Missouri Lotteries

In November 1984, Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved the Missouri Lottery by passing Amendment 5, which repealed a section of the state's constitution prohibiting a lottery. In June 1985, SB44 passed the General Assembly with 70% of the vote, making the Missouri Lottery the 23rd lottery in the U.S. In January 1986, the first instant game ticket, Jackpot '86, went on sale to the public. The Lottery offers instant tickets as well as in-state and multi-state draw games.

Proceeds from the Lottery benefit Missouri public education and over the years have represented around 4% of the total funding for Missouri's public schools. Approximately 25% of the Lottery proceeds are distributed to public education.

A person must be 18 to play or purchase Missouri Lottery tickets. Lottery tickets must be purchased from a licensed Missouri Lottery retailer. The Lottery is prohibited from mailing tickets across state lines or selling tickets over the internet. A winner of the Lottery cannot remain anonymous; Missouri state law requires the Lottery to release a winner's name, their city of residence and the prize amount.

Missouri joined the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) on 25 September 1987, and after the U.S. Supreme Court approved the sales of (MUSL game) Lotto America on 5 January 1988, the Missouri Lottery started selling Lotto America tickets on 3 February. Later in 1988, on 2 August, Missouri voters approved Amendment 3, which removed and raised several Lottery restrictions, including the maximum prize payout.

On 10 May 1990, pull-tabs were first offered to the public.

On 19 April 1992, Powerball sales started, replacing the MUSL Lotto America game. Then, on 4 August, 78% of voters approved Amendment 11 designating Lottery proceeds to benefit public education. The Amendment went into effect on 1 July 1993.

On 24 January 2002, the Lottery Commission approved offering Club Keno, which was offered for sale on 28 May 2002. And on 1 July, the amount of time to redeem a winning ticket was reduced from one year to 180 days.

On 30 June 2009, the Lottery officially ended all pull-tab games and announced the beginning of the 180-day ticket redemption period.

On 31 January 2010, the Lottery began selling Mega Millions tickets after signing a MUSL agreement on 7 October 2009 to cross-sell Powerball and Mega Millions. On 7 June, Keno To Go was launched, which makes Club Keno available for sale at all retailers. On 28 July, Club Keno drawings were changed to run every four minutes, increasing the number of times the game can be played in an hour.

In September 2014, Gov. Jay Nixon moved to improve oversight of the Missouri Lottery by appointing five new lottery commissioners. The move for more oversight was a result of Missouri Lottery sales increasing while the distribution of revenue to the state was decreasing. Among the things the new commissioners will be examining are the marketing and prize pool budgets.