Oklahoma Lottery
The Oklahoma Lottery is an American lottery that is operated by the state's government. The Lottery, which began ticket sales in 2005, is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL).
Players must be 18 or older.
History
In 2003, the Oklahoma state legislature approved a lottery proposal to go before a vote of the people. Two questions (SQ 705 and SQ 706) were placed on the 2004 general election ballot. Both questions were approved, creating a Lottery Commission and a lottery trust fund.[1]
Lottery games
Drawing methods
Originally, Pick 3 and Cash 5 were drawn using traditional drawing machines and numbered balls (which the Lottery purchased from Missouri after the latter switched to computerized drawings. When Oklahoma joined Hot Lotto in 2008, that game had already switched to a random number generator (RNG). On September 20, 2009, Oklahoma changed its two in-house games to RNG drawings. Mega Millions (usually drawn in Georgia) and Powerball (drawn at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida) have always used traditional lottery machines and numbered balls.
Claiming winnings
Pick 3 and Cash 5 winners must claim prizes within 90 days of the drawing date. Mega Millions, Hot Lotto, and Powerball winners must claim within 180 days of the drawing.
Current in-house drawings
Pick 3
Pick 3, drawn daily, began on November 10, 2005. Players must choose three digits from 0 through 9, either selected by the player, or selected by the lottery terminal ("Easy Pick".)
Cash 5
Oklahoma Cash 5, initially thrice weekly when begun in 2005, has been drawn seven nights a week since July 2009.
Current multi-jurisdictional drawings
Hot Lotto
Hot Lotto is drawn Wednesday and Saturday evenings. Players must select five "white ball" numbers from 1 through 39, and 1 of 19 orange "hot balls". Jackpots begin at $1 million, increasing by at least $50,000 if there is no top prize winner. Hot Lotto also has an option called Sizzler, which triples non-jackpot prizes.
Hot Lotto scandal; Oklahoma winner of tainted drawing
In 2010, a Hot Lotto ticket purchased near Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) headquarters in Iowa won a jackpot. The ticket was not successfully claimed within Iowa's one-year deadline. After a long investigation that included leads in Texas and Canada, then-MUSL Director of Information Security Eddie Tipton was arrested in 2015, eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison for fixing the drawing in question, and purchasing the winning ticket. Several other U.S. lotteries with RNG drawings also have produced winning tickets purchased by Tipton's associates, including a 2011 jackpot-winning Hot Lotto ticket purchased by someone with ties to Tipton.
Powerball
Powerball began in 1992; it added Oklahoma on January 12, 2006. Powerball jackpots begin at $40 million; the game is drawn Wednesday and Saturday evenings at 9:59 p.m. Central Time. Powerball drawings were televised on Fox affiliate KOKH (channel 25) and CW affiliate KOCB (channel 34) in Oklahoma City; and on Cox Communications channel 9 in Tulsa through January 2013. Powerball numbers now are televised via Chicago-based cable superstation WGN America (available on most cable, IPTV and satellite providers in the state; it also carries Mega Millions due to the Illinois Lottery's participation in both games) or on the lottery's website.
Mega Millions
In March 2009, Mega Millions and Powerball began negotiating an agreement to allow each participating U.S. lottery to sell tickets for both games. An agreement was reached on October 13 of that year; two months later, it was announced that Oklahoma would begin selling Mega Millions tickets on January 31, 2010. The first Mega Millions drawing with Oklahoma a participant occurred on February 2, 2010.[2] Unlike Hot Lotto and Powerball (within Oklahoma), Mega Millions players in the state must choose cash or annuity when playing, instead of after winning. Mega Millions drawings are not televised on any local broadcast television station or local origination cable channel in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa markets; as with Powerball, those playing Mega Millions instead can only see the winning numbers via WGN America on cable and satellite television or on the lottery's website.
Former drawing games
Pick 4
Pick 4 launched in July 2011. Players were required to choose a set of four digits from 0 through 9, either selected by the player, or selected by the lottery terminal. On September 7, 2013, the Lottery announced that it would discontinue Pick 4; its final drawing was seven days later.[3]
Scratchers
The first Oklahoma Lottery tickets were scratch tickets; "Lucky 7's" was the Lottery's first scratchcard game.
Jackpot winners
In June 2006, the Oklahoma Lottery had its first jackpot winner when an Oklahoman won $101 million in Powerball.[4] The Powerball drawing of June 27, 2007 produced Oklahoma's second winning jackpot ticket for the game, and the largest to date: $105.8 million (annuitized). It was bought in the Sequoyah County town of Roland. Muldrow residents Don and Joyce Harvey (a married couple that at the time were respectively 64 and 50 years old) claimed the prize on June 29, 2007; they chose the cash option, and received approximately $33.7 million after withholdings.[5]
July 2, 2008 produced one jackpot winner in Oklahoma for not only Powerball, but also Hot Lotto. It was the first time that the same jurisdiction provided at least one jackpot winner in both games on the same day.
The Oklahoma Lottery game show
The Lottery produced a game show (simply titled The Oklahoma Lottery Game Show) that was taped in Oklahoma City (and produced by Sande Stewart), which aired on KOCB in Oklahoma City, and Cox Communications cable channel 9 in Tulsa from October 13, 2007 to October 4, 2008. The show, which was hosted by Brad Morris and Amber Dickinson, was introduced to combat lower than expected sales as a result of the Lottery not offering video lottery or keno games.[6] Players on the game show were guaranteed to win $500 each, and could win over $50,000. The second and succeeding shows included a "returning champion". The program was cancelled due to low ratings; the final episode was taped on August 20, 2008.
References
- ↑ "Oklahomans show two sides in election". KFOR: kfor.com. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
- ↑ http://www.lottery.ok.gov/press_reader.asp?sourceFile=press_December082009
- ↑ Oklahoma Lottery to end Pick 4, begin Millionaire Raffle, Tulsa World, September 7, 2013.
- ↑ Chad Previch (2007-06-28). "$105 million ticket bought in Roland". Oklahoman. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
- ↑ "Update: Muldrow couple claims the big Powerball prize". Tulsa World. 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
- ↑ Michael McNutt (2007-06-27). "Lottery officials hope new games do a number on sales". Oklahoman. Retrieved 2007-06-27.
External links
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