West Virginia Lottery Commission Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Nearly $2 Billion Powerball Jackpot Sparking Lottery Fever

Wednesday’s $1.73 billion Powerball jackpot has old and new lottery players coming out of the woodwork.

West Virginia Lottery Director John Myers said the second largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history has ticket machines and lottery vendors working overtime.

“You’ll see lines in some cases to purchase tickets,” Myers said. “We have a group of base players that do play regularly, but when the jackpot is a higher number, usually around $400 million or so, we start seeing other people that don’t normally play, start buying tickets.”

Myers said with a giant jackpot like this, the office pools for Powerball tickets gain more members.

“The joke is you always want to make sure you get in the pool,” he said. “Because you’re not going to want to be the only person that has to show up for work tomorrow.”

Myers said when you see the winning numbers on your ticket, be sure to immediately sign the back, since it instantly becomes a bearer instrument.

“If it would be lost and picked up by somebody else, and your name’s not on the back of it, they could cash your ticket.” Myers said. “So, please sign your ticket, then put it in a very safe place, and then seek guidance from one, an attorney and two, a financial adviser.”

Myers said about $200 million a year from lottery ticket sales goes back into three statute-designated state programs.

“It goes to education, senior citizens and tourism,” Myers said. “Also, if that $1.73 billion was hit here in West Virginia, there would be a 6 percent personal income tax that would go into the state coffers as well, so that would be a significant number.”

Perhaps the most significant number, Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot whittles down to a cash value of a little more than $750 million.

The odds of hitting that jackpot are one in 292.2 million. Good Luck!

January 9, 1986: West Virginia Sells First Lottery Tickets

On January 9, 1986, West Virginia sold its first “scratch-off” lottery tickets. The state lottery had been authorized by an amendment to the state constitution, passed by voters in 1984.

As the number of lottery games expanded, so did revenues. Within eight years, instant ticket sales had increased by 336 percent and would eventually bring in more than a billion dollars a year.

Lottery profits were initially transferred to the state’s general fund but were later dedicated to specific programs benefiting senior citizens, tourism, and education, including PROMISE scholarships.

In 1994, lawmakers broadened the lottery’s scope by allowing slot-machine-style video lottery terminals at racetracks. Voters in the counties with racetracks approved the change. In addition, an online game, Travel Keno, was approved for designated sites that sold alcohol.

In 2001, the legislature outlawed so-called “gray machines,” private video gaming machines that previously had operated on the fringe of the law; 9,000 video lottery terminals were authorized in their place. By 2005, video lottery sales represented more than 70 percent of the lottery’s total revenues. In 2007, the legislature added table games at racetracks and certain hotels.

Lottery Official: More Casinos Work to Get Sports Betting

A West Virginia lottery official says more casinos are working to start offering sports betting.

Lottery Deputy Director Doug Buffington told Lottery Commission members Tuesday that the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in Chester has paid the $100,000 annual licensing fee.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Mardi Gras Casino and Resort and Wheeling Island will soon conduct field tests of sports betting equipment.

The only two casinos offering sports betting so far are Hollywood Casino and The Greenbrier.

West Virginia collected more than $198,000 from sports betting wagers in September. That is 10 percent of the revenue that casinos earned from sports betting.

West Virginia Lottery Commission Sets Sports Betting Rules

West Virginia’s lottery commission has set its rules for sports betting in the state, and its director says the goal is to have sports wagering underway by football season.

The rules were approved at an emergency meeting Thursday, media outlets reported. West Virginia Lottery Director Alan Larrick said the rules give the state’s five casinos plenty of time to become familiar with the regulations.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to get sports betting available by football season — that’s what our goal is,” Larrick said. “We don’t know if we’re going to make it or not, but we’re going to try.”

West Virginia passed its sports betting law earlier this year, shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal law that had banned most sports betting.

The rules spell out what information casinos have to supply to the Lottery and what they need to do to stay within compliance, Larrick said.

“Our focus is going to be auditing, so we can be sure the numbers that are given by the casinos are accurate,” he said. “Then, we can base our (tax collection) on the correct number.”

Regarding security, the rules task casino operators to have controls in place to uncover any unusual betting activity “and report such activity according to the integrity monitoring system procedures” that were approved by the commission.

Additionally, casinos have to make sure off-site wagers are from people actually present in West Virginia at the time of the wager. The operator is required to use geolocation technology “to reasonably detect” the location of whoever is accessing sports betting online.

Sports betting on casino premises has to be done from a booth located in a sports wagering lounge, or sportsbook, that meets necessary requirements, or other locations as approved by the Lottery, the rules say.

But casinos need to construct those facilities first, so the rules also address interim sports betting licenses for casinos. This allows them to get in on the sports betting action even if their sportsbook is still under construction, Larrick said.

Powerball Ticket Worth $1M Sold in West Virginia

A Powerball ticket sold in northern West Virginia is worth $1 million from the latest drawing.

The West Virginia Lottery says on its website that a ticket sold at a convenience store in Shinnston matched the first five numbers in Saturday’s drawing. The winner had not claimed the ticket as of Monday.

The numbers drawn were 22, 23, 24, 45 and 62. The Powerball was 5.

Because there was no jackpot winner from Saturday, the jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing climbed to $130 million.

Lottery Revenues Down $27M, Mostly at Racetracks

The West Virginia Lottery finished the just-completed budget year with gross revenues that were down more than 2 percent from the previous year.

Citing a monthly revenue report by the state Lottery Commission, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that most of the overall revenue decline was from video lottery at the state’s four racetrack casinos.

Overall, the West Virginia Lottery gross revenues fell by more than $27 million to $1.136 billion.

Video lottery revenues dropped about 3.5 percent to $537.7 million for the 2015-16 budget year, while the racetracks also saw revenues decrease by more than 7 percent to $43.5 million.

Officials say sales of traditional online and scratch-off games increased by about 4.5 percent, thanks in large part by several large Powerball and MegaMillions jackpots.