Florida Lottery

Florida Lottery

Formation	January 12, 1988
Type	Lottery System
Headquarters	Tallahassee, Florida
Key people	Governor Bob Martinez
Website	Official website

The Florida Lottery is a government-run lottery 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 their portfolio of games. The Lottery has experimented with higher price points, enhanced traditional games, and introduced seasonal promotional games.

The minimum age to purchase a Florida Lottery ticket, regardless of game, is 18.

On January 4, 2009, Florida's first Powerball tickets were sold, making it the 32nd lottery to join the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which includes the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.) Drawings are held live Wednesdays and Saturdays, usually from Universal Studios in Orlando.

Webcasts of the Lottery's on-line games are available on the Florida Lottery Web site. According to the Florida Lottery, $1.28 billion in proceeds went to Florida schools, about 5% of the education budget in 2008-2009.

History

The Beginning

The Florida Lottery began operation on January 12, 1988 by order of a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters by a 2-to-1 margin in the general election of November 4, 1986. The point of the Lottery is to give extra funding to Florida education, and it was mandated that a significant proportion of all revenue generated by ticket sales go to the Education Enhancement Trust Fund. The Bright Futures scholarship program is funded by the Florida Lottery.

Millionaire (first Florida Lottery game)

The first game offered by Florida Lottery was Millionaire, a $1 scratch-off game with a US$1 million annuity prize. Seventeen days of ticket sales allowed for the Lottery Commission to repay with interest the initial US$15.5 million bond from Florida's General Revenue Fund that got it going.

September 3, 1988

Sheelah Ryan of Winter Springs, won the largest single lottery jackpot in world history to that point, a jackpot of US$55.16 million. She was the 10th Florida Lotto winner. However, the Florida Lotto cash option (see below) was still 10 years away. She died before receiving all her winnings.

Fantasy 5

On April 28, 1989, the Florida Lottery expanded with Fantasy 5, a five-number on-line drawing game played every Tuesday and Friday initially. Its jackpots were typically in the tens of thousands of dollars, but had reached over $1 million through rollovers.

The first $100 million Florida jackpot

The first US$100 million Florida Lotto jackpot was for the drawing on September 14, 1990. Six tickets split a US$106.5 million jackpot. (There was no cash option for jackpot winners at the time.) That day, the Florida Lottery set a record with US$30 million in revenue from that game alone.

Play 4

In 1991, a daily four-number on-line game, Play 4, was introduced on July 4, with a top prize of $5,000.

Florida Lotto Month

December 1991 sees the advent of "Florida Lotto Month", where minimum jackpots and rollovers were guaranteed at US$10 million for the Christmas season.

Bingo

On September 27, 1993, the first $2 Scratch-Off game, Bingo, was introduced. Through variants, it is the longest-running Scratch-Off game by the Florida Lottery.

Fantasy 5 expands

On January 24, 1994, Fantasy 5 expanded to Mondays through Fridays.

Winning by mail

On May 22, 1994, the first Florida Lotto mail-in promotion began where losing tickets could be mailed in for a prize. Called the Great LOTTOMOBILE Giveaway, 50 tickets each won their holders a 30th Anniversary 1995 Ford Mustang.

Flamingo Fortune

In October 1995, the Florida Lottery launched Flamingo Fortune, a game show where people who sent in losing Scratch-Off tickets were selected to play for prizes.

Win for Life begins

On February 28, 1996, Barbara Arens of Clearwater, was announced as the first top prize winner of the Win for Life $2 Scratch-Off. She is guaranteed a payout of US$1,000 per week for the remainder of her life, paid out in annual installments of US$52,000, with a guaranteed total payout of US$1 million should she die before she reaches that amount. (There was no cash option available.)

500th Florida Lotto Drawing

The 500th Florida Lotto drawing occurred on November 29, 1996, with a jackpot of US$26 million. It rolled over twice before being won by PAPI-AMOR Partnership of Lake Worth.

10th Anniversary

The Lottery celebrated its 10-year anniversary on January 12, 1998. To that point it had grossed US$21 billion in sales and given US$8 billion to Florida education.

Mega Money

On February 25, 199x, Mega Money begins, a four-plus-one numbers drawing game played every Tuesday and Friday with jackpots in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Initially rolled out on an 18-week trial run, it was relaunched on a permanent basis on June 1, 1998.

Florida Lottery begins Cash Option

Later in 1998, Florida Lotto began its cash option. The annuity, now optional, was lengthened to 30 annual payments. (Unlike most U.S. lotteries, a winner desiring the cash option must claim within 60 days of the drawing, instead of the more usual 60-day period after claiming.)

Gov. Jeb Bush declines offer to join Powerball

On February 2, 1999, Florida Governor Jeb Bush declined an offer to join Powerball. Florida does not sell Powerball tickets until 2009.

Florida Lotto's major changes

On October 24, 1999, Florida Lotto underwent major changes. The matrix increased from 6/49 to 6/53, with Wednesday drawings added. Because of the second weekly drawing, its initial jackpot was reduced to $3 million with lower initial rollovers.

Fantasy 5 gets a new look

Fantasy 5's matrix, on July 16, 1991, increased from 5/26 and 5/36. The top prize was changed to a rolldown format.

Largest Florida Lottery unclaimed ticket

On September 8, 2003, the largest unclaimed ticket in the Lottery's 15-year history expired after the 180-day deadline with no one claiming the ticket. The Florida Lotto ticket was worth an estimated $53.7 million ($30.1 million cash). Note that while Florida Lotto (and Mega Money beginning in 2004) jackpot winners have 180 days to claim their prizes, if they want to be paid in lump sum, they must claim within 60 days of the drawing, unlike most US lotteries, which start the clock when the ticket is claimed.

Mega Money's changes

On January 28, 2004, Mega Money was revamped. It was changed from a 4/32 + 1/32 matrix to a 4/44 + 1/22 matrix. Also, the jackpot was changed from all-cash to 20 annual payments with cash option.

Grouper (2005)

In 2005, a new online ticket package called Grouper was made available with the rollout of new ticket sales terminals, manufactured by Rhode Island-based GTech. For $5, a player could get quick-picks of each of the five online games (Cash 3, Play 4, Fantasy 5, Mega Money and Florida Lotto), each for the next available drawing, then a free ticket for a major game (Fantasy 5, Mega Money or Florida Lotto) chosen at random.

EZmatch added to Fantasy 5

On March 20, 2006 a new play option called EZmatch was added to Fantasy 5. For an extra $1, players can win up to $500 instantly, by matching their Fantasy 5 numbers to the random EZmatch numbers.

Florida Lottery announces to join Powerball

On July 2, 2008, the Florida Lottery announced it would be joining Powerball, about a decade after it was originally supposed to be available in Florida. The Powerball game changed to accommodate Florida, which then became the most populous MUSL member. Powerball sales began in Florida on January 4, 2009, for the January 7 drawing, which was the first to be held at Universal Orlando Resort. Florida became the home base of the Powerball drawing.

Florida's first Powerball Top Prize

On October 3, 2009, the Florida Lottery has its first Powerball jackpot winner. The winning ticket was worth $189 million (annuity; the cash option was chosen) and is the largest prize given away by the Florida Lottery to date.

Lotto Xtra added

On October 11, 2009, the Florida Lottery introduced Lotto Xtra as an add-on for Florida Lotto. Players may elect to add $1 to the cost of their Florida Lotto ticket and multiply non-jackpot prizes by up to 5x.

Mega Millions/Powerball expansion

On October 13, 2009 the Mega Millions consortium and MUSL reached an agreement in principle to cross-sell Mega Millions and Powerball in U.S. lottery jurisdictions. Most lotteries with either game began to sell tickets for both on January 31, 2010. At this time, the Florida Lottery has no plans to join Mega Millions.

Bright Futures controversy

The Bright Futures Scholarship Program was created in 1997 with revenues generated from the Florida Lottery, and was meant to emulate the Hope Scholarship. Originally the Program dispersed more than 42,000 scholarships totaling about $70 million. Later, the costs for the scholarship ballooned substantially. The Scholarship currently costs the Lottery’s coffers more than $436.1 million, with about 170,000 students taking advantage of the program.

Instant games

Florida Lottery instant games range in price from $1 to $30, with higher priced tickets typically putting out a higher percentage of sales back into prizes. Payouts range from 58% to almost 77% of sales. Some Florida Lottery agents provide instant ticket vending machines.

Online games

Cash 3

Cash 3 is drawn every day during a live broadcast at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time for the midday drawing, and 7:57 p.m. ET for the evening drawing. Three ball machines, each with balls numbered ranging from 0 through 9, are used. One ball is drawn from each machine. Anyone who matches the three numbers (in any order, or only in order, depending on how the numbers were played; Cash 3 and Play 4 offer several different options when playing) they are drawn wins up to $500 on a $1 ticket.

Play 4

Play 4 is drawn every day during a live broadcast immediately following the Cash 3 drawings. It is played the same way as Cash 3, except four ball machines are used. Anyone who matches the four numbers (in any order, or only in order, depending on how exactly the numbers are played; Cash 3 and Play 4 offer several different options when playing) in exact order wins $5,000 on a $1 wager. More recently, more ways to play involving multiple-number tickets were introduced. See the lottery website for further details.

Fantasy 5

Fantasy 5 is drawn every day during a live broadcast at 11:15 p.m. ET. A single ball machine is used with balls numbered from 1 through 36. (Before July 16, 2001, the matrix was 1 through 26, and before 1993, it was 1 through 39). Five balls are drawn from the machine. Anyone who matches all five numbers in any order wins or shares a top prize pool of around $200,000. If no one matches all five, the pool rolls down to the 4-out-of-5 winners. On September 15, 2008, the rolldown feature in Fantasy 5 was modified. See the Rollover and Rolldown section below for more details.

Mega Money

Mega Money is drawn each Tuesday and Friday during a live broadcast at 11:15 p.m. ET. Two ball machines are used, one with white balls numbered from 1 through 44 and a second with pink balls numbered from 1 through 22. (Before January 28, 2004, each machine contained 32 balls.) Four balls are drawn from the "white" machine, and one number (called the "Mega Ball") is drawn from the "pink" machine. Anyone who matches all four white numbers in any order plus the Mega Ball wins or shares the jackpot. The jackpot begins at $500,000 (annuity). If not won, the jackpot increases until it reaches $2 million, where it is capped. Any excess funds roll down to the lower prize levels. Unlike the original version of Mega Money, which was all-cash, jackpot winners desiring the lump sum must claim their prize within 60 days of the drawing.

Florida Lotto

Main article: Florida Lotto

Florida Lotto is drawn each Wednesday and Saturday during a live broadcast at 11:15 p.m. ET. A single ball machine is used with numbered balls ranging from 1 through 53 (before October 24, 1999, there were 49 balls). Anyone who matches all six numbers in any order wins or shares the jackpot.

In October 2009, the Lotto Xtra option was introduced, replacing Lotto Plus. Players can pay an additional $1 for each game, multiplying non-jackpot winnings by 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x. Additionally, Lotto Xtra tickets win a free play for matching 2 of 6 numbers.

Powerball (multi-lottery game)

Powerball became available in Florida on January 4, 2009; the first drawing including Florida was on January 7, 2009. Powerball's jackpots currently start at $20 million; it is drawn Wednesday and Saturday nights. As part of Florida joining Powerball; the regular drawing venue was moved from Iowa to Universal Orlando Resort.

Other Florida Lottery Information

Though the Florida Lottery’s expenses and payouts vary from year to year, approximately 50 to 60 percent of its net revenue makes up the games’ prize pools, 30 to 40 percent is transferred to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund, 6 percent is paid to retailers in the form of commissions, 2 percent is paid to the Lottery’s on-line and Scratch-Off ticket vendors, and the remaining 2 percent covers operational costs, including advertising.

All Cash 3, Play 4, and Fantasy 5 winners receive their winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment. Any winnings of less than $600 may be redeemed at an authorized Florida Lottery retailer; higher winnings must be redeemed at a Lottery district office or at Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee. All Mega Money and Florida Lotto jackpots of at least $250,000, and $1 million in Powerball, must be redeemed at Florida Lottery headquarters. Mega Money jackpot winners may choose between an annuity of 20 payments that equals the advertised jackpot, or a lump-sum payment, which is about 2/3 of the advertised jackpot, less federal income tax withholding. Florida Lotto jackpot winners may choose between an annuity of 30 payments, or a lump-sum payment, which is about 1/2 of the advertised jackpot less federal income taxes. For both Mega Money and Florida Lotto, the cash option, if desired, must be exercised within 60 days of the applicable drawing. Florida does not collect income tax; however, like all U.S. lottery prizes, they are taxable by the federal government.

Winners of Florida Lottery on-line games (Florida Lotto, Mega Money, Fantasy 5, Play 4, and Cash 3) must claim their prize within 180 days of the applicable drawing. Eighty percent of unclaimed jackpot money is transferred to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund, while 20 percent of the jackpot is transferred to a prize pool for funding future prizes.

Rollover, Rolldown, and "Quick Pick"

Rollover: A rollover occurs when a jackpot is not won; it is carried over to that game's next drawing. Mega Money and Florida Lotto both use rollovers to increase their jackpots when no one wins a drawing. Mega Money has a $2 million jackpot cap, after which any money in excess must roll down. Florida Lotto does not have a jackpot cap and can roll over as long as no one matches all six numbers.

Rolldown: A rolldown occurs when a top prize pool is not won, and that money is redistributed to be shared with those that win a smaller prize. In Mega Money, when a $2 million jackpot is not won, any funds in excess of $2 million are rolled down and added to the pools for all other winners, except players who only matched the "mega ball" (they still get a free ticket). In Fantasy 5, whenever no player matches all five numbers, the top prize pool is added to the second prize pool (correctly matching four numbers.) On September 15, 2008, the Fantasy 5 rolldown was modified; the top prize pool now is added to second prize. However, matching four numbers is capped at $555 per occurrence; in such cases, the third prize (three numbers matched) pool receives the remainder of rolldown funds.

Quick-Pick: Players can fill out a bubble sheet with the numbers for the game they want to play. Another option is called Quick-Pick, which allows the lottery terminal to select numbers for the chosen game. In either case, players can opt for 52 consecutive draws (Advance Play) for Florida Lotto, 30 consecutive draws for Mega Money or Fantasy 5, and 14 consecutive draws for Play 4 or Cash 3. When the Florida Lottery's number games were established, however, quick-picks were not available, nor were Advance Play tickets—all purchasers had to select their own numbers for the next drawing only.

See also

• Florida Lotto
• Bright Futures Scholarship Program
• Multi-State Lottery Association
• Powerball
• Lotteries in the United States

External links

• Florida Lottery official site