Michigan Gaming - 2006 Lottery News

Michigan Lottery News - 2005

November 18, 2005

The 2005 School Aid Fund contribution from the Michigan Lottery was $667.6 million. This is the second year in a row that a record amount went to Michigan's schools from the Lottery. Last year's contribution was $644.8 million. Total 2005 ticket sales amounted to $2.07 billion with prize payments of $1.16 billion.

September 23, 2005

With the help of Club Keno, which is now two years old, this year's Michigan Lottery revenue will be above the $2 billion mark for the first time in 33 years. Last year's total Lottery sales were $1.97 billion. Club Keno will gross approximately $330 million in fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, providing 16 percent of total lottery sales, and contributing $82.5 million to the Michigan School Aid Fund.

September 7, 2005

For the second time in the eight live drawings for Michigan Lottery's $20 Instant games, the five finalists agreed to split the winnings among themselves. At dinner, prior to the September 6 drawing, Mohamad Fawaz, Doran Crowder, Larry Payne, Fouad Saad and Mildred Williams agreed to form a Lottery club and share the prize with each other. The five individuals signed a note indicating their intentions and, thus, the Lottery's $930,367 check presented on September 7 was payable to the Final Five Lottery club.

September 6, 2005

At the Michigan Lottery's $20 Instant games grand prize drawing, Dearborn resident Mohamad Fawaz won $2 million. The $20 Instant games' top prize is awarded through a drawing. All $1,000 prizes claimed before the Wednesday, August 24 deadline in the Lottery games: Double Millions, $2,000,000 Jackpot, Millions & Millions, $2,000,000 Mega Plan, and $2,000,000 Cash Casino were entered into the August 26 finalist drawing from which five finalists were randomly selected from a pool of 410 entries. Mr. Fawaz purchased his ticket at the Sunoco at 5074 Greenfield Road in Dearborn.

July 11, 2005

Californians have been participating in the Mega Millions 12-state game for three weeks now despite discussions that a 21-year-old voter initiative does not allow the California Lottery Commission to join interstate games. California gambling opponents filed a lawsuit last week seeking to end California's participation in the game. The suit prompted California Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter) to propose a bill giving the Lottery Commission the ability to enter a multi-state lottery agreement with restrictions that the games are not played internationally and do not involve slot machines or Internet gambling.

May 9, 2005

Michigan WinFall lotto game's last drawing will be on May 14, 2005, and it will be replaced with a new and improved version of an earlier Michigan Lottery game, Classic Lotto 47, on May 15 when the new game's $1.00/ticket sales begin. New Classic Lotto 47 drawings will be on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7:29 p.m. with the first drawing to be held on May 18, 2005. As a "new game incentive," the Lottery is offering a Classic Summer Sweepstakes which will award 100 prize packages in four separate drawings. The summer prize packages include a Ducane stainless steel outdoor gas grill, eight tickets to Detroit Tigers games and a Big Boy gift card worth $100. To enter the sweepstakes, players must purchase a $3 Classic Lotto 47 single-ticket and complete an entry form. Drawings for the sweepstakes will be on May 25, June 1, June 8 and June 22.

May 8, 2005

On June 22, California will become the 12th state participating in the Mega Millions Lottery game, with the potential to increase jackpots to an estimated $500 million. The first Mega Million drawing that will include California's 35 million residents will be on June 24. Four additional numbers (53 - 56) will be added to the game. Michigan Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters told The Detroit News that California's participation will increase the odds of hitting the jackpot from one in 135 million to one in 178 million. "That means jackpots will grow bigger and faster. We will see more $200 million jackpots like the $208 million jackpot (won by a Michigan couple) we just had."

April 29, 2005

Mary and Ralph Stebbins of Port Huron, winners of the largest jackpot in Michigan Lottery history, claimed their winnings Friday and took their winnings in one $124.7 million, less taxes, payment. The prize winning couple have been buying five easy pick Mega Millions tickets a week on a regular basis.

April 27, 2005

Each of 2,212 Lottery players will be awarded $5,000 for correctly picking Tuesday's Daily 4 Evening numbers, which were 1-1-1-1. This payout will amount to $11,060,000 and is the second highest percentage ever paid on a single day's payout. A Daily 4 Evening payout is usually about 50 percent of the sales, but this payout amounts to 2,230 percent of the sales.

April 26, 2005

As of 4:45 p.m., the Mega Millions winner has not yet claimed his or her prize.

April 22, 2005

An individual in Michigan won the Mega Millions $208 million jackpot in the Friday drawing. The ticket contained the five winning numbers plus the Mega ball number. This is the largest jackpot ever won in Michigan and the third-largest in the Mega Millions game's history. The ticket was purchased at the River District Supermarket, 3550 Electric Avenue, Port Huron, St. Clair County. Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery game in Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Georgia.

April 18, 2005

A Michigan Lottery press release announced that its new instant ticket game "Raceway Riches" will be available beginning April 25, 2005. The $3 Raceway Riches instant Lottery tickets feature likenesses of five NASCAR drivers: Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Raceway Riches' top prize is $50,000 and bonus drawings, with prizes that include a trip to a NASCAR race and NASCAR licensed merchandise prize packages, will also be held.

April 12, 2005

Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters announced that beginning May 18, 2005, Classic Lotto 47, a new game, played twice-weekly, will replace Michigan WinFall lotto game. WinFall's last drawing will be on May 14. Classic Lotto 47 players will select six numbers between 1 and 47 for Wednesday and Saturday drawings. All six numbers win the jackpot; five numbers pay $2,500; four numbers, $100 and three, $5. The jackpot will rollover until it is won.

April 4, 2005

The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians in Manistee and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians of Petoskey contend that Michigan Lottery Club Keno games violate an "exclusivity" clause in their 1998 compacts with the state and, therefore, have withheld their 2004 and 2005 casino revenue sharing payments. The gaming compacts provide that Michigan receive eight percent of the tribal casinos' electronic gaming profits semiannually. The tribes maintain that the compacts' exclusivity clauses limit "electronic games of chance" or "commercial casino games" to Michigan's Indian casinos and the three Detroit casinos and that Club Keno is a "commercial casino game." When meetings with state officials did not resolve the dispute, the two tribal councils waived legal immunity, permitting the filing of a law suit in the U.S. District Court.

February 23, 2005

Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters announced that weekly updates concerning claimed scratch-off ticket grand prize awards will replace the previously distributed monthly updates, and each of Michigan's 9,000 lottery retailers will be provided a display case for customers' easy viewing of the weekly updates. Shipment of the new counter displays and prize updates is expected to occur within a month.

February 22, 2005

The grand prizes for many instant Michigan Lottery games may be claimed, but the Michigan Lottery continues the instant ticket sales for those games. Grand prizes are no longer available for 5 of the 38 instant lottery games still under distribution and grand prizes have been paid out for as many as 100 other games still on the market. Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters told The Detroit News, the games are not withdrawn when the jackpot is hit because the jackpot is only 15 percent of a game's possible payoff and millions of dollars in prizes for that game are still awaiting winners. On the back of each ticket is the disclaimer: "prizes are subject to prior sales," and lottery officials feel their urging players to check the website for information on awarded prizes means they are not misleading customers. About 72 instant games are introduced annually and stores are supplied with two to five months worth of ticket sales. Old and new games remain for sale possibly for as long as a year. The number of old game tickets remaining on the market is unknown.

February 16, 2005

Former Macomb County Legislator John Bowman, known for his work to establish Michigan's Lottery, died at age 83. Michigan's 1972 lottery act is the McCauley-Traxler-Law-Bowman-McNeely Lottery Act. Mr. Bowman was residing in his native state of Tennessee at the time of his death.

February 9, 2005

Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters told Gongwer News Service that adding California as the 12th state participating in the multi-state Mega Millions game should increase Michigan Lottery revenue. He expects larger, faster-growing jackpots resulting from California residents' ticket purchases, and believes that voter approval will not be necessary, as the game is not new, it simply has a larger player pool. California sales are likely to begin in the coming summer.

February 4, 2005

A man wishing to remain anonymous redeemed his winning WinFall Michigan Lottery ticket, which was set to expire on April 11, 2005. The mystery winner chose a lump sum payment of $1.4 million after taxes. The state will now pay a $2,000 bonus to the proprietor who sold the winning ticket, Ihsan Sheena, owner of Tania's Pizza and Party Store on Crooks in Royal Oak. No bonus is paid on unclaimed winning tickets and the state school aid fund receives the unclaimed money.

January 31, 2005

Michigan Lottery winners have one year to claim their winnings and not all winning tickets are redeemed, bringing additional money to Michigan's educational system. Go to http://www.michigan.gov/lottery for a list of unclaimed Lottery tickets worth substantial amounts of money.

January 25, 2005

In 2004, the Michigan Lottery contributed $644.5 million to Michigan education. Since the Lottery was established in 1973, Michigan schools have received approximately $12.1 billion for the state Lottery. For an annual Lottery contribution breakdown, go to http://www.michigan.gov/lottery.

January 12, 2005

Senator Brown (R-Hillsdale) introduced Senate Bill No. 8, a proposal to amend sections 12 and 41 of the McCauley-Traxler-Law-Bowman-McNeely Lottery Act by revising the distribution formula for Lottery revenues.