Tri-State Lottery is the terminal-generated game series offered by the

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, and/or

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

lotteries. It was the first multi-jurisdictional lottery. Its first multi-state game (''Tri-State Megabucks'') came in September 1985. The compact (as of September 2017) includes five games: ''Megabucks Plus'' (drawn Wednesdays and Saturdays); ''Pick 3'' and ''Pick 4'' (both have "day" and "night" drawings daily, including Sundays), ''Gimme 5'' (drawn Monday to Friday), and ''Fast Play'' (terminal-generated "instant" tickets); the latter are games that differ among the three states.

Games

The Tri-State compact is not part of the

Multi-State Lottery Association The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) is an American non-profit, government-benefit association owned and operated by agreement of its 34 member lottery, lotteries. MUSL was created to facilitate the operation of multi-jurisdictional lottery ...

(MUSL). Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont offer individual instant (scratch) games (scratch games currently are not offered through MUSL, although it created the former scratch game

Midwest Millions Midwest Millions is a scratchcard game that debuted on September 7, 2007, in Iowa and Kansas, administered by the Multi-State Lottery Association. It originally became available in Kansas at the State Fair in Hutchinson and then throughout Kansas o ...

History

Prior to the Tri-State compact, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont individually operated online games, including pick-3 and pick-4 games. Maine currently offers a poker-style game that is drawn every few minutes. Maine (a MUSL member from 1990 to 1992) returned to MUSL in 2004. All three lotteries offer

Powerball Powerball is an American lottery game offered by 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). From its inaugural drawing on April 19, 1992, unti ...

. The three states also participate in the 46-jurisdiction

Mega Millions Mega Millions (originally known as ''The Big Game'' in 1996 and renamed, temporarily, to ''The Big Game Mega Millions'' six years later) is an American multi-jurisdictional lottery game; as of January 30, 2020, it is offered in 45 states, the Di ...

. Vermont joined on January 31, 2010, Maine joined on May 9, 2010. Maine and New Hampshire also offer MUSL's Hot (similar to ''Mega Millions'' or ''Lucky for Life''), which is offered by 14 lotteries. Vermont ended sales of Hot Lotto in May 2014 (Hot Lotto ended on October 28, 2017, while a new version of '' Lotto*America'' debuted on November 12, 2017. New Hampshire joined Lotto America in January 2018). Tri-State games are not directly part of MUSL. The Iowa-based organization assists with multi-jurisdictional games. ''Powerball'' is operated by MUSL, while ''Mega Millions'' is not. ''Mega Millions''′ draws are held in Georgia, ''Lucky for Life'' draws are held in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, where the game began in 2009 as ''Lucky4Life'', and ''Powerball'' draws are in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

; the first two games use traditional drawing machines and numbered balls, while Lucky for Life uses an RNG, since mid-2021. ''Lucky for Life'' became a "quasi-national" game in January 2015; as of September 2017 it was available in 24 states and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. In 2010 ''Mega Millions''′s moved to a higher starting jackpot, and a potential second prize of $5,000,000 if its ''Megaplier'' is activated. ''Mega Millions'' basic plays remain at $2. The ''Gimme 5'', began on May 12, 2013. ''Gimme 5'' draws 5 of 39 numbers; the top prize is $100,000 split among plays matching all five numbers. ''Megabucks'', whose original version began in 1985, became ''Megabucks Plus'' in July 2009, doubling the cost of a ticket to $2. In the late 2010s, Megabucks Plus switched back to the name Megabucks. Megabucks is a double-matrix game like ''Mega Millions'' and ''Lucky for Life''; players select five numbers out of a field of 1 to 41, and a "Megaball" from a field of 1 to 6. Tri-State drawings are held in New Hampshire. These drawings use "classic" numbered balls and drawing machines, except for raffles.http://nhlottery.org/Pages/AboutUs/meetings/nhlc/20081209minutes.pdf New Hampshire and Vermont allow subscription play for ''Megabucks'' and ''Mega Millions''; in the case of New Hampshire, it does not have a residency requirement for subscription play.

Notes

{{U.S. lotteries New England Economy of the Northeastern United States Lottery games in the United States