texas lottery

The voters of Texas approved an amendment to the Texas Constitution in November 1991 authorizing lottery sales in Texas.[2]

The Texas Lottery Commission created an unusual contest for the Lottery logo – designs from a contracted ad agency were pitted against designs from the general public. One logo from each source was placed in head to head competition, and the winning logo – a cowboy hat thrown high in celebration (still in current use) – was the public design (the winner was Susan Holten, from Carrollton).[3]

The Lottery's first game was the scratch-off ticket Lone Star Millions, with the first ticket sold to Gov. Ann Richards at Polk's Feed Store in Oak Hill. First-day sales of 23.2 million tickets set a then-world record, with first-week sales (ending June 5, 1992) also setting a world record.[4]

Lotto Texas began sales on November 7, 1992, with the first drawing on November 14, 1992 and the first jackpot (from Schulenburg) won on November 28, 1992.[5] By November 1993, Texas Lottery sales would exceed $1 billion, breaking the Florida Lottery's record set in 1989.[6]

The Texas Lottery Commission was formed via legislation in 1993 to take over management of the Lottery from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts; the legislation also gives the Commission oversight of charitable bingo games (moving that duty from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission).[7]

Texas joined the Mega Millions consortium in 2003, with sales beginning December 3 and the first drawing to include Texas was two days later. Though no Texas ticket won the jackpot, one ticket matched the first five numbers for $175,000.[8] The first Texas jackpot winner of Mega Millions was not until the drawing of October 4, 2004; a Carrollton player took home the $101 million prize.

As part of the cross-selling arrangement between the operators of Mega Millions and Powerball, the Texas Lottery Commission agreed to begin selling Powerball tickets on January 31, 2010; the first drawing including Texas was three days later.

In 1997 a major scandal rocked the Texas Lottery. Accusations of fixed contracts with the company that manages the lottery surfaced. The scandal went away when the director simply appointed the previously accused management company as the winning bid after a different company had already been chosen. [9]

[edit] General rulesAll lottery players must be at least age 18.

Winning tickets must be claimed within 180 days or be forfeited. For scratch-off tickets, the time limit begins when a game is officially closed by the Commission; for drawings the time limit begins the date of the drawing.

According to the Texas Lottery Commission, the allocation of lottery sales is as follows:[10]

62 percent is paid out in prizes
27 percent is paid to the Foundation School Fund, which is used to support state public education
5 percent is paid to retailer commissions
5 percent is retained to cover lottery administration costs
Approximately 1 percent (specifically, the value of unclaimed prizes) is transferred to the Texas Legislature for allocation to other state programs