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New York Lottery history
New York Lottery company history timeline
On November 8, 1966, New Yorkers voted to approve a constitutional amendment authorizing a government-run lottery.
The New York State Lottery was formed in 1966, and since then it has introduced numerous games, from traditional raffle and draw games to scratch-off tickets and video terminals designed for instant play and quick wins.
July 1967 The first-ever New York State Lottery was drawn by State Tax Commissioner Joseph H. Murphy at 10:22am EST on July 20, 1967.
August 1967 On August 21, 1967, a 5-year-old girl from Long Island won $100,000 on a lottery ticket bought for her by her grandfather.
With profits earmarked for the state's education fund, the New York State Lottery was launched in 1967 as a raffle-style game.
The proceeds of the Lottery were to be "applied exclusively to, or in aid or support of education." In 1967, the New York Legislature created a Division of the Lottery and a Lottery Commission within the Department of Taxation and Finance.
The Lottery began in 1967; its first slogan was "Your Chance of a Lifetime to Help Education". It has generated over $34 billion in aid to education revenue.
Then in 1971 the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation, billing itself as the "New Game in Town," launched operations to allow people to bet on horse races at off-track betting shops.
July 1975 The New York State Lottery was broadcast on television for the first time.
New York governor Hugh Carey suspended sales for about nine months in 1975-76 due to a scandal involving unsold tickets being selected as winners.
September 1976 The first instant lottery was launched in New York.
With the increase in competition, the New York State Lottery introduced its flagship product, the twice-weekly pick-six Lotto, in 1978.
Nevertheless, the state-run daily lottery began in September 1980, and in subsequent years the numbers game mostly faded away.
It was an immediate hit and quickly created a sprawling underground economy that moved through Harlem and other black communities in the United States For 60 years, the numbers reigned supreme as New York City’s pre-eminent daily lottery game — until 1980, when the state decided it wanted in.
By 1980, the street-run business in New York was generating an estimated $800 million to $1.5 billion a year.
The first big winner of the Lottery was Lou Eisenberg, who won $5 million in 1981; in that era, winners could not choose cash in lieu of annuity payments.
August 1985 Ticket sales in New York soared as the Lotto jackpot reached $41 million.
Another scandal in 1986 involved state employees manipulating mail-in tickets in a mail room to result in over $40,000 in winning to friends and family.
The target start date for the new game was January 1, 1987.
January 1987 Win 10, which went on to be renamed Pick 10, was played for the first time.
Five states and the District of Columbia went on to launch Lotto America in 1987, but New York was not one of the participants.
DDB won the New York State Lottery account in 1988.
January 1991 The New York State Lottery held a ‘Super Lotto’, which offered a jackpot of $90 million.
September 1991 A new scratch-off game designed to raise money for children was introduced.
The first game was played on September 2 1995, with draws taking place every four minutes between 10:00am and 3:00pm EST, and between 4:00pm and 12:00am.
In 1995 the state spent about $42 million on television commercials alone, and with $3 billion in sales New York's lottery was the largest in the country.
March 1999 Just four years after it was introduced, the law that enabled the introduction of Quick Draw expired in a governmental dispute over budgets, meaning that the game was taken off-sale.
December 1999 Johnnie Ely from the Bronx became New York’s first-ever $100 million lottery winner when he took the top prize in the short-lived Millennium Millions game.
In October 2001 the New York State Lottery unveiled a new advertising campaign promoting its flagship Lotto game.
Several weeks later DDB built on the campaign's success by working in a second phase, which was introduced on February 25, 2002.
In 2002 the New York State Lottery became part of the multistate Mega Millions game, and as a result sales were combined, making it virtually impossible to determine what part the campaign played in growing lottery sales.
January 2004 The first video lottery terminals were installed at the Saratoga Raceway (now the Saratoga Casino Hotel). The electronic terminals offered around 80 different games.
November 2004 Juan Rodriguez became New York’s biggest ever jackpot winner at the time, when he landed $149 million in the Mega Millions draw on November 19, 2004.
An agreement between Mega Millions and Powerball was reached in October 2009.
All lotteries then with either game were allowed to sell tickets for both games beginning January 31, 2010; New York was among those which joined the "other" game on that date.
On February 1, 2013, the Lottery's operations were merged with that of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to form the New York State Gaming Commission.
June 2014 Cash4Life was introduced as a replacement for the outgoing Sweet Million lottery.
He came forward to claim the prize in May 2017, but he was only announced publicly as the winner after the New York Lottery had finished validating the win.
October 2017 A jackpot prize worth $24 million was claimed just two days before it was due to expire.
November 2020 The New York Lottery updated the draw times for in-state games Lotto, Take 5, Pick 10, Numbers and Win 4.
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New York Lottery competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio Lottery Commission | 1973 | - | 324 | - |
| Kentucky Lottery | 1988 | $22.8M | 200 | - |
| Georgia Lottery | 1993 | $29.5M | 200 | 28 |
| Hoosier Lottery | 1989 | $4.9M | 125 | - |
| State Road & Tollway Authority | - | $3.0M | 167 | - |
| BKW Environmental Services | 1998 | $1.6M | 20 | - |
| CBIA | 1980 | $50.0M | 100 | - |
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