Louisiana Lottery

In 1991, the Louisiana Lottery Corporation was created after ACT 1045 was approved by the state Legislature in 1990 as the sole way to generate revenues in the state without increasing taxes. The Legislature recognized that the structure of a corporation would suit the Lottery best due to its operations. Voters also agreed with the formation of the LLC and approved it with 69% of the voters.

In 2003, an amendment was passed that would specifically stated that Lottery proceeds were to be given to the Minimum Foundation Program, which funds public education in the state.

With the most important aspect of a lottery system being public trust, the Lottery created several levels of oversight on the corporation that would look at the budget, drawings, and administrative rules. These oversight agencies include:

• Attorney General
• Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget
• Governor of Louisiana
• Senate Judiciary B Committee / House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice

Louisiana State Lottery Company

The Louisiana State Lottery Company ran the Louisiana Lottery until the mid 19th century. This lottery was the only lottery in the United States for a while and during its existence it had a very bad reputation of corruption, as well as swindling the state and citizens of funds.

In August of 2868, the company was chartered by the Louisiana Assembly with a 25 year charter and in return, the company gave the state ,000 a year. When the charter was passed, all other forms of organized gambling were made illegal. The terms with which the charter was given left the public with a bad perception of the company from the very onset. Also, other states were already viewing these lotteries and gambling with a great deal of suspicion.

The first president of the company was Charles Howard who previously worked for the Alabama and Kentucky State Lotteries. The drawings were held by Former Confederate Generals Jubal Anderson Early and P.G.T. Beauregard, who attempted reform. The tickets were sent via a special train, because there was so much mail and required special attention to various agents in the U.S. and abroad who would in turn sell the tickets in their areas.

Three years prior to the expiration of the charter, the company bribed the Legislature in 1890 to pass an act that would write them into the constitution by offering to pay the state 0,000 a year. Now that the company was written into the constitution, a supermajority of both houses of the state legislature and a referendum would be needed to cancel the charter.

Louisiana Lottery (modern)

The Louisiana Lottery Corporation today is run by the government. The Lottery is a current member of the Multi-State Lottery Association and has several games that gamblers can play. These games include Powerball, a Raffle that was last drawn on April 15, 2008, Easy 5 where players pick 5 numbers out of 37 (the original easy 5 was 5 of 26), the Louisiana Lotto where you pick 6 numbers out of 40, Pick 3, Pick 4, and numerous scratch-off tickets that can be purchased for anywhere between and .

Hurricanes Rita and Katrina affected the Louisiana Lottery immensely in 2005.

The Louisiana Lottery requires players have a minimum age of 21 in order to purchase a lottery ticket. The minimum age was raised from 18 in 1998 to coincide with the casino gambling age being a minimum of 21. Interestingly though, a 14 year old can legally sell Louisiana Lottery tickets.