 CALOTTERY.COM
- The
California State Lottery
began on November 6, 1984 after California residents passed
Proposition 37, the California Lottery Act, authorizing the
creation of a state lottery.
The minimum age to purchase
lottery tickets in California
is 18.
SuperLotto Plus
California Super Lotto is a game played in the style of Mega
Millions, in the state of California every Wednesday and Saturday.
Five main winning numbers are selected from a set of 47 rubber
balls, as is a "Mega number" which is chosen from a separate set
of 27 rubber balls.
California has historically offered a number of
jackpot-style games, beginning with the "6-49" game in 1986, which
was changed at various times to a 53 number game (in 1990) which
included a seventh bonus number, then to a 51 number game which
lasted until sometime in the year 2000.
The current 47/27 variant began in the year 2000 and continues to
this day under the name Super Lotto Plus.
On February 16, 2002, the California
Lottery's then-highest payout of $193 million was won
by three winning tickets.
In 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as part of his redesign
of state government, suggested that California join a multistate
lottery. The next year, California became part of Mega Millions.
Overall chances of winning a prize are 1 in 23. Chances of winning
the jackpot are 1 in 41,416,353. The minimum jackpot prize is $7
million.
The chances of winning a lottery jackpot
are principally determined by several factors: the count of
possible numbers, the count of winning numbers drawn, whether or
not order is significant and whether drawn numbers are returned
for the possibility of further drawing.
The Odds in, for example, a 49-ball lottery
are 1-in-13,983,816.
MEGA Millions
MEGA Millions allows you to pick 5 numbers, 1 through
56, and a final number, called a MEGA number, 1 through 46. The
game costs $1 to play. You may pick 2-8, 16, or 20 extra plays
during your purchase. Drawn every Tuesday and Friday at 8pm US
Pacific time, 11pm US Eastern Time. The prize money ranges to the
high millions.
Overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 40. Odds of winning the
jackpot are 1 in 175,711,536. The minimum jackpot prize is $12
million.
Daily 3
Daily 3 allows you to pick a set of 3 numbers, zero through nine,
and choose a playstyle: straight, box, or straight/box. The game
costs $1 to play. You may choose up to 14 extra plays during your
purchase. There are two draws every day.
Scratchers
Scratchers are scratchcard lottery games that you scratch off a
top layer to see if you won a prize. The prizes are smaller than
other lottery games, but there are better odds (averaging 1:5).
There are currently 37 types of scratchers, ranging in price from
US$1 to US$5.
Daily Derby
Daily Derby is a mock horse racing betting game. You choose three
horses, one to finish first, one to finish second and one to
finish third. You then choose a time from 1:40:00 to 1:49:99 as
your race time.
You
mark the last three digits of the race time on your playslip.
You may choose from 7-14 extra plays during your purchase. The
game costs $2 to play. Drawn every day at 6:35pm and televised
at 6:59pm.
Hot Spot
Hot Spot works by choosing how many plays you want per ticket
from 2,3,5, or 8. You then pick numbers 1 through 80 to bet
on. You finally choose how much money you would like to spend:
US$1, US$2, US$3, US$4, US$5, US$10, US$20. You can choose up
to 100 consecutive draws which occur every four minutes from
06:05 until 02:00 the next day. Many lottery retailers have
monitors that display Hot Spot drawings and recent results
from other lottery games.
Fantasy 5
Fantasy 5 allows you to pick five numbers 1 through 39. You
can pick up to 5 plays per ticket, and up to 12 advance plays
per ticket. Tickets cost $1 per play. Drawn every day at
6:35pm and televised at 6:59pm.
The Big Spin
The Big Spin is a television game show created as part of the
California Lottery. Although the lottery has had several
methods for choosing contestants, appearance on the show is
currently a prize in one of the lottery's scratch-off games.
The top prize is fixed at $3,000,000.00.
Instant games
California instant games range in price from $1 to
$5, with higher priced tickets typically putting out a higher
percentage of sales back into prizes. The payout percentages
for each price point are as follows:
Payment Options
All prizes on scratchers, Fantasy 5, Daily Derby, Daily 3, and
non-jackpot Super Lotto Plus and Mega Millions prizes, are paid
out in one payment, less 25% Federal taxes if the prize is over
$5,000. California recently stopped deducting State Tax on lottery
winnings. For Super Lotto Plus and Mega Millions jackpots, the
player may choose a single cash payout for 50%-60% of the jackpot,
or a 26-year annuity. The Super Lotto Plus annuity payment
schedule is on a graduated basis, (every year the payment is
slightly more than the previous year, such that the 25th payment
is twice as much as the first), whereas payments in the Mega
Millions annuity are the same every year. Until 2005, when
California joined Mega Millions, the payment choice on Super Lotto
Plus had to be made when the ticket was bought. Now, like most US
lotteries, there is a 60-day window after winning in which the
choice of lump sum or annuity is to be made.
|
