Tri-State Lottery

Tri-State Lottery refers to terminal-generated games offered specifically by the Maine, New Hampshire, and/or Vermont lotteries. It was the first multi-jurisdictional lottery, with its initial drawing (of the-then Megabucks) on September 14, 1985. The compact includes five games: Megabucks Plus (drawn Wednesdays and Saturdays); Pick 3 and Pick 4 (both have "day" and "night" drawings daily, including Sundays), Gimme 5 (drawn Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), and Fast Play (terminal-generated "instant" tickets); the latter are games that often differ among the three states.

Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont offer individual instant (scratch) games, although the lotteries are working on a joint instant game, which would be similar to Midwest Millions, a MUSL-sponsored instant game which had been available in Iowa and Kansas.

Prior to the Tri-State compact, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont individually operated online games, including pick-3 and pick-4 games. Maine currently offers a poker-style game that is drawn every few minutes.

With Maine (a Multi-State Lottery Association member from 1990-1992) returning to MUSL in 2004, all three lotteries offer Powerball. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont also participate in the 46-jurisdiction Mega Millions, which New Hampshire and Vermont joined on January 31, 2010, as part of both major games' cross-sell expansion. (Maine joined Mega Millions on May 9, 2010.) Maine and New Hampshire also offer MUSL's Hot Lotto (played similar to Mega Millions or Lucky for Life), which is offered by 14 lotteries; Vermont ended sales of Hot Lotto in May 2014. Online games featuring an annuity prize allow winners to choose cash or annuity payments.

Tri-State games are not directly part of MUSL, although the Iowa-based organization assists with multi-jurisdictional games. Hot Lotto and Powerball are operated by MUSL, while Mega Millions is not. Hot Lotto is drawn in Iowa using a random number generator, while Mega Millions′ draws are held in Georgia, Lucky for Life draws are held in Connecticut, where the game began in 2009 as Lucky4Life; and Powerball draws are in Florida; the latter three games use tradional drawing machines and numbered balls. Lucky for Life became a "quasi-national" game in January 2015; as of 2017 it is available in 22 states and the District of Columbia, with an additional three states planning to join.

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