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Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor |
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| 02/19/80 | Pick3 begins |
| 02/16/82 | Pick4 begins Tue & Fri |
| 02/19/83 | Lotto begins |
| 03/20/83 | Pick3 goes 7 days a week |
| 02/22/84 | Quick Pick available for Lotto |
| 05/19/84 | Lotto matrix changes to 6/44 |
| 08/27/84 | Pick4 6 days a week |
| 03/09/85 | Pick4 7 days a week |
| 12/01/85 | Lotto Advanced Play starts (Purchase 5,10 or 15 draws) |
| 12/01/85 | Quick Pick available for Pick3/Pick4 |
| 01/15/86 | 1st Wed night Lotto drawing |
| 02/19/86 | Lotto Subscription starts |
| 04/22/87 | Lotto7 begins on Wed night |
| 10/31/87 | 1st Lotto subscription winner |
| 05/04/88 | Last Lotto7 |
| 05/07/88 | Lotto matrix changes to 6/54 |
| 06/01/88 | Cash5 (Little Lotto) begins M/W/F nights |
| 04/15/89 | Largest Lotto jackpot ($69.9 mil split 4 ways) |
| 03/04/90 | Multi Draw starts (1-15 draws, replaced Advanced Play) |
| 12/20/93 | Midday drawings start |
| 11/07/94 | Little Lotto matrix changes to 5/30 |
| 02/15/95 | Little Lotto subscription starts |
| 06/21/95 | Largest Lotto to a single winner ($45 million) |
| 12/01/95 | Quick Pick available for Pick3/Pick4 |
| 09/06/96 | Start of the Big - Game matrix 5/50 Big Money Ball 1/25 |
| 01/17/98 | Cash Lump Sum offered |
| 01/17/98 | Lotto matrix changes to 6/48 |
| 02/10/98 | Begin of Tues night drawing for Big Game |
| 08/04/98 | Little Lotto drawings 5 nights a week |
| 01/13/99 | The Big Money Ball goes from 25 to 36 #'s |
| 04/14/99 | Lotto matrix changes to 6/52 |
| 05/26/99 | New Jersey joins The Big Game |
| 05/09/00 | Largest N. American Jackpot (BG $363 mil.) |
| 10/03/01 | Extra begins |
| 01/25/02 | 1000th Millionaire announced (Lotto 12/12/01-$9mil.) |
| 04/16/02 | 2nd largest N. American jackpot (BG $331 mil.) |
| 05/14/02 | Last drawing for The Big Game (Replaced by Mega Millions) |
| 05/15/02 | Mega Millions tickets go on sale matrix 5/52 |
| 05/15/02 | Ohio and New York join Mega Millions |
| 05/17/02 | 1st drawing for Mega Millions |
| 05/17/02 | 1st Mega Millions winner (Here in Illinois) |
| 09/04/02 | State of Washington joins the Mega Millions |
| 12/01/03 | Pick3 Double Draw runs for month of December |
| 12/03/03 | State of Texas joins the Mega Millions |
| 02/20/04 | The Mega Millions reaches the then highest jackpot of $239 million; winning ticket sold in Virginia. |
| 02/25/04 | “New Little Lotto” begins, featuring a new 5/39 matrix, rolling jackpots starting at $100,000, and a new prize level for matching just two numbers. |
| 03/08/04 | The Second-Annual Big Ticket (Boleto Gigante) promotion launches, with two lucky players winning expense-paid trips to the 2004 Latin Music Awards in Miami, Florida. |
| 04/12/04 | The Lottery launches its 30 th Anniversary $3 million Second Chance Promotion. This is the highest total prize money offered for a second-chance promotion in Illinois. Players have the chance to enter and win 20 weekly drawings for $100,000, and a Grand Prize drawing of $1 million. The Lottery hosts several events throughout the summer, including an “Anniversary Party” on July 1 with special guest J. J. Walker. The introduction of the “Have A Ball” advertising campaign featuring Bernie Mac has everybody saying, “Woo!” Seven new instant games featuring the 30 th Anniversary “Have A Ball” theme offer over $100 million in prizes. |
| 05/04/04 | The Lottery breaks another record, the all-time highest Instant Ticket sales for one-day of $3 million. |
| 06/28/04 | “Numbers Now” begins, replacing Extra for the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. Numbers Now features the same odds—and 20 percent higher prizes—as regular Pick 3 and Pick 4, with prizes that are paid instantly and “announced” via a terminal jingle. |
| 06/30/04 | The Lottery ends Fiscal Year 2004 with the highest-ever sales totaling $1.7 billion, and Common School Fund transfers of $570 million. |
| 07/02/04 | The Mega Millions reaches a high of $294 million, won by Geraldine Williams of Lowell, Massachusetts. This is the highest single-winner payout in the history of Mega Millions/Big Game. |
| 07/16/04 | “Sony Xtreme” instant ticket is launched, the first time the Lottery partners with Sony Corporation. This ticket offers the chance to instantly win one of 76 42-inch Plasma TVs (the first Plasma TV we’ve offered) or up to $25,000. |
| 09/23/04 | The Lottery holds its 30th Anniversary Grand Finale Drawing for $1,000,000. Karen Willemalck of Round Lake Park is the lucky winner. Throughout the promotion over 1.19 million entries are received. |
| 04/04/05 | Lottery adds Monday Lotto drawing. |
| 06/22/05 | California becomes the 12th state to offer Mega Millions tickets. The game matrix is changed to five numbers from 1 to 56, plus one number from 1 to 46. The 2nd place prize is increased to $250,000, while the 3rd place pirze grows to $10,000. Overall odds of winning a prize improve to 1 in 40, with jackpots starting at $12 million. |
| 06/30/05 | Illinois Lottery completes another record fiscal year (FY05). Highest-ever sales reached $1.84 billion, which allowed the Illinois Lottery to transfer a record amount of $614 million to the Common School Fund. Instant ticket sales had a record of $904 million. |
| 10/05 | The Lottery launches 19 day (Oct 1-19) Little Lotto Super Game promotion that offers daily prizes of trips for 4 to the Super football game to be held in Detroit in February 2006. The popular Battleship instant game (#406) is offered in mid-October. That same month, the Lottery launches the first of seven holiday-themed instant games. The $10 Merry Millionaire game (#415) is the first Lottery game that comes in books with alternating red and green tickets. Three retailers with $5,000 bonuses tied to sales of holiday instant games. |
| 11/01/05 | The Lottery caps its retailer selling bonus at $500,000, which is still one of the most generous in the industry. |
| 12/01/05 | The Lottery reintroduces its popular Green Ball Double Draw Pick 3 promotion. If a green ball is selected during the promotion, a 2nd set of winning Pick 3 numbers are drawn. |
| 12/31/05 | The final drawing of Numbers Now is held. |
| 01/06 | The Illinois Lottery launches “Ticket For the Cure,” a $2 instant game whose proceeds support the fight against breast cancer. This ticket is the first of its kind in the United States. |
| 02/06 | The Lottery launches $2 “Veterans Cash,” a first in the nation instant game that benefits Illinois veterans groups. |
| 03/27/06 | Pick ‘n Play is launched, a new online game that combines the best of both instant and online games. To play, customers selected one of more play cards (that look like instant games without a scratch area) and take tem to the Lottery counter for purchase/activation; the Lottery clerk scans the play card, producing an online ticket that that is used to play game against the play card. |
| 04/17/06 | Little Lotto/Pick ‘n Play promo launches. During the promo, consumers receive a coupon for a free $2 Lucky Dough Pick ‘n Play ticket with every $5, single-drawing Little Lotto ticket purchased. Over 1 million winning Pick ‘n Play tickets are paid out during the first six weeks of the game. A related retailer Pick ‘n Play promotion sees 180 clerks win iPods or Visa gift cards ($100 or $200); an additional 18 retailers win $1,000 bonuses. |
| 04/06 | The Lottery launches a huge, summer-long promotion called “Set for Life.” Under the promotion, consumers mail in $30 in eligible non-winning tickets for a chance to win one of 16 great, lifetime prizes. Pick ‘n Play online tickets, and a suite of six Set for Life instant games are eligible for the promotion. Consumers can either mail their non-winning tickets to Springfield, or enter via the Lottery’s website. Sixteen winners (one per week) will gather at a September finale event at Wrigley Field in Chicago, where the following prizes will be awarded” $100,000 a year for life (one prize); $7,000 a year for life (five prizes) and $3,500 a year for life (10 prizes). As part of the promotion, 32 retailers will each receive $3,000 bonuses. |
| 06/30/06 | The Lottery ends Fiscal Year 2006 with record sales of $1.989 billion, and record Common School Fund transfers of $670.5 million. |
| 07/11/06 | The Lottery reintroduces its popular Mega Tripler promotion from the past summer. During the promotion, Mega Millions tickets that win $10, $7, $3 or $2 and contain a promotional message pay out triple the amount. |
| 08/01/06 | The popular Green Ball Double Draw Pick 3 promotion is reintroduced—the first time it is offered during the summer. If a green ball is selected, a second set of winning Pick 3 numbers is drawn. |
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