Georgia Lottery
Encyclopedia
The Georgia Lottery is overseen by the government of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Headquartered in Atlanta and run by the Georgia Lottery Corporation, the lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...

 takes in over US$1 billion
1000000000 (number)
1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....

 yearly. By law, half of the money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...

 goes to prize
Prize
A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...

s, one-third to education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, and the remainder to operating and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 the lottery. The education money funds the HOPE Scholarship
HOPE Scholarship
The HOPE Scholarship Program created in 1993 under the supervision of Georgia Governor Zell Miller, is a merit-based higher education scholarship that is funded entirely by revenue from the Georgia Lottery and is administered by the Georgia Student Finance Commission...

, and has become a successful model for other lotteries, including the South Carolina Education Lottery
South Carolina Education Lottery
The South Carolina Education Lottery began in 2002.South Carolina is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association , best known for Powerball...

.

History

Long unconstitutional in a highly conservative U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

, a government-run lottery was explicitly allowed in a 1992 constitutional amendment
Constitutional amendment
A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of the written constitution of a nation or state.Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation...

 to Article I, Section II, Paragraph VIII of the Georgia State Constitution
Georgia (U.S. state) Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Georgia is the governing document of the U.S. state of Georgia. The constitution outlines the three branches of government in Georgia. The legislative branch is embodied in the bicameral General Assembly. The executive branch is headed by the Governor. The judicial...

, approved in a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

. The GLC was created by a separate bill in 1992 by the Georgia General Assembly
Georgia General Assembly
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, being composed of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate....

, and then-governor of Georgia, Zell Miller
Zell Miller
Zell Bryan Miller is an American politician from the US state of Georgia. A Democrat, Miller served as Lieutenant Governor from 1975 to 1991, 79th Governor of Georgia from 1991 to 1999, and as United States Senator from 2000 to 2005....

, in the Lottery for Education Act (OCGA
OCGA
OCGA may refer to:*Official Code of Georgia Annotated*Ontario Charitable Gaming Association...

 50-27). Rebecca Paul
Rebecca Paul
Rebecca Paul Hargrove , professionally known as Rebecca Paul, is currently the President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery. Prior to assuming her current position in 2003, Paul gained national fame within the lottery community for operating lotteries in Illinois, Florida, and Georgia...

, who began the Florida Lottery
Florida Lottery
The Florida Lottery is a government-run organization in Florida, USA. With numerous on-line and scratch-off games available, players have a wide variety of prize levels to choose from. Since it began, the Florida Lottery has continued to add variety to its portfolio of games...

, then ran the Georgia Lottery for its first decade
Decade
A decade is a period of 10 years. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek dekas which means ten. This etymology is sometime confused with the Latin decas and dies , which is not correct....

, before leaving to launch Tennessee Lottery
Tennessee Lottery
The Tennessee Lottery is run by the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation , which was created on June 11, 2003 by the Tennessee General Assembly through the Tennessee Education Lottery Implementation Law....

 in 2004.

The original in-house weekly jackpot game, Lotto Georgia, merged with two similar games in 2001 to become Lotto South
Lotto South
Lotto South was a lottery game in Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia. It resulted from the September 2001 merger of three smaller jackpot games, one from each of the three lotteries...

, in an attempt create larger jackpot
Progressive jackpot
A progressive jackpot is a jackpot for a gaming machine where the value of the jackpot increases a small amount for every game played...

s. In February 2006, Lotto South ended.

In the mid-1990s, Georgia, then offering Powerball
Powerball
Powerball is an American lottery game sold in 44 jurisdictions as a shared jackpot game. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association , a non-profit organization formed by an agreement with lotteries. Powerball is a game whose advertised jackpot starts at $20 million and can roll into...

 for the first time, joined The Big Game (now Mega Millions
Mega Millions
Mega Millions is a US multi-jurisdictional $1 lottery game. Since it replaced The Big Game in May 2002 , Mega Millions' advertised jackpots have started at $12 million, paid in 26 yearly installments , increasing when there is no jackpot winner...

) when it began in 1996. Several days after Georgia began selling The Big Game tickets, it was forced to leave the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which continues to administer Powerball. (In October 2009, an agreement was reached between Mega Millions and the Powerball group
Multi-State Lottery Association
The Multi-State Lottery Association is a non-profit, government-benefit association owned and operated by agreement of its 33 member lotteries MUSL was created to facilitate the operation of multi-jurisdictional lottery games, including Powerball, Mega Millions), video lottery, and instant ...

 allowing Mega Millions and Powerball tickets to be available, simultaneously, by each US lottery. Most lotteries, including Georgia's, offered both games beginning January 31, 2010.

Instant games

Instant games are scratch tickets also called "scratch-offs". A player scratches a thin film from the ticket to see if the ticket is a winner. The prizes are smaller than other lottery games, but there are better odds. There are dozens of instant games on sale at any time, and the selection of games changes frequently. They range in price from $1 to $20.

Cash 3

Cash 3 is played twice daily. Three machines, each containing balls numbered 0 through 9, are used; one ball is drawn from each machine. Play styles vary: for example, a $1 "straight" bet (a player guesses a three-digit number will be drawn in exact order) pays $500 for a winning ticket. Cash 3 began August 10, 1993.

Cash 4

Cash 4 also is drawn twice daily; it is played similarly to Cash 3, except four ball machines are used. A $1 "straight" wager (see above) wins $5,000 for a winning ticket. Cash 4 began April 6, 1997.

Georgia Five

Georgia Five is a 5-digit numbers game somewhat similar to the Pennsylvania Lottery
Pennsylvania Lottery
The Pennsylvania Lottery is operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lottery was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on August 26, 1971; two months later, Henry Kaplan was appointed as its first executive director...

's Quinto. Georgia 5 is drawn twice daily; it has a top prize of $10,000. It was introduced on August 1, 2010. Georgia Five is different from most pick-3 and pick-4 games; players do not choose straight, box, or similar wagers. The top prize is won by matching all five numbers in exact order; a player wins by matching at least the first or last digit (the ways to win are shown here).

Fantasy 5 (with eZmatch option)

Fantasy 5 is a once daily game that draws 5 of the 39 numbers. Games are $1 per play. Jackpots begin at $50,000 and increase if there is no top prize winner. Fantasy 5 also has an eZmatch option for an additional $1 per game. Matching the ticket's Fantasy 5 numbers to any of the eZmatch numbers within the ticket wins a cash prize. The eZmatch option can be won up to five times on each ticket. Fantasy 5 has been played since November 14, 1994.

Keno

Keno is played every four minutes at many lottery retailers. Twenty numbers from 1 through 80 are selected and displayed on a monitor. Players choose 1 to 10 numbers. Keno has a multiplier option, for an extra $1 per play, that multiplies prizes by 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x or 10x.

Decades of Dollars

Georgia, Arkansas
Arkansas Lottery
-History:On November 4, 2008, Arkansas voters approved a ballot question legalizing the sale of lottery tickets there. On July 1, 2009, Arkansas voted to join the Multi-State Lottery Association ; it was the 33rd lottery to join....

, Kentucky
Kentucky Lottery
The Kentucky Lottery, consisting of various games of chance, is a government-regulated form of gambling. The Lottery began in April 1989 after a November 1988 vote in which over 60% of voters cast ballots in favor of it. On April 4, 1989, ticket sales began with first day sales of over $5 million...

, and Virginia offer Decades of Dollars. Sales for the game began on January 30, 2011, with the game's first drawing held on February 3. (Arkansas joined on May 3.) Decades of Dollars is drawn Monday and Thursday nights. Decades of Dollars replaced Win for Life in Georgia and Kentucky. Unlike WfL, where winners automatically received quarterly annuity payments, Decades of Dollars winners can choose lump sum ($4,000,000) instead of the annuity, which is $250,000 yearly in 30 installments. The top prize has a $10,000,000 cash liability. Decades of Dollars games cost $2.

In the first Decades of Dollars drawing, there were no games winning the top prize, although there were 11 winners of $10,000 each, including 2 sold in Georgia.

Other southeastern US lotteries may eventually join Decades of Dollars.

Mega Millions (43 members)

In the mid-1990s, Georgia helped launch The Big Game (now Mega Millions
Mega Millions
Mega Millions is a US multi-jurisdictional $1 lottery game. Since it replaced The Big Game in May 2002 , Mega Millions' advertised jackpots have started at $12 million, paid in 26 yearly installments , increasing when there is no jackpot winner...

) when it began in 1996. (Its drawings usually are held in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

.) Mega Millions players choose six numbers for $1; five "white ball" numbers, 1 through 56, and a sixth (Mega Ball) number, 1 through 46. (The Mega Ball number can be a duplicate of a "white ball" number.) The minimum jackpot is $12 million. Mega Millions replaced The Big Game in 2002. The Megaplier option, initially available only in Texas
Texas Lottery
The Texas Lottery is the government-operated lottery available throughout Texas. It is operated by the Texas Lottery Commission, headquartered in downtown Austin.-History:...

, was made available to Georgia's players on November 7, 2010.

Powerball (44 members)

In October 2009, an agreement was reached allowing Mega Millions and Powerball
Powerball
Powerball is an American lottery game sold in 44 jurisdictions as a shared jackpot game. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association , a non-profit organization formed by an agreement with lotteries. Powerball is a game whose advertised jackpot starts at $20 million and can roll into...

 tickets to be sold through US lotteries then with either game. Georgia, which joined Powerball in 1995, and sold The Big Game and Powerball tickets for a few days in 1996 before being forced out of Powerball, rejoined Powerball
Powerball
Powerball is an American lottery game sold in 44 jurisdictions as a shared jackpot game. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association , a non-profit organization formed by an agreement with lotteries. Powerball is a game whose advertised jackpot starts at $20 million and can roll into...

on January 31, 2010.

Powerball, which began in 1992, has always been a $1 game (the Power Play option, begun in 2001, costs $2 per play.) In January 2012, the price of a Powerball basic play will be $2 each, or $3 with Power Play.
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