The Florida Lottery is the government-operated lottery of the U.S. state of Florida. , the lottery offers eleven terminal-generated games: Cash4Life, Mega Millions, Powerball, Florida Lotto, Pick 2, Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Fantasy 5, Cash Pop, and Jackpot Triple Play. A player must be 18 or older to play.
The initiative to establish a lottery in the state was led by Governor Bob Martinez and the Florida legislature, with the goal of providing revenue for public education in Florida. Sales of the lottery's first game, the $1 scratch-off Millionaire, began in 1988.
In 2012, Florida was the third-ranked state in yearly lottery revenue with $4.45 billion; revenue passed $5 billion in fiscal year 2013.
History
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. The minimum age to purchase a Florida Lottery ticket, regardless of game, is 18.
The first game offered by Florida Lottery was Millionaire, a $1 scratch-off game with a $1 million annuity prize. Total sales in the first 12 days totaled $95 million. Seventeen days of ticket sales allowed for the Lottery Commission to repay with interest the initial $15.5 million bond from Florida's General Revenue Fund that got it going.
In 1991, a daily four-number on-line game, Play 4, was introduced on July 4, with a top prize of $5,000.
December 1991 saw the advent of "Florida Lotto Month", where minimum jackpots and rollovers were guaranteed at $10 million for the Christmas season.
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.
On January 24, 1994, Fantasy 5 expanded to Mondays through Fridays.
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 FordMustang.
On October 14, 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.
On February 25, 1998, Mega Money began, 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.
Later in 1998, Florida Lotto began its cash option. The annuity, now optional, was lengthened to 30 annual payments. (Unlike with most other 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.)
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's matrix, on July 16, 2001, increased from 5/26 to 5/36. The top prize was changed to a rolldown format.
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.
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 Governor Jeb Bush declined an offer to join Powerball on February 2, 1999.
Governor Charlie Crist assumed office in 2007. On July 2, 2008, the Florida Lottery announced it would be joining Powerball, 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. The Powerball game changed to accommodate Florida, which then became the most populous MUSL member. Powerball sales began in Florida on January 4, 2009; the first drawing was held at Universal Orlando Resort three days later for the January 7 drawing. Florida became the home base of the Powerball drawing.