The West Virginia Lottery is run by the government of West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

. It is a charter member of the Multi-State Lottery Association

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 ...

 (MUSL). It offers games such as 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...

, 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...

, and scratch tickets. West Virginia also offers video lottery.

Jack Whittaker

Jack Whittaker (lottery winner)

Andrew Jackson “Jack” Whittaker, Jr. is a West Virginia businessman who became famous when he won US$314.9 million in the Powerball multi-state lottery. At the time it was the largest jackpot ever won by a single winning ticket in the history of American lottery...

, arguably the most notable US lottery winner, won his then-record Powerball jackpot on a ticket bought in West Virginia for the December 25

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, 2002 drawing.

The minimum age to play the West Virginia Lottery is 18, except in certain video lottery venues, where it is 21.

Daily 3

Daily 3 is drawn Mondays through Saturdays. It draws 3 sets of balls numbered 0 through 9. Prices, prizes, and options vary.

Cash 25

Cash 25 is drawn Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It draws 6 numbers from 1 through 25. The top prize is $25,000; games cost $1.

Hot Lotto (multi-lottery game)

Hot Lotto is played in 15 lotteries including West Virginia's; it is drawn Wednesdays and Saturdays. Hot Lotto, the only West Virginia drawing game where its numbers are drawn by a random number generator, draws 5 white numbers from 1 through 39, and 1 "Hot Ball" from 1 through 19. The jackpot starts at $1 million, increasing by at least $50,000 if there is no top prize winner. Hot Lotto also has an option, called Sizzler (similar to Powerball's PowerPlay); it triples non-jackpot prizes.

Powerball (multi-lottery game)

Since 1988, West Virginia has been a member of MUSL. Powerball's jackpots begin at $20 million; it is drawn Wednesday and Saturday nights.

Mega Millions (multi-lottery game)

On October 13, 2009 the Mega Millions consortium and MUSL reached an agreement to cross-sell Mega Millions and Powerball in US lottery jurisdictions. West Virginia joined Mega Millions on January 31, 2010; the first Mega Millions drawing involving West Virginia was two days later.

MegaHits

West Virginia, along with Delaware

Delaware Lottery

The Delaware Lottery is run by the government of Delaware. Unlike most US lotteries, Delaware offers video lottery; its other games include Mega Millions, Powerball, Cash 5, Play 3, and Play 4....

 and Rhode Island

Rhode Island Lottery

The Rhode Island Lottery is run by the government of Rhode Island. It is a charter member of the Multi-State Lottery Association . Rhode Island Lottery games include Mega Millions, Powerball, Wild Money, keno, and numerous scratch tickets...

, offered the video lottery

Video Lottery Terminal

A Video Lottery Terminal or VLT is a gaming machine that allows gamblers to bet on the outcome of a video game.A VLT is similar to a slot machine, in that each terminal is a stand-alone device containing a random-number generator...

 game Ca$hola

Cashola

Ca$hola, a video lottery game, is a former Multi-State Lottery Association game. Ca$hola was, to date, the only US multi-jurisdictional video lottery game. It began in July 2006; Ca$hola ended upon its final jackpot win on May 15, 2011...

 from 2006 to May 2011. Ca$hola produced 37 progressive 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...

 winners. That game was replaced with MegaHits

MegaHits

MegaHits is a video lottery terminal multiple-progressive jackpot game that began on July 15, 2011. MegaHits replaced Cashola, which was offered from July 2006 to May 15, 2011. Cashola was offered at lottery-run casinos in Delaware, Rhode Island, and West Virginia; the same three lotteries take...

, which is offered in the same lottery-run casinos as Ca$hola, including West Virginia's four venues. MegaHits will feature a top progressive of $100,000; unlike Ca$hola, there will be five progressives (except for the top jackpot, MegaHits' progressives will be funded within each of the three jurisdictions.)

External links

• West Virginia Lottery official website