ON AVERAGE, THE MONTANA LOTTERY PAYS OUT $62,369 EVERY DAY TO OUR WINNERS. THAT'S A LOT OF WINNING! BUT IT ALL STARTED WITH A SIMPLE IDEA MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO....
The Montana Lottery has generated $302 million to benefit the State of Montana since we began in 1987. We’ve paid out more than $774 million in prizes to our winners – the vast majority of which are Montanans.
On average, we’ve paid out $62,369 every single day that we’ve been in business to our winners.
But the Montana Lottery almost never happened.
The idea of starting a lottery in Montana was the brain child of longtime Butte state Rep. Bob Pavlovich. Pavlovich and Butte Sen. Lawrence Stimatz sponsored a bill in the 1985 Montana Legislature to create a lottery for Montana.
“The bill died,” Pavlovich said.
In the final days of the session, Pavlovich went to the lawmakers who opposed it and asked if they would stand in the way of creating a legislative referendum – a legislative vehicle carrying the weight of law in which lawmakers ask voters to decide on a matter. With just days left to go in the session, Pavlovich garnered the 75 legislative signatures necessary and Legislative Referendum 100 was born.
Montanans had to wait more than a year – until Nov. 4, 1986 – to vote on the creation of a lottery, but when they did, the voters spoke decisively. The referendum passed in all 56 counties, carried by 69 percent of vote.
The Montana Lottery sold its first ticket on June 24, 1987. The enthusiasm Montanans had for the Lottery they created was evident on the first day: The state sold a record 1.1 million lottery tickets on its opening day of sales – a figure that comes out to $1.28 per Montana citizen and a new record for per capita, opening day lottery sales in the United States.
The Montana Lottery began selling only one thing: A $1 Scratch ticket called “Pot of Gold.” Gov. Ted Schwinden bought the first two tickets ever sold. He was standing on a flatbed truck at the Montana Lottery kick-off event a few blocks from the Montana Capitol in Helena. Schwinden didn’t win, but four hours away, another Montanan, Shirley Waldo, of Billings, also bought a ticket. Waldo won the state’s first ever jackpot -- $10,000 – on tickets she bought the very first day Montana Lottery tickets were sold.
On average, we’ve paid out $62,369 every single day that we’ve been in business to our winners. When we first began, there was no Powerball, no Montana Millionaire, no Treasure Play or sports wagering. We didn’t even sell more than one kind of Scratch ticket! That first year, we sold $21.8 million in Lottery tickets. Last fiscal year 2021, we sold $112.6 million. We’ve grown our sales by 417 percent, while maintaining relatively the same number of employees as we had back in 1987.
We were created to generate revenue – and fun! – for the citizens of Montana. Over the last three decades, state lawmakers have changed the state programs funded by our revenues. Since the 1990s, our revenues have gone to the Montana General Fund, where lawmakers use our revenues – along with all other state revenues – to fund the majority of state government and programs. The law that created us called for 45 percent of our revenue to be paid back out as prizes. We’ve delivered – and then some.
We are proud of the work we do on behalf of Montanans. We are proud of the integrity of our Lottery. And we are proud of the fun we’ve had making winners in Montana since 1987.