History
The California State Lottery began on November 6, 1984, when a majority (58%) of California voters passed Proposition 37, the California State Lottery Act of 1984, authorizing the creation of a lottery. On January 29, 1985, Gov. George Deukmejian appointed the first Lottery commissioners: William Johnston, Laverta Montgomery, John Price, Howard Varner, and Kennard Webster. Deukmejian appointed the first director, Mark Michalko, formerly Ohio Lottery legal counsel, in May 1985. The first lottery games were Scratchers; sales began on October 3, 1985. A weekly Lotto game began on October 14, 1986.
California joined Mega Millions on June 22, 2005; it became the 12th jurisdiction to offer the game, and the last to join before the 2010 cross-sell expansion with MUSL. A Mega Millions drawing was held in Hollywood to commemorate the event.
California, while initially never desiring to offer Mega Millions's rival Powerball, was briefly a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) because an "international" lottery game that would have included a number of US lotteries was planned; however, the game never came to fruition. However, in February 2012 the California Lottery initiated an impact analysis of the Powerball game, in preparation for a recommendation in July 2012. Subsequently, the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Business Plan includes funding for a launch of Powerball within the fiscal year.
Read more about this topic: California State Lottery
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