Idaho (ID) Lottery
In 1986 by initiative, the people of Idaho voted on the Lottery issue for the first time. The initiative resulted in a 60 to 40 percent "yes" margin, but was later declared unconstitutional by the Idaho Supreme Court. The Court prohibited the amending of the Idaho Constitution by initiative. However, in 1988 the Idaho Legislature authorized a vote by the electorate of Idaho in the upcoming general election. In November 1988, the Idaho Lottery act became law when 51% of Idaho voters approved a constitutional amendment repealing the constitutional ban on lotteries.
The Idaho Lottery and its statute were originally modeled after the Oregon Lottery. There is, however, a primary difference between the lotteries: Idaho is a traditional lottery and has no plans to expand to games that do not represent a traditional lottery.
The Idaho Lottery set a new industry record by implementing a lottery within 200 days. The first Idaho Lottery ticket was sold on July 19, 1989. On that first day of sales, players purchased more than 840,000 tickets throughout Idaho. That first year resulted in $65 million in sales and the first dividend check of $17,225,000 was given to the "People of the State of Idaho." That was a good sign of things to come.
Since its inception, the Idaho Lottery has offered lottery players more than 300 different scratch games. During the 2001 Fiscal Year, scratch sales ranked Idaho as 23rd in national per capita scratch sales. West of the Mississippi, Idaho ranked 10th in per capita scratch sales. That same year, scratch sales accounted for 63% of total Lottery sales.
Idaho (ID) Lottery Winners
Since its inception, thousands have won the Idaho Lottery and many have become millionaires. Click here for a comprehensive list of Idaho Lottery winners.
Idaho (ID) Lottery Games
- Wild Card 2
- Powerball
- Pick 3
- Scratch Games
- Pull-Tabs