1971
The Pennsylvania Lottery is created on August 26th as an agency of the Government of Pennsylvania. In the beginning proceeds from PA Lottery games were designated to fund tax relief on property for senior citizens within Pennsylvania. In subsequent years PA Lottery funding has grown to encompass many different areas that benefit the State’s elderly population.
The PA State Lottery appoints its first Executive Director – Henry Kaplan – on October 21st.
1972
The first PA Lottery ticket goes on sale on March 7th. Tickets cost just 50 cents and the game has weekly draws with a top prize of US$ 1 Million.
1973
The Pennsylvania Lottery adds 2 more games per week – Lucky 7 and
Winner’s Choice – both costing US$ 1 per ticket.
1975
The first PA Lottery televised Millionaire draw is broadcast on March 13th.
The first Instant game to be introduced by the Pennsylvania Lottery appears in May.
1977
March 1st sees the first PA Lottery numbers game – the Daily Number – introduced. Draws are televised live and players select their own 3 digit number.
1980
The PA Lottery introduce a second numbers game – Big 4 – on November 22nd. Big 4 has one live draw per week but will later become a nightly game.
1981
June sees the televised draws for the Daily Number and Big 4 relocated from Pittsburgh’s WTAE studios to Harrisburg’s WHP.
1982
The Pennsylvania Lotto – the first lotto-style game to be introduced by the PA State Lottery appears on April 16th. The PA Lotto has a matrix of 6/40 and starting jackpots of US$ 1 Million.
1986
A USA Lottery first – the Super 7 – is introduced by the Pennsylvania Lottery on August 14th. A matrix of 11/80 is used – 7 of the 11 numbers drawn wins the jackpot which starts off at US$ 2 Million.
1987
To mark the 15th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Lottery – Saturday Spin is introduced on March 7th. A weekly wheel-spin game that’s televised – the PA Lottery choose 5 finalists out of players who’ve sent in redeemed lottery tickets – who then have a chance of winning US$ 50,000, US$ 100,000 or an annuity of US$ 1 Million.
1988
February sees the Pennsylvania Lotto retired after 5 and a half successful years and replaced with a brand new game – Wild Card Lotto – with a 6/48 matrix.
1989
The Pennsylvania Lottery sees its largest jackpot so far when the Super 7 produces a jackpot of US$ 115.5 Million on April 26th which is shared between 14 winning lottery tickets.
1990
On May 5th the Pennsylvania Lottery replaces the Saturday Spin with the
Million Dollar Spin.
1991
April 10th sees a change to the Super 7 game with the matrix becoming 10/74.
The PA Lottery creates a new North American record on July 29th when its
total sales to date reach US$ 15 Billion.
1992
The Pennsylvania lottery introduces a new game on April 23rd – Cash 5 –which is still going strong today. Cash 5 begins with a matrix of 5/39 for a jackpot of
US$ 100,000 and has one weekly draw.
1993
The first Instant Ticket Vending Machines are installed by the PA Lottery in July.
1994
The first all-electronic jackpot game – Hearts & Diamonds – is introduced by the PA State Lottery on October 5th with top prizes averaging US$ 20,000.
1995
The game that produced the biggest jackpot to date in Pennsylvania Lottery history – the Super 7 – retires on October 28th.
November 4th sees the first draw for Keystone Jackpot – the replacement game for the Super 7 – take place. Jackpots begin at US$ 3 million and rollover – increasing by US$ ½ Million each time the jackpot is not won. The game uses a double matrix of 6/33 + 1/33.
1996
The Hearts & Diamonds game is retired by the PA Lottery on March 10th.
1997
In a promotion lasting a month – the PA Lottery introduce midday draws for the Daily Number and Big 4 games in February.
June sees the PA Lottery reach a milestone in lottery funding – with total proceeds to date of over US$ 10 Billion now having been contributed to programs benefiting the elderly in the State.
1998
The Pennsylvania Lottery increase the draws of the Cash 5 game from weekly to every night from 1998.
September 5th sees the last draw of the Keystone Jackpot game take place.
The Wild Card Lotto has its final draw on September 11th.
Super 6 Lotto – a new PA Lottery game – is first drawn on September 12th. This is the replacement for both the Wild Card Lotto and Keystone Jackpot games. The Super 6 Lotto uses a 6/69 matrix and has starting jackpots of US$ 3 Million – with winners being able to chose between a cash lump sum or an annuity over 26 years.
The televised game – Million Dollar Spin – retires on December 26th.
2001
On December 18th – the Pennsylvania State Lottery becomes the 30th member to join the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) – who run and operate the massive Powerball game. The PA Lottery would start selling Powerball tickets in June the following year.
2002
An unusual event occurs during the March 24th draw of the Cash 5. A draw ball cracks resulting in the PA Lottery conducting a second draw and then paying out on both sets of winning lottery numbers.
The Pennsylvania Lottery sells it very first tickets for the Powerball game on June 27th.
June 29th sees the first Powerball draw with Pennsylvania Lottery players participating.
The first Pennsylvania Powerball winner emerges after less than 3 months when Edaward Varley from Hatfield, Montgomery County wins an incredible amount of US$ 30.8 Million on September 14th – having shared the jackpot with an Indiana Powerball player.
POWERBALL sees some game changes on October 6th when 4 numbers were added to the main (white) balls and the POWERPLAY option had the number 1 removed. Jackpot odds were now 1 in 120 million and even larger POWERBALL jackpots would be created and more frequently.
2003
The Daily Number and Big 4 see midday draws – seven days per week – being introduced by the Pennsylvania Lottery on February 11th.
A second PA Powerball jackpot winner is created on July 9th – when Scott and Marian Calligan from Cranberry Township, Butler County win a very healthy
US$ 73.6 Million having shared the top prize with a Missouri Powerball player.
Later the same year – on December 31st – Lisa Ensor from York becomes the third winner of a PA Lottery Powerball jackpot when she scoops a fantastic US$ 60.1 Million – splitting the top prize with a South Carolina Powerball player.
2004
The Super 6 Lotto has its last draw on January 27th. The jackpot stands at US$ 8 Million and is not won so rolls down to the lower tier prize levels.
The game to replace the Super 6 Lotto is the Match 6 Lotto which goes on sale on January 28th. The game uses a matrix of 6/49 and players get 3 sets of 6 numbers – the first chosen by themselves and the second and third picked by the computers’ random number generator. Jackpots begin at US$ ½ Million.
The fourth Powerball PA jackpot winners – Steven and Kristine White from Skillman, New Jersey – claim a record US$ 110 Million on May 8th. This still ranks as the biggest prize won on a single ticket in PA Lottery history.
The fifth winners of a Pennsylvania Lottery Powerball Jackpot emerge on May 29th when brothers Jim Hare from Philadelphia and Tom Hare from Drexel Hill, Delaware County win US$ 26.9 Million.
The PA Lottery start selling tickets for its latest terminal-based lottery game – Lucky For Life – on September 30th. Lucky For Life jackpots are a guaranteed US$ 1 Million and are paid out to winners in annual instalments of US$ 36,000
The first Lucky For Life draw takes place on October 2nd.
Pennsylvania Powerball jackpot winners number six claim an amazing sum of US$ 93.4 Million on December 8th. The lucky winners are the WLT Trust and its beneficiaries – Florence Ayers from Harmony, Butler County, James Ayers from Mars, Butler County and Sharon Kreindel from Beechwood, Ohio,
The PA Lottery sells yet another Powerball jackpot winning ticket – when four members of the Joseph Petto family – Joe and Mercedes from Philadelphia, Mike Tartini from Roseland, New Jersey and Keith Wesley of Trevose, Bucks County claim a US$ 5.6 Million cash jackpot on December 22nd.
2005
The PA Lottery Powerball sees its eighth jackpot winners on January 22nd when Kathleen Fitzgerald, Karen Rodgers and Janet Bigler – all from Pittsburgh – win US$ 14.7 Million.
2 months later – Bob and Patty MacZura from Cranberry Township, Butler County win US$ 10.2 Million and become the ninth Powerball Pennsylvania jackpot winners on March 16th.
POWERBALL sees some further game changes on August 25th when 2 main (white) balls were added, nos. 54 and 55. Jackpots were now to start at a more exciting US$ 15 Million and second prizes at US$ 200,000.
October 19th sees a record POWERBALL jackpot occur when an incredible US$ 340 Million is won by a family from Oregon.
Tickets for the first raffle-type lottery game introduced by the Pennsylvania State Lottery are put on sale on November 22nd. Millionaire Raffle has 500,000 tickets up for grabs and at least 4 top prizes of US$ 1 Million to be won.
After 2 weeks all tickets are sold and the first Millionaire Raffle draw takes place on December 31st.
2006
A world record POWERBALL jackpot of an incredible US$ 365 Million is won by a group of Nebraska factory workers following the drawing on February 18th. This still stands as the largest lottery jackpot won to date in the world on a single lottery ticket.
The PA Lottery holds its second Millionaire Raffle on July 4th. Five lucky winners of US$ 1 Million were created from an increased number of 625,000 tickets produced.
Tickets are put on sale for the third Millionaire Raffle held by the PA Lotto.
A third Millionaire Raffle is held by the PA Lottery on December 30th. Once again there were 625,000 tickets sold and five US$ 1 Million winners created.
2007
The Lucky For Life Lotto is retired by the PA Lottery after the draw on January 22nd.
The PA Lottery starts selling tickets for a new game – Mix & Match – on January 23rd with cash jackpots starting at US$ 50,000.
The first Mix & Match draw takes place on January 25th.
May 8th sees Treasure Hunt – a new midday, terminal-based game – introduced by the Pennsylvania Lottery. Jackpots start at US$ 10,000 and a matrix of 5/30 with players needing to match 2 or more numbers to win.
The Pennsylvania Lottery holds its fourth Millionaire Raffle on July 7th creating 5 new millionaires.
The fifth Millionaire Raffle is held by the PA Lottery on December 29th. Once again – the raffle creates 5 new millionaires.
2008
February brings a matrix change to the Cash 5 game – which now uses a 5/43 configuration and has jackpots starting at US$ 125,000.
An Instant game is introduced by the PA State Lottery in March –
Major League Baseball – featuring the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates.
The biggest jackpot to date on the Cash 5 game – US$ 1,867,253 – is split by two winning tickets on April 15th.
May 1st sees tickets for the sixth PA Lottery Millionaire Raffle go on sale. The number of tickets for the draw is reduced to 500,000.
The sixth Millionaire Raffle is drawn by the PA Lottery on July 5th and produces four lucky top prize winners of US$ 1 Million each.
A 10th Pennsylvania Powerball jackpot is claimed on August 2nd when The Edwards and Funk 14 from Lancaster County share US$ 42.5 Million cash.
Quinto – a new numbers game is introduced by the PA Lottery on August 26th. Draws take place both midday and in the evenings and the top prize is US$ 50,000.
A US$ 10.2 Million PA Powerball jackpot prize is the 11th claimed and is won by 22 US Postal Service work colleagues on October 4th.
The PA Lottery starts selling tickets for its seventh Millionaire Raffle game on October 27th.
A 12th Pennsylvania Powerball jackpot prize is claimed on October 29th – the lucky winners being Myrna and Thomas Shearer from York who claim a cash prize of US$ 30.2 Million.
2009
The seventh Millionaire Raffle game to be held by the PA Lottery is drawn on January 3rd.
Starting jackpots for the Multi-State Powerball game are increased to
US$ 20 Million on January 7th.
Palmira Nicolo from Wyndmoor, Montgomery County claims the 13th Pennsylvania Powerball jackpot on February 28th – walking away with a fantastic cash lump sum of US$ 46.6 Million – having split the top prize with a Delaware Powerball winner.
The final Match 6 Lotto draw is held on March 10th.
The Super 7 is reintroduced by the PA Lottery on March 11th. 11 numbers out of 77 are drawn with players picking 7 numbers and 7 correct numbers needed to win the jackpot.
Sales begin for the next Millionaire Raffle game on April 27th.
The eighth Pennsylvania Lottery Millionaire Raffle is drawn on July 4th.
July 9th saw the third largest largest jackpot to be won on the PA Lottery Powerball when Scott and Marian Calligan from Cranberry Township, Butler County scooped US$ 73.6 Million having shared the top prize with a ticket purchased by a Missouri Powerball player.
August sees the Pennsylvania Lottery enter into partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers to bring out a new Instant game.
On October 9th an agreement was made between the Mega Millions Consortium and the MUSL – Multi-State Lottery Association – to allow the cross-sales of Mega Millions tickets within states that offered the Powerball game and the sale of Powerball tickets within states that offered the Mega Millions game. The Pennsylvania Lottery would be selling Mega Millions tickets come January.
A brand new US$ 2 Instant game is brought out by the PA Lottery in December – this game features the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins.
2010
The ninth PA Lottery Millionaire Raffle is held on January 2nd.
On January 31st the PA Lottery began the sales of its own PA Mega Millions tickets as a result of the cross-selling agreement made between the Mega Millions Consortium and the MUSL – Multi-State Lottery Association.
In the very first Mega Millions draw in which Pennsylvania Lottery players take part – on Feebruary 2nd – there is a PA Lottery second prize level winner who scoops US$ 250,000.
In the Mega Millions draw of March 9th – the Pennsylvania Lottery has another big winner when Gary Falk from Port Allegany, McKean County wins a prize of US$ 250,000 which immediately doubles to US$ 500,000 as he has played using the MEGAPLIER option.
The final draw of the Super 7 takes place on April 27th. There are no jackpot winners so the US$ 4.8 Million up for grabs rolls down to the lower prize levels.
A new Instant game costing US$2 is introduced by the PA Lottery and the Hershey Company – it’s called Reese’s and debuts in May.
The Pennsylvania Lottery begin sales for its 10th Millionaire Raffle game on May 14th.
The final draw for the Mix & Match game is held by the Pennsylvania Lottery on May 31st.
Match 6 is reintroduced to the PA Lottery portfolio on June 1st – with jackpots starting at US$ 500,000 just like before.
The 10th Pennsylvania Lottery Millionaire Raffle is drawn on July 10th.