new state constitutions contained lottery bans.^[5] By 1890, lotteries were prohibited in every state except Delaware and Louisiana.^[6]

Lotteries in the United States did not always have sterling reputations. One early lottery in particular, the National Lottery, which was passed by Congress for the beautification of Washington, D.C. and was administered by the municipal government, was the subject of a major U.S. Supreme Court decision – Cohens v. Virginia.^[7]

The lottery never paid out,^{[3][clarification needed]} and it brought to light the prevalent issue of crookedness amongst the lotteries in the United States. The wave of anti-lottery protests finally broke through when, by 1860, all states had prohibited lotteries except Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky.^[3] The scarcity of lotteries in the United States meant that tickets were shipped across the country and eventually led to the creation of illegal lotteries.^[3] In 1868, after years of illegal operation, the Louisiana State Lottery Company obtained a 25-year charter for its state lottery system.^[3] The charter was passed by the Legislature due to immense bribing from a criminal syndicate in New York.^[3] The Louisiana Lottery Company derived 90% of its revenue from tickets sold across state borders.^[3] These continued issues of corruption led to the complete prohibition of lotteries in the United States by 1895.^[3] It was discovered that the promoters of the Louisiana Lottery Company had accrued immense sums of money from illegitimate sources and that the Legislature was riddled with bribery.^[3] Before the advent of government-sponsored lotteries, many illegal lotteries thrived, such as number games.

Modern era[edit]

The first modern government-run US lottery was established in Puerto Rico in 1934.^[8] This was followed, decades later, by the New Hampshire lottery in 1964.Instant lottery tickets, also known as scratch cards, were introduced in the 1970s and have become a major source of lottery revenue. Individual lotteries often feature three-digit and four-digit games akin to numbers games; a five number game, and a six number game (the latter two often have a jackpot.) Some lotteries also offer at least one game similar to keno, and some offer video lottery terminals. Presently, many US lotteries support public education systems.

As of November 2019, lotteries are established in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; the most recent U.S. state to legalize a lottery is Mississippi, with lottery commission members receiving appointments on October 19, 2018.^[9]

The first U.S. multi-state lottery game was formed in 1985 in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont; its flagship game remains Tri-State Megabucks. In 1988, the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) was formed with Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oregon, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia as its charter members; it is best known for Powerball, which was designed to create large jackpots. Another joint lottery, The Big Game (now called Mega Millions) was formed in 1996 by six lotteries as its charter members.

As of October 2020, each of the 44 state lotteries offer both Mega Millions and Powerball as a result of a 2009 agreement between the Mega Millions consortium and MUSL to cross-license their game to one another's members, although the two organizations continue to administer Mega Millions and Powerball separately. Mississippi was the most recent to join both, beginning sales in January 2020. Puerto Rico is the only jurisdiction not to offer both, as they do not offer Mega Millions.

State revenues[edit]

State lotteries have become a significant source of revenue for states, raising $17.6 billion in profits for state budgets in the 2009 fiscal year (FY) with 11 states collecting more revenue from their state lottery than from their state corporate income tax during FY2009.^[10]

Lottery policies within states can have conflicting goals.^[11] Given that instructions are passed down from state legislatures, lottery implementation is often expected to be carried out with reduced advertising and funding while still producing the same amount of revenue.^[11] This issue led states to look for loopholes in the system. Massachusetts, for example, had its advertising budget dramatically cut, and therefore started using free-play coupons as money to pay for advertising.^[11] This led to an IRS investigation into alleged non-reporting of income because the IRS considered the coupons to have monetary value.^[11]

States with no lotteries[edit]

Among the states that do not have lotteries, Alabama and Utah cite religious objections.^[12]Nevada's lucrative gambling industry has lobbied against a state lottery there, fearing the competition;^[13] similarly, the Mississippi Gaming Commission expressed concern that a state lottery would constitute a 'competing force' for gambling dollars spent at Mississippi casinos. Despite this, in August 2018, Mississippi passed legislation to create a state lottery. GovernorPhil Bryant expressed his support for the lottery to fund transportation in the state and has indicated he will sign the bill. Sales, initially only scratch tickets, began on November 25, 2019. Mega Millions and Powerball tickets became available to the state on January 30, 2020.^[14]

Alaska and Hawaii, being outside the contiguous United States, have not felt the pressure of losing sales to competitors.^[12] However in February 2020, Alaska's governor Mike Dunleavy introduced legislation proposing the establishment of an Alaska Lottery Corporation, as part of an effort to overcome a budgetary deficit.^[15]

New technologies[edit]

In recent years, new applications such as Lottery.com and Jackpocket were created for people to purchase lotteries over their smartphones.^[16]

U.S. lotteries[edit]

Key

2by2 = 2by2
C4L = Cash4Life
LA = Lotto America
LFL = Lucky for Life
TSM = Tri-State Megabucks consortium
0 = only multi-jurisdictional games are Mega Millions and/or Powerball

Other joint U.S. lotteries[edit]

These games also are offered by multiple lotteries.^[17] Some of these games feature a shared progressive jackpot (noted by °):

• 2by2 (3 lotteries): Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota
• Cash4Life (9): Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia
• Lotto America° (13): Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia
• Lucky for Life (26): Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming
• Tri-State Lottery (Megabucks Plus°, Pick 3 (Day & Night), Pick 4 (Day & Night), Fast Play°): Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont

See also[edit]

Us State Lotteries

References[edit]

1. ^Horton, Alex (October 18, 2018). 'How Mega Millions and Powerball changed the odds to create monster jackpots'. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
2. ^Millikan, Neal (2011). Lotteries in Colonial America. Routledge. p. 2. ISBN9781136674464.
3. ^ ^abcdefghijkRoger Dunstan (January 1997). 'History of Gambling in the United States'. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010.
4. ^McMaster, John Bach (1911). A History of the People of the United States: From the Revolution to the Civil War. Appleton and Company. p. 588.
5. ^ ^abcSzymanski, Ann-Marie E. (2003). Pathways to Prohibition: Radicals, Moderates, and Social Movement Outcomes. Duke University Press. pp. 95–96. ISBN978-0-8223-3169-8.
6. ^John Houston Merrill; Charles Frederic Williams; Thomas Johnson Michie; David Shephard Garland (1890). The American and English Encyclopædia of Law: Least to Mail. Edward Thompson Company. p. 1172.
7. ^Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall: Definer Of A Nation, New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1996, pp. 456-459
8. ^'Ley Núm. 74 de 2006 -Ley del Programa de Ayuda a Jugadores Compulsivos de Puerto'. Lexjuris.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
9. ^Howard, Morgan. 'Gov. Bryant appoints MS Lottery Corporation board of directors'. wlox.com. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
10. ^'U.S. lotteries and the state taxman'. Reuters. July 15, 2011.
11. ^ ^abcdNGISC (August 3, 1999). 'National Gambling Impact Study Commission Lotteries'.
12. ^ ^ab'Five states that don't have lotteries'. Playport. July 30, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
13. ^'Knowing Vegas: Why doesn't Nevada have a state lottery?'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. April 11, 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
14. ^'Mississippi lottery bill passes House, headed to governor'. WAPT. Associated Press. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
15. ^Maguire, Sean. 'Governor proposes independent corporation to run an Alaska lottery'. ktuu.com. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
16. ^'Jackpocket App Allows You to Buy Lottery Tickets Using Your Phone'. ABC News. September 29, 2015.
17. ^'Games'. Multi-State Lottery Association. Archived from the original on May 19, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2016.

Further reading[edit]

• Dasgupta, Anisha S. 'Public Finance and the Fortunes of the Early American Lottery.' QLR 24 (2005): 227+ Online
• Millikan, Neal. Lotteries in Colonial America (2011). excerpt
• Watson, Alan D. 'The Lottery in Early North Carolina.' North Carolina Historical Review 69.4 (1992): 365-387. Online

1. Online Lotteries USA

A number of states have already rolled out online lottery platforms as they look for ways to make their products as entertaining and accessible as possible, while other states are looking to follow in their footsteps and introduce their own. But just where is it possible to buy lottery tickets over the internet in the USA and which other states might be offering online lotteries soon?

Where Can You Play Online?

You can currently play the lottery online in ten U.S. states. They are:

In addition, the states below offer lottery subscriptions, where you can buy lottery tickets for multiple weeks at a time:

These differ from full online lottery services as you cannot buy individual tickets. Instead, you have to commit to play for a minimum number of weeks or spend a certain amount of money on tickets.

Online lotteries and subscription services are only available to people located in each of the states listed above. They all require you to create an account and provide some personal details before you can buy tickets or subscriptions.

Messenger Service

Now you can play Texas lottery games online via a lottery messenger service if you live in the Lone Star State or outside of the USA (but not in other US States).

Whilst in Oregon, you can play via messenger service within the state, but not from other states nor outside the USA.

Visit the lottery tickets page to view all the games that you can currently play online from your current location via messenger services - more are being added all the time!

How Online Lotteries Began In the U.S.

The door was only opened for the possibility of online lotteries in December 2011, when the U.S. Justice Department reversed a ban on many forms of internet gambling. While the ruling continued to outlaw sports wagers, it did allow states to start exploring and discussing legislation for online lotteries.

Illinois became the first state to offer online ticket sales when it set up a pilot program in March 2012 to sell Lotto and Mega Millions tickets, a scheme that was later given a wider rollout. Georgia followed suit in November 2012, while Michigan’s online lottery went live in the fall of 2014.

Kentucky introduced lottery ticket sales over the internet in April 2016. Lawmakers had granted their approval in 2013, but it took three years for the state to develop a robust ticketing system. Pennsylvania brought out its first batch of online lottery products in May 2018, with Mega Millions and Powerball following in January 2020.

New Hampshire became the sixth state to get in on the act, despite concerns from retailers that an online lottery would lead to reduced sales in local stores. The state’s iLottery platform was launched in September 2018, offering various instant win games and the opportunity to purchase Mega Millions and Powerball tickets online.

What about the Future?

It can take a number of years to introduce online lotteries, as states have to pass detailed legislation before they can even decide on which games to offer. Once this is done, they need to develop a secure and scalable ticketing system, something that the Kentucky Lottery found can take a long time. The Minnesota Lottery launched online products in the first quarter of 2014, but lawmakers later insisted they had not been given explicit approval and the games were pulled in May 2015.

There are still a few jurisdictions which do not offer a lottery at all. Players in Alabama, Utah, Hawaii, Nevada, and Alaska all currently have to travel to other states to buy tickets, while Mississippi is set to get a lottery for the first time within the next year after lawmakers approved a bill for one in August 2018. An online lottery platform may follow in the state, but further legislation will need to be passed before this can happen.

New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Hawaii all had online lottery bills proposed in 2017, but all of them were rejected. Hawaii has some of the strictest gambling laws in the country so it is unlikely that a lottery – online or otherwise – will be available to play there any time soon.

Massachusetts may soon offer an online lottery after neighboring New Hampshire launched its own. Officials hope that an online platform would “modernize” the lottery and defend against competition from the state’s expanding casino industry. Executives at the Connecticut State Lottery hold a similar position and have said that they want to “modernize distribution channels through the internet.”

New Jersey is the closest of all these states to having its own online lottery, after it became the first to legalize online lottery couriers in 2017. These are services which buy lottery tickets on behalf of their customers, who enter their orders via the courier’s website. The experience is very similar to buying tickets directly from an online provider. While further legislation is needed before an official online lottery can be introduced, New Jersey’s acceptance of third-party couriers means that this may not take long.

Online Lotteries at a Glance

Take a look at the map below to see which US states have passed online lottery bills, as well as those states in which bills have previously been introduced but not passed.

Us Lotteries Home

How Many Us States Have A Lottery