Texas Lottery celebrates 30 operational years with a new scratch game

The Texas Lottery announced Monday it is commemorating its three decades of activity and revenue generation for the State of Texas with a 30th Anniversary, 5-dollar scratch ticket game. 

The celebratory game features more than $24.9 million in total prizes, including five top prizes of $100,000, as well as more than 217,000 prizes ranging from $30 to $300. Overall odds of winning any prize in the game are one in 3.97, including break-even prizes. 

The 30th Anniversary scratch ticket game will be available for purchase at all Texas Lottery retailers where scratch ticket games are sold, beginning April 4. 

In an official press release, Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery, stated:  “As the 30th anniversary of the Texas Lottery approaches, we are excited to offer the commemorative 30TH Anniversary scratch ticket game to our players – those who have made this historic milestone possible. Since starting up in May 1992, the Texas Lottery has generated more than $120 billion in sales and distributed more than $74 billion in prizes to players. We are even prouder to have generated more than $34 billion in revenue for the State of Texas, including total contributions of $28.5 billion for public education and $177 million for Texas veterans. Those numbers are certainly something to celebrate and it would not have been possible without Texas Lottery players, retailers, vendor staff and Texas Lottery Commission employees. We look forward to the many accomplishments yet to come in the next 30 years and beyond.” 

The Texas Lottery kicked off 47 days ahead of schedule on May 29, 1992, when then-Gov. Ann Richards made the first purchase – a Lone Star Millions scratch ticket for $1 – at Polk’s Feed Store in Oak Hill. Richards had previously signed House Bill 54 in August 1991, creating the Texas Lottery. 

In November of the same year, Texas voters approved the Texas Lottery by a two-to-one margin. In its first 24 hours, the Texas Lottery set a world record for first-day sales when Texans purchased 23.2 million tickets. 

The Texas Lottery’s startup costs, with interest, were earned back during the first three hours of ticket sales. When the Texas Lottery began, the Lone Star Millions scratch ticket game was the only game available for purchase. Nowadays, there are approximately 90 scratch ticket games for players to choose from each year, as well as eight draw games, including Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto Texas, Texas Two Step, Pick 3 plus FIREBALL, Daily 4 plus FIREBALL, Cash Five and All or Nothing. 

Texas Lottery products are now sold by more than 20,000 retailers across the state. In FY 2021, the Texas Lottery set a new record with $8.107 billion in sales, which resulted in a record total contribution of $1.998 billion for public education and veterans’ services in Texas – marking the 18th consecutive year that the Texas Lottery generated more than $1 billion in revenue for Texas.