Began on July 1, 1974, the Illinois Lottery is the official lottery for the state of Illinois. With a sales record of $129 million in the very first year, the Illinois lottery became an instant hit among the crowds. In the following years, sales dropped after the lottery craze wore off, which prompted some people to predict that it is the end of the lottery. In the year 1980, Pick 3, the first terminal was introduced by the Illinois lottery. People got excited about this new lottery game, resulting in whopping sales of the game. In its first year, Pick 3 sold a total of $164 million, showing that lottery can be a very entertaining and lucrative game if done right.

Illinois Lottery is also known as Illinois State Lottery and IL Lottery. The accounting firm E.C. Ortiz & Co., LLP takes care of all the accounting related to the IL lottery. Additionally, the accounting data is verified and audited by the Mayer Hoffman McCann; P.C. Illinois is the one and only state lottery that’s permitted to televise their non-multi-jurisdictinal drawings across the nation. For the most of its history, IL lottery has remained an independent, cabinet-level department. IL lottery is involved in many a charity activity including several special projects such as Illinois veterans welfare activities, breast cancer charity, research and help for the people suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In-house games currently offered by IL lottery:

The Illinois lottery offers several in-house draw games that are crowd-pullers. Illinois lottery stands by integrity and efficiency with organizing the games.

• Pick 3

Began as the ‘The Daily game’, Pick 3 was started on Feb 19, 1980. In the beginning, it was a single-drawing game drawn on Monday through Saturday evenings. The Illinois lottery introduced the Sunday drawings of this game on March 20, 1983. After a brief period of ten years, this game was expanded to 13 draws weekly with the inclusion of midday drawings. Three sets of balls from the numbers 0 to 9 are drawn in the Pick 3.

• Pick 4

An analogous game to the Pick 3, this game was inaugurated on Feb 16, 1982. In the first couple of years, this game was drawn on Tuesday and Friday evenings. Later, the game expanded to a bigger extent on Aug 27, 1984. From then, the drawings take place six nights every week. On March 9, 1985, the Sunday drawings were included making the game available every day of the week. Finally, on Dec 20, 1993, the games got an expansion to 13 draws weekly with the inclusion of midday games. Pick 4 includes the drawing of 4 sets of 10 balls from number zero through nine.

• Lotto

Began as a Saturday-only game, the Illinois Lotto was a 6/40 game. It then became a 6/44 game on May 19, 1984. In the current version of Illinois Lotto, a player needs to pick 6 numbers from a range of 52.

IL Lottery conducts a couple of multi-jurisdictional games which are the Powerball and Mega Millions.

FAQ

Q – Who is eligible to play the Illinois Lottery?

A – Anyone who is 18 years or older.

Q – Where can I play the Illinois lottery?

A – With a large statewide network of 8,200 retailers, you have a number of options where you can buy the tickets. Illinois lottery results can be found on different sources such as local news, newspapers, and many more

For details of Illinois lottery and latest news visit Illinois Lottery Official Website