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.

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 it's revinues to public education, supplimenting 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.

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 commerate the event.

Games & game info

SuperLotto Plus

SuperLotto Plus allows you to pick 5 numbers, 1 through 47 and a final number, called a MEGA number, 1 through 27. The game costs $1 to play. You may pick up to 6 numbers per playslip. Drawn every Wednesday and Saturday at 7:57pm.

SuperLotto Plus began as "Lotto" in the mid-to-late 80s. One decade later, it went through the transformation to "SuperLotto," and was changed to its current format in the early 2000s.

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.

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 which are televised at 6:59pm.

Scratchers

Scratchers are 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.

Daily Derby

Daily Derby is a mock horse racing betting system. 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.

Hot Spot

Hot Spot works by choosing how many plays you want per ticket from 2,3,5, or 8. You then pick a number one through eighty 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 an unlimited number of consecutive draws to win. Draws are every 5 minutes. Many lottery retailers have monitors that display Hot Spot drawings and recent results from other lottery games.

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.

Payment Options

You may choose a cash payout for 40%-50% of the jackpot, or for prizes above US$600 a 26-annual annunity.

External Links

California State Lottery Offical Site