LOTTERY: If you’re ever trying to calculate how much money you’ve spent on lottery tickets over the years — versus how much you’ve won! — this might help.
The Pennsylvania Lottery marked its 45th anniversary on Tuesday. So you couldn’t have been buying lottery tickets in Pennsylvania any earlier than March 7, 1972.
The money hasn’t totally gone down the drain. According to the Pennsylvania Lottery, during those 45 years “the Lottery has paid nearly $45 billion in prizes and generated approximately $27 billion to benefit older Pennsylvanians.”
So if you use any of the programs the state supports for older Pennsylvanians with the lottery fund, you’re benefitting in some way from your attempts at a lottery-based retirement plan, just not in the way you thought (for most of you, anyway.)
The agency says “proceeds are directed to five main program areas: property tax and rent rebates, transportation, care services, prescription assistance, and a variety of local services provided through Area Agencies on Aging across the state.”
The lottery offerings have evolved over the years.
“The Pennsylvania Lottery’s first game was a 50 cent ticket with weekly drawings, the first of which was held on March 15, 1972,” the agency stated. “The game offered a $50,000 top prize and periodic drawings for $1 million prizes. The first $1 game, Lucky 7, went on sale in November of that year and also featured a weekly drawing.”
According to Lottery officials, the Millionaire Drawing was first televised in March 1975, and televised drawings became a nightly event on March 1, 1977. Scratch-off tickets also came out in 1975.
In keeping up with new technology, folks can now find out the winning numbers on the Lottery’s website or official mobile app. Drawings are still televised, too.
The chance to win big can certainly put a little excitement in your day, even if you don’t win. But if you ever feel like the game has gone beyond your control, the Pennsylvania Lottery invites players to call 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) for help.
