Minnesota State Lottery

The official lottery association in Minnesota is the Minnesota Lottery.

Lottery Games

• There are three types of games that are offered and they are scratch games, online games and Print-N-Play games.
• Scratch (instant) games have tickets which contain a special coating that is scratched off to reveal a prize. In 2005, 62% of lottery sales were from these games. In 2006, it was 60%, 2007 sales were 62% and 2008 sales consisted of 65% scratch off games.
• A computer randomly generates the winning tickets.
• State law requires a minimum payout of at least 60% and the prize payouts currently range from 64 to 72%.
• The top prize ranges from 0 to 0,000 and ticket prices start out a and can go up to .
• The online games that players can play are produced through computer terminals that are connected to central computer located at the Lottery headquarters. Winning tickets are those that match all the selected numbers for that game. These types of games include Powerball, Gopher 5, Daily 3, Northstar Cash, and Hot Lotto.
• A study was conducted by St. Cloud University in 2008 to determine who played the Minnesota Lottery and it showed that almost 64% of Minnesota Adults or two of every three adults played the lottery. In the year before this survey, 50% of adults played the lottery. It was also noted that more than four times as much money was wagered in charitable gambling and much more than that is wagered at Minnesota casinos each year.
• Adults who play the lottery are not exclusive to it; over 95% of these adults will also wager on something else.
• Most players play the lottery for fun and entertainment. Few individuals play for the monetary reward.
• It was noted the individuals with low incomes are less likely to purchase lottery tickets than those with moderate or high incomes.
• Individuals who play the lottery include men and women, young adults and the middle aged, and those that have a high-school diploma and/ or a college education.
• The lottery is not appealing to individuals without a high-school degree or the elderly.

Lottery Timeline and Historic Milestones

• November 1988: A constitutional amendment was passed with the approval of 57% of Minnesotans.
• The 1989 Legislative Session: Legislation was passed to start the lottery with the proceeds being distributed evenly between the Greater Minnesota Corporation and the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund.
• June 1989: The Minnesota State Lottery was signed into legislation by Governor Perpich.
• The 1990 Legislative Session: The percentage of the proceeds for both the Greater Minnesota Corporation and the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund were reduced, respectively, to 25 % and 40%. 6.7% of the proceeds would now be given to the "infrastructural development fund for capital improvement projects to develop or protect the state's environment and natural resources."
• March 1, 2003: The Minnesota State Lottery's daily drawing shows was redesigned to have a digital drawing board that replaced the in-studio drawings. With the use of a random number generator, the winning numbers would be selected and integrated into an animated presentation.