Virginia Lottery
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1987 |
| Type | Independent |
| Headquarters | 900 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219 |
| Minister responsible |
|
| Parent agency | Commonwealth of Virginia |
| Website | www |
The Virginia Lottery is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was created in 1987 when Virginians voted in favor of a state lottery. The first ticket was sold on September 20, 1988. All profits from Virginia Lottery ticket sales go to K-12 public education. In Fiscal Year 2015, the Lottery's profits totaled $533.8 million, which accounted for approximately 8 percent of school funding in Virginia. That brought total Lottery profits in Virginia (from 1989 to June 2015) to more than $10 billion.
Daily draw games include Pick 3, Pick 4, and Cash 5; each of which is drawn twice daily. The Virginia Lottery also offers numerous scratchers. It is one of 46 lotteries which sells Mega Millions tickets, and one of 47 offering Powerball. Cash4Life is drawn Mondays and Thursdays; Mega Millions is drawn Tuesdays and Fridays, while Powerball is drawn Wednesdays and Saturdays. Bank A Million is also drawn Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Lottery maintains elaborate security procedures to protect the integrity of its games.
The Lottery's headquarters is in downtown Richmond; additional customer service centers are in Abingdon, Farmville, Hampton, Harrisonburg, Henrico, Roanoke, and Woodbridge.
Lotteries date back to the earliest days of Virginia. "The Great Virginia Lottery" was held long before Virginia became a state. It began in 1612 to help raise funds for the struggling Jamestown Settlement; it raised ₤29,000 for the Virginia Company. Lottery proceeds helped establish early universities (including Virginia's College of William and Mary and University of Virginia), churches, and libraries. Gambling was outlawed in Virginia in 1849.
Virginia voters approved a government-run lottery in 1987. Before the vote, supporters of a lottery suggested a number of possible ways in which lottery profits could be designated in Virginia, such as education, transportation and Chesapeake Bay cleanup. However, the referendum made no designation of how lottery profits would be spent. Sales began September 20, 1988. In 1989, the General Assembly directed Lottery proceeds to capital construction projects. From 1990 to 1998, the proceeds went to Virginia's General Fund. Starting in 1999, a provision in Virginia's budget called for all proceeds to be assigned exclusively to education. In November 2000, Virginia voters approved the creation of the State Lottery Proceeds Fund by an 83.5-point margin. The measure, which is a permanent part of Virginia's Constitution, directs the General Assembly to use all Lottery profits for educational purposes. The Lottery does not control how its profits are spent.
...
Wikipedia