quick history
The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, the official lottery of Arkansas, began lottery sales in 2009 after voters approved the lottery’s creation through a 2008 ballot measure. As such, the AR Lottery is one of the youngest lotteries in the nation.
AR Lottery Blueprint
Arkansas Lottery History
In the beginning, the lottery only offered instant scratch-off games. Later, AR Lottery started selling tickets for Powerball in 2009 and Mega Millions in 2010.
Today, AR Lottery also offers players the chance to win big on other draw games like Decades of Dollars, Arkansas Million Dollar Raffle, Cash 4 and Cash 3.
Players can also enjoy simulated instant lottery games at retail lottery terminals. These “Fast Play” games offer the same thrill of a physical scratch-off in a convenient computerized form.
As evidenced by the “Scholarship” in its title, the AR Lottery is dedicated to providing scholarships and grants to students pursuing higher education at 2-year and 4-year schools within the state.
AR Lottery Guide
Scratch-Off games can be purchased at convenience stores and retailers throughout the state. Each game has its own rules, odds, and payouts. Instructions can be found on the front of the ticket and administrative details are printed on the back.
A Basic Arkansas Lottery Plan
The basic premise of all lottery games is more or less the same. The lottery regularly generates a random number, and players who purchased tickets for that game’s draw or matched the winning number can win big prizes, especially in bigger draw games like Powerball and Mega Millions.
Arkansas has its own statewide raffle game called the Arkansas Million Dollar Raffle. The rules of the Million Dollar Raffle are similar to prize drawings held at state fairs and other gatherings.
Unlike other raffle games, players do not choose their raffle ticket number. The numbers are determined by the order in which the tickets were purchased. The draw dates are also unconventional, as they depend on how quickly the raffle tickets sell out. The draw date is only announced after the last ticket is sold.
The Arkansas Million Dollar Raffle boasts the highest available odds of winning a million dollars among all the AR Lottery draw games.
Notable AR Lottery Winners
Due to its relative youth as a lottery program, the AR Lottery has not had many major lottery winners.
However, just two months after the AR Lottery began selling Powerball tickets in October 2009, one lucky person claimed a $25 million Powerball jackpot. Looks like someone had figured out his Arkansas Lottery plan.
Avoid fraud
Arkansas Lotto warns players to ignore any offers of foreign lottery winnings in emails. Historically, these emails have always been scams seeking to trick people into paying so-called processing fees in order to receive a promised, non-existent lottery jackpot.
AR Lotto officials remind players that even if such an offer were true, it is a federal crime to play foreign lotteries through long-distance methods such as mail and telephone communications.
AR residents should only purchase lottery tickets sponsored by the Arkansas Lottery. Any other ticket is fraudulent or illegal.
Arkansas Lottery Trivia
– Be careful when protecting lottery tickets. Lost, damaged or stolen tickets will void any winnings, even if other physical evidence, such as game tickets and receipts, can substantiate claims of ticket purchase. No tickets, no prizes.
– AR Lottery is the first state to begin computerized number generation for its internal lottery drawings. Many other lottery games, like Powerball and Mega Millions, use physical lottery balls to choose the winning number.