Since its beginning in 1988, the Wisconsin Lottery has managed the Lottery fund with the following results*:
Player Prizes
($5.3 billion or 56.5% of revenue)
At least 50% of total revenue must be dedicated to prize winnings.
Retailer Commissions
($542.0 million or 5.8% of revenue)
This money goes to Wisconsin businesses.
Operational Expenses
($615.3 million or 6.6% of revenue)
Expenses include staff salaries. The Lottery has operated well below
the mandated limit of 10%.
Property Tax Relief
($2.9 billion or 31.1% of revenue)
This money has been returned to eligible Wisconsin taxpayers.
Over the years, the Wisconsin Lottery has generated more than $9.3 billion in total revenue. At least 95% of that revenue has gone back to the people of Wisconsin. That money stays in Wisconsin's economy for the good of everyone.
| September 14, 1988 | First Wisconsin Lottery games go on sale. Instant Game "Match 3" and Pull-tab "Wisconsin Red" launched. |  |
| February 25, 1989 | Money Game TV show first broadcast. | |
| August 10, 1989 | First lotto game launch, Megabucks Lotto *America, a multi-state game. |  |
| February 4, 1991 | SuperCash! is introduced. |  |
| April 19, 1992 | Powerball® is introduced, a new multi-state game. Replaces Megabucks Lotto *America game. |  |
| June 18, 1992 | Wisconsin's Very Own Megabucks game is launched. |  |
| September 21, 1992 | The Lottery launches Daily Pick 3. |  |
| July 7, 1993 | Fond du Lac school teacher Les Robins wins the largest Powerball® jackpot to date: $111 million. | |
| Robins goes to court to have the prize legally divided with his then-fiancee Colleen DeVries. The win helps cement the reputation of Fond du Lac's "Miracle Mile." | ||
| September 18, 1993 | Money Game 4 new lotto game launched. |  |
| February 14, 1994 | The First Wisconsin Lottery game with a price point above $1 is introduced. "Instant Scratch Bingo" sells for $5. | |
| August 3, 1996 | Money Game 4 lotto game ended. | |
| September 16, 1996 | Introduction of Daily Millions lotto game (no top prize winners). | |
| April 14, 1997 | Introduction of "Vegas Nights" instant Scratch game which is our longest lasting instant game. |  |
| September 15, 1997 | Daily Pick 4 is introduced. |  |
| March 29, 1998 | Daily Millions lotto game ends. | |
| March 30, 1998 | Cash 4 Life game introduced. Win $1,000 a week for life. |  |
| May 20, 1998 | Wisconsin is thrust into the national and international spotlight for selling the winning ticket in a $195 Million Powerball® drawing. Frank and Shirley Capaci of Streamwood, Illinois purchase the ticket from a small store in Pell Lake. The Capaci's take the cash option of 104.3 million. | |
| May 3, 1999 | "Crossword, Wisconsin's top selling instant scratch ticket is launched. | |
| September 7, 2000 | End of Cash 4 life game. There were a total of four winners during the duration of the game. | |
| September 8, 2000 | Money Roll a new lotto game is launched. |  |
| March 1, 2001 | "Power Play" multiplier feature is added to Powerball®. |  |
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| March 25, 2002 | End of Money Roll. There were a total of four winners of $500,000 for the duration of the game. | |
| March 26, 2002 | New lotto game City Picks is launched. |  |
| July 19, 2002 | Super Money Game Show is introduced. |  |
| October 6, 2002 | Powerball® changes white balls to 53 (from 49) and deletes the 1X multiplier. Annuity option changed to 30 payments made over 29 years. A new Powerball® Bonus prize is also added. When the jackpot reaches a "new" record amount, the jackpot will be limited to increase no more than $25 million for each drawing. For example the current record jackpot is $365 million, add only $25 million, so the bonus prize trigger amount is $390 million. The money collected in excess of the estimated jackpot amount will be placed in the bonus prize pool and will accumulate until there is a jackpot winner. It is then divided equally among all Match 5 winning plays, if there are none then the bonus prize pool will roll down to the match 4+1 prize level. | |
| February 15, 2003 | End of City Picks game. There were a total of sixteen winners of $500,000 for the duration of the game. | |
| February 17, 2003 | Badger 5 new lotto game is launched. |  |
| August 30, 2004 | The Lottery goes from using balls for the drawings to using a Random Number Generator (RNG). | |
| August 26, 2005 | First Wisconsin lottery's scratch-off with a price point of $20 is introduced. | |
| August 28, 2005 | The Powerball® matrix is changed from (5/53 + 1/42) to (5/55 + 1/42). The Power Play wheel is changed from 15 to 16 slots with the 2-5 multipliers occupying 4 slots each. | |
| October 4, 2005 | The Lottery adds support for Wisconsin Amber Alerts on retailer game terminals. | |
| October 23, 2005 | SuperCash! adds a doubler feature to every drawing, top prize is moved from $250,000 to $350,000. | |
| February 5, 2007 | Launch of the first combo ticket "Cash Bonus Double Play" a combination of scratch and pull-tab. |  |
| March 4, 2007 | The new game "Million Dollar Draw" is launched with a draw date of May 1, 2007. The lotto game is run like a raffle with a top prize of $1 million. 345,635 tickets out of 500,000 are sold. More raffles would follow. |  |
| 2008 | Wisconsin Lottery celebrates its 20th Anniversary with lots of special events, big prizes and larger payouts. |  |
Largest Wisconsin Jackpots: |
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Powerball | $208,600,000 on 8-5-2006 |
| Megabucks | $20,300,000 on 8-25-2001 | |
| Badger 5 | $288,000 on 6-6-2006 | |
