Washington's Lottery is the

lottery system Lottery wheeling (also known as lottery system, lottery wheel, lottery wheeling system) is an entertaining strategy of playing the lotteries, widely used by individual players and syndicates to secure wins provided they hit some of the drawn number ...

for the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, run by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

. Its games include

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 ...

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 ...

Keno Keno is a lottery-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and also offered as a game in some lotteries. Players wager by choosing numbers ranging from 1 through (usually) 80. After all players make their wagers, 20 numbers (some va ...

Lotto Lotto may refer to: * Lotto, original, 15th century name of the Italian lottery * Lotto (Milan Metro), a railway station in Milan, Italy * Lotto carpet, a carpet having a lacy arabesque pattern * Lotto Sport Italia, an Italian sports apparel manu ...

, Hit 5, Match 4, Pick 3, and scratch games. The lottery was established in 1982, the

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

(H.B. 1251) creating the lottery was passed by the

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

(

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

on June 30, 1982

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on July 1, 1982) and signed by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

John Spellman John Dennis Spellman (December 29, 1926 – January 16, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 18th governor of Washington from 1981 to 1985 and as the first King County Executive from 1969 to 1981. Spellman was elected governor in ...

on July 16, 1982. Washington became the sixteenth state with a lottery and only the second in the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

, joining

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. It was launched four months later with a one-dollar scratch ticket game titled "Pot O'Gold Instant Lottery," which began on November 15, 1982. What is now Pick 3 began in January 1984, and Lotto six months later in July, with a weekly drawing on Saturday, a second drawing on Wednesday was added on November 18, 1987, and a third on Monday on February 14, 2005.

Games

Washington's Lottery offers several draw games, plus scratch ticket games. The list of draw games: Laws prohibit any game from being drawn more than once daily. † These prizes are multiplied by 2, 3, 4, or 5 if the ''Megaplier'' option was activated (this option, initially used only in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, was introduced to Washington's Lottery in January 2011). ♠ In January 2012, the ''Power Play'' multiplier was retired; non-jackpot prizes have fixed values regardless of whether the option was activated. In the case of second prize, a ''Power Play'' wager wins $2,000,000 cash. A list of scratch ticket games can be found
here

Retired games

This is a partial list games that have been retired and when they were active. Quinto, for a brief period, had an add-on game called ''Beat the State''.

Special games

For its 25th anniversary in 2007, the Lottery held its first raffle, 375,000 tickets were sold, with three prizes of $1 million, four of $100,000, and 350 of $1,000. In the first drawing, all tickets were sold. In spring 2008, a second raffle was held, however, over 100,000 tickets were unsold. The cost of a ticket in both raffles was $20.

Additional information

Many U.S. lotteries draw some games, such as pick-3, at least twice daily. However, local law prohibits Washington's Lottery from drawing any of its games more than once daily. This explains why its Keno is not drawn every few minutes, unlike a growing number of lotteries. Washington was the tenth state lottery to join

and sales began on September 6, 2002. In April 2009, both houses of the

passed a bill to allow Washington's Lottery to sell

tickets, to take effect 90 days after the governor's signature, and sales began on February 3, 2010. Minimum age to purchase lottery tickets in

is 18.

References

External links