Along with marking the nation’s birthday on July 4, there’s another celebration taking place this week. The Illinois Lottery’s 50th birthday was July 1.
Since its inception, it’s been a bonanza for the Land of Lincoln. First year sales of mainly Lotto tickets topped $129 million from sales of some 100 million tickets.
Compare that to today’s earnings, where all the games of chance offered generate about $3 billion per year. The state collects more than $700 million of that, with the rest going to winners, marketing and the Lottery’s 7,000 ticket retailers.
“The Illinois Lottery started our journey back in July of 1974 and was the first state to air a drawing live on television,” Harold Mays, Illinois Lottery director, said in a statement. “When we look back on all these years, there is so much nostalgia, excitement, and history to be proud of.
“Our rich history is what made the Illinois Lottery what it is today, and we continue to strive to make a difference in local communities across the state of Illinois,” he added.
Mays noted that since 1985, the lottery has contributed more than $24 billion to the Common School Fund, which remains the lottery’s major benefactor, to assist funding for K-12 public schools.
It was in the early ‘70s when Illinois officials were looking for more tax revenue, and in 1974 they settled on a statewide lottery. Lottery profits first were shoveled into the state’s General Revenue Fund. In 1985, the legislature made sure most of the profits went toward school funding.
From the weekly Lotto game (there are now three drawings a week), the lottery over the years has expanded to include several daily games, the twice-weekly Mega Millions and the thrice-weekly Powerball, and “instant” tickets. And during the same period, the price of tickets has risen.
The lottery has an operating budget of about $30 million a year, and employs 152 people. It has been privatized since 2018.
State lottery games also helped make gambling more palatable for Illinoisans, ushering in first riverboat gaming sites, then videogaming which has turned neighborhood bars and eateries into mini-casinos. Eventually, land-based casinos, such as The Temporary in Waukegan and Bally’s in Chicago’s Loop, have spread across the state, and finally sports books.
Left behind in this gaming gold rush is the state’s once-solid horseracing industry. Gone are several racetracks, including Arlington Park, the legendary and premier course in Arlington Heights which was leveled by the Chicago Bears organization.
Yet, thanks to the lottery’s humble beginnings, the state has become a real player in the gaming industry. For good or evil.
Even with the odds against us, the lottery also has made a lot of Prairie State residents rich and they don’t have to be identified as mega-winners, unless they want to. That must keep relatives from coming round asking for a slice of the winnings.
Like the anonymous winners of a million bucks who hit the May 20 Lotto drawing with a ticket purchased at the BP gas station at Route 41 and Wadsworth Road in Wadsworth. For selling the winning ticket, the station receives a bonus of 1% of the prize amount, $10,000.
According to the lottery, so far this year more than 2.9 million winning Lotto tickets have been sold, with total prizes amounting to more than $35.4 million. Another unnamed lucky Illinois lottery winner took home an epic prize of $552 million in the May 4 multistate Mega Millions game after playing online. It was the largest jackpot won in an online lottery. The Illinois Lottery has offered online sales since 2012.
The prize was the ninth-largest Mega Millions in the game’s history, and the second-largest prize ever won in Illinois, according to lottery officials. In July 2022, a ticket bought at a gas station in Des Plaines won a $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot. That remains the benchmark for the largest lottery prize ever won in Illinois.
“I’ve always dreamed of retiring early and enjoying life with my family,” the new multimillionaire told lottery officials. “I think it’s safe to say my dream just came true.”
Which is the allure for those of us who play the lottery games daily and weekly. Occasionally, you hit a $2 winner or $5 scratch-off.
That’s enough to keep the “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”– as Robin Leach used to promise — alive. Maybe there’s some luck available for us in the lottery’s next 50 years for, as the man says, “You can’t win if you don’t play”.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
Twitter: @sellenews