User:JimmySand9/SandboxLotto

right Florida Lotto is a popular lottery game offered by the Florida Lottery. It was the last major-jackpot state lottery game not to compete with a multi-state lottery, until the Florida Lottery began offering Powerball on January 4, 2009.

As with all Florida Lottery games, the minimum age to play is 18.

Game's Beginning (1988-1993)
The first tickets were sold on Friday, April 29, 1988, and the first drawing took place Saturday, May 7, 1988.

The game was originally played by selecting six numbers from a field a 49. Each play cost USD$1, and drawings were held weekly every Saturday night at 11:00 P.M. EST. Players would win prizes by matching 3 or more numbers on their ticket to the six selected on Saturday night. If they matched all six, they would win a jackpot that was paid in 20 equal yearly installments.

200px|thumb|right|A Florida Lotto drawing from [[October 13, 1990.]]

The game's first prize structure were as follows:

Same Game, Bigger Jackpots (1993-1999)
In 1993, the prize structure was tweaked to put a larger percentage of sales into the jackpot, and to allow for a minimum jackpot of an annuitized USD$6,000,000.

The new structure looked like this:

The game would go unchanged until November 1998, when the jackpot payout scheme was changed to allow players to receive 30 equal yearly payments (as opposed to 20 when the game began), or to receive a lump sum payment of the hard cash in the jackpot pool. Players had, and still have, 60 days from the draw date (unlike, in most US lotteries, 60 days after claiming) to select a payment option or the payment will default to the 30 annual installments.

6/53 Begins (1999-2009)
A big change occurred in October 1999. Four numbers were added to the field to make a total of 53 numbers for players to choose from. A second weekly drawing on Wednesday nights was also added. The minimum jackpot was also decreased to an annuitized USD$3,000,000 (with a cash option still available within 60 days of the draw) in order to compensate for the second weekly drawing.

As of February 2008, it is still a pick-6-of-53 game, drawn Wednesdays and Saturdays. Players continue to win by matching three, four, five, or, for the jackpot, all six numbers. The top prize has usually continued to start at $3 million, but is sometimes decreased to $2 million if the state is struck by a hurricane or other chaotic event.

The current prize structure looks like this:

In 2008, a new feature was added to the game. Players are now able increase their potential 6-out-of-6 winnings with an increase in the wager amount. If a player increases their ticket cost to $2, matching all six numbers will win USD$10,000,000 (annuitized) in addition to the advertised jackpot. If the wager is increased to $3, a player matching all six will win USD$25,000,000 (annuitized) in addition to advertised jackpot. The additional money is paid on a pari-mutuel basis and will be shared if more than one player matches all six and increases their wager. The increase in the wager will not affect the other prize tiers.

Return to 6/49 (1999-Present)
The biggest change occurred in May 2009. The game reverted to a pick-6-out-of-49 format, and the word "Florida" was removed from the name and became simply "Lotto". Lotto also began putting a greater percentage of sales toward prizes. The minimum jackpot was also decreased to an annuitized USD$1,000,000 to make up for the lower matrix and lost sales to Powerball. The drawings were also moved to Mondays and Thursdays, so not to compete directly with Powerball.

The current prize structure looks like this:

Advertising
Up until the introduction of Powerball, there were numerous Florida Lotto billboards throughout the state along major highways; they were all maintained by people who update the jackpots manually, rather than through a central system. But since Powerball came to Florida, many are getting digital readouts, with the Powerball jackpot showing alongside the Lotto jackpot.