Maine Lottery Celebrates 50 Years With a New Game
- Insights Press
- Jun 19, 2024
- 2 min read
WMTW8 NEWS (June 14, 2024) – The Maine Lottery is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and is adding a new instant game to celebrate.
The Maine Lottery 50th Anniversary instant tickets are now available statewide in $1, $2 and $5 versions. The top prize on the $5 ticket is $100,000.
Over the last 50 years, the Maine Lottery has paid out more than $4.7 billion in winnings, with Maine retailers earning more than $518 million in commissions. Lottery sales have generated over $1.7 billion for Maine’s General Fund.
In Jan. 2023, the single winning ticket for a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot was sold in Maine. The winner came forward the next month and accepted their winnings through the limited liability company LaKoma Island Investments, LLC and chose a one-time, lump sum, cash option payment of $723,564,144 before taxes.
Maine Lottery began operations in 1974, and Gov. Kenneth M. Curtis drew the first lottery numbers, which were printed on large rubber balls and drawn from a gumball machine, on June 27, 1974.
Here is a look at some of the growth of the Maine Lottery:
1975 — The first Maine Lottery instant ticket, “The Great Outdoors,” was introduced
1980 — Pick 3 game introduced
1985 — Pick 4 game introduced
1985 — Maine enters into a compact with New Hampshire and Vermont to create the first-ever multistate lottery organization called Tri-State Lotto and launched Tri-State Megabucks
1993 — Maine Lottery became the first lottery to print its instant tickets on completely recyclable and biodegradable paper.
2005 — Maine joins multistate draw game Powerball
2010 — Maine joins multistate draw game Mega Millions
2012 — Maine joins other New England states in first regional draw game, Lucky for Life
2024 — Maine Lottery introduces Cash POP