The Maine Lottery is run by the government of Maine. It is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), whose flagship game is Powerball.
Maine originally joined MUSL in 1990, before the Iowa-based organization began Powerball; Maine pulled out two years later, when Powerball was introduced. Maine did not rejoin MUSL until 2004. (Powerball drawings moved to Florida in 2009, although MUSL headquarters remain in Iowa). MUSL's smaller jackpot game Hot Lotto is Maine's first continuing draw game to have its winning numbers drawn via random number generator (RNG) instead of using traditional lottery balls.
An agreement was reached on October 13, 2009, for Mega Millions and Powerball to be available through every US lottery. Maine began sales of Mega Millions on May 9, 2010, after most lotteries began offering both games on January 31, 2010. The Portland Press Herald, on March 31, 2010, reported that the Supplemental Budget had passed; it included a provision to require Maine to join Mega Millions on May 9, 2010. WCSH-TV (NBC) in Portland reported that Gov. Baldacci signed the Supplemental Budget on March 31, 2010.
Currently, Mega Millions and Powerball are offered by 44 lotteries each; 43 offer both games (California offers Mega Millions only, while Florida offers Powerball but not also Mega Millions.) Since rejoining MUSL in 2004, Maine has not sold a Powerball jackpot ticket; it also has yet to produce a Mega Millions jackpot winner. Maine's largest lottery prize was in Lotto*America during its first incarnation with MUSL.
All of Maine's draw games are shared with other lotteries; its "smallest" online games are those offered by the Tri-State Lottery; whose drawing games, also available in Vermont and New Hampshire, are always drawn in New Hampshire. Maine also offers scratch tickets.
Read more about Maine Lottery: Maine Lottery Drawings On TV
Famous quotes containing the words maine and/or lottery:
“On a late-winter evening in 1983, while driving through fog along the Maine coast, recollections of old campfires began to drift into the March mist, and I thought of the Abnaki Indians of the Algonquin tribe who dwelt near Bangor a thousand years ago.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“The recent attempt to secure a charter from the State of North Dakota for a lottery company, the pending effort to obtain from the State of Louisiana a renewal of the charter of the Louisiana State Lottery, and the establishment of one or more lottery companies at Mexican towns near our border, have served the good purpose of calling public attention to an evil of vast proportions.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)