The Wyoming Lottery Corporation, branded as WyoLotto, is a lottery based in

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

that began its operations on July 1, 2013. The Wyoming Lottery Corporation is governed by a nine-member board of directors, with each member selected by the Wyoming Governor,

Matt Mead Matthew Hansen Mead (born March 11, 1962) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 32nd Governor of Wyoming from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the United States Attorney for the ...

. Jon Clontz, former Oregon State Lottery COO was selected to be the Wyoming Lottery's first CEO.

History

On March 13, 2013, Wyoming Governor

authorized the creation of a state lottery, and entered into agreements with other U.S. lotteries for multi-state games. The law specifically prohibits

scratchcards A scratchcard (also called a scratch off, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratchum, scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win, instant game, instant lottery, scratchie, lot scrots, or scritchies) is a card designed for competitions, often made of ...

, instant win games, and

video lottery terminal A video lottery terminal (VLT), also sometimes known as a video gaming terminal (VGT), video slots, or the video lottery, is a type of electronic gambling machine. They are typically operated by a region's lottery, and situated at licensed establis ...

s, joining the

North Dakota Lottery The North Dakota Lottery is run by the government of North Dakota. The Lottery began in 2004, following voter approval of an initiative constitutional amendment in 2002, Measure 2, which amended Article XI, Section 25 of the North Dakota Constituti ...

as the only U.S. jurisdictions to prohibit scratchcards. Initially, the lottery bill had a validity period until 2019. The re-authorization clause has since been removed. In February, 2019, The Wyoming Lottery Corporation was awarded the Public Gaming Research Institute (PGRI) SHARP Award for financial excellence. Operations began on August 24, 2014, with 400 retailers authorized to sell lottery tickets. The lottery law authorizes distribution of the first $6 million in annual revenue to cities and counties, and the remaining amount goes to schools. Given that 51 percent of national lottery revenue is derived from instant tickets, some people regard the decision to disallow scratchcards as severely restricting the potential revenue generated by the lottery. However, Matt Mead justified the law by claiming that this would reduce the amount of out-of-state spending by Wyoming residents. The

Colorado Lottery The Colorado Lottery is run by the state government of Colorado. It is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association(MUSL). The Colorado Lottery began on January 24, 1983, initially selling only scratch tickets. Its first drawing took place on ...

estimated that $1.26 million in annual revenue was generated by Wyoming residents purchasing tickets in Colorado. Conversely, the Wyoming Lottery is expected to attract revenue from

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, specifically the

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

metropolitan area, as much of Utah population centers are closer to Wyoming than either Colorado or

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. Wyoming's first two lottery games were Mega Millions and Powerball, both available on the first day of sales. Wyoming, unlike North Dakota, allows in-state games; Wyoming added Cowboy Draw in 2015. Cowboy Draw is a pick-five-from-45 game, with drawings twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Tickets are $5 with two lines per ticket, and jackpots start at $250,000. The Lottery joined

Lucky for Life Lucky for Life (LFL) is a lottery drawing game, which, as of June 28, 2021, is available in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Lucky for Life, which began in 2009 in Connecticut as ''Lucky-4-Life'', became a New England–wide game three ye ...

in 2016. Then the lottery joined

2by2 2by2 is a lottery game offered in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming. It is drawn nightly at the Iowa headquarters of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Kansas and Nebraska started the game in 2002; North Dakota joined in 2006, ...

in March 2021. Lottery bills had been rejected on numerous occasions in Wyoming since the 1980s. The legislation was modeled after the

Georgia Lottery The Georgia Lottery Corporation, known as the Georgia Lottery, is overseen by the government of Georgia, United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the lottery takes in over US$1 billion yearly. By law, half of the money goes to prizes, one- ...

such that the board of directors answers to the governor, but is not a direct agency; and after the North Dakota Lottery in its solicitation of multi-state lotteries, organization, and the state's low population.Wyoming gambles on lottery to increase revenues « basinrepublican-rustler.com
/ref> As with most U.S. lotteries, the minimum age to purchase a ticket is 18. The Wyoming Lottery created the Problem Gambling Council, which includes designated employees of the Wyoming Department of Health and other organizations. Wyoming became the 44th state (plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) to create a lottery.

Notes

External links

Official website
{{authority control

Lottery A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...

State lotteries of the United States Economy of Wyoming Government agencies established in 2013 2013 establishments in Wyoming