Louisiana Lottery Celebrates Twenty Years of Winning Numbers
After being approved by voters by a seven-to-three margin in 1990 and subsequently launching its first scratch-off game in 1991, the Louisiana Lottery Corporation is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011 with a host of player promotions and games.
"For 20 years, we have been generating winning numbers that give Louisianans plenty of reasons to smile, including over $2.4 billion contributed to our state, more than $3 billion paid to winners and upwards of $365.4 million issued to retail partners since our inception," said Lottery President Rose Hudson. "Even considering today's economic realities, the Lottery continues to exceed revenue projections while transferring 35 percent of sales to help fund K-12 public education. That's the highest transfer
Louisiana Lottery games continue to be a popular pastime among adults. Fiscal year 2011 Lottery sales totaled $385 million, resulting in the Lottery's second best year ever.
"We take our players' trust in our products seriously. Toward that end, the Louisiana Lottery was the first lottery in the country to receive verification that our quality assurance procedures meet industry best practices, and we continue to receive an unqualified opinion from the legislative auditor," Hudson added. "This focus on integrity is something for which Louisiana can be proud."
Hudson credits much of the Lottery's success to creating new and exciting products that provide added value for players' entertainment dollar.
"Looking back, so much has changed over the past 20 years," said Hudson. "The Lottery now offers an online players club with exclusive second-chance promotions, partners regularly with other Louisiana brands, features state-of-the-art 24/7 touch-screen retailer equipment and interacts with thousands of players in the social media sphere. But one thing that hasn't changed is you can still play for only a buck."
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Lottery has been launching special promotions all year long. In January, social media fans and followers of the Lottery registered for a chance to win a parade ride giveaway by sharing their favorite Mardi Gras traditions on Facebook. Members of the Lottery's online players club, Club Lotteaux, also had a similar opportunity. The Lottery utilized social media to showcase carnival nostalgia, including sample artwork from its 20 years of past Mardi Gras-themed tickets.
In February, the Lottery brought back its popular raffle game with a new twist. Not only did Millionaire Bonus Raffle offer the Lottery's best odds to win $1 million, but players had a chance to win $20,000 in five preliminary bonus drawings. With this year's raffle game, the earlier players purchased their tickets, the more chances they had to win.
In the spring, the corporation sponsored a 20th Anniversary T-shirt Design Contest around the theme of its anniversary, "Twenty Years of Winning Numbers." Facebook fans voted for the grand prize winners, Cindy and Valerie Strecker of Slidell. Their artwork is showcased on the Lottery's official anniversary T-shirt.
On Sept. 6, the Lottery launched a special 20th Anniversary Collection of scratch-off games, including $5 Celebrate!, $2 Louisiana Treasures and $1 Play OH!. The games bring back nostalgia from some of the Lottery's first games ever launched 20 years ago. Retail establishments that have sold Lottery games since the corporation's inception in 1991 have also received special recognition throughout the year.
"It's a wonderful time to look back on how much the Louisiana Lottery has contributed to our state monetarily and culturally," Hudson noted, "as well as thank those business partners, employees and Louisianans who helped make it happen."