The Ohio Lottery will offer a first-of-its-kind multistate raffle later this year.
Called the Multi-state Millions Raffle, it’s guaranteed to hand out $1 million prizes — just how many depends on how many $10 tickets are sold in the participating states.
“All of the lotteries are looking for new ideas and new games and new things to do to generate revenue,” lottery spokeswoman Danielle Frizzi-Babb said. “This one comes with less financial risk. We’re in it with a large group.”
Seven states so far have committed to the raffle, which will be held Nov. 1.
The Multi-State Lottery Association in Urbandale, Iowa, will run the game. That group now oversees the Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries.
The participating states are: Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Oklahoma.
The Ohio Lottery will start selling tickets Sept. 8 through Oct. 31 at retailers.
Unlike Mega Millions and Powerball, in which the money keeps growing until someone matches six numbers, the raffle is guaranteed to hand out cash.
A computer will pull the winning ticket numbers, Frizzi-Babb said.
“Raffles are a popular concept and the must-be-won concept is popular with a lot of folks,” said Charles Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.
He said the plan is to hold the raffle — which will go by different names in different states — only once or twice a year.
The association estimates that there could be 16 to 30 $1 million prizes given out. If, for some reason, there’s no $1 million winner drawn from a participating state, there will be a $50,000 runner-up prize awarded to one winner from that state.
It’s not the first time that the Ohio Lottery has held a raffle. Last year, the state’s New Year’s Raffle had $9.1 million in sales and brought in a profit of $3.2 million. That raffle cost $20 a ticket and there was a limited number of tickets sold..
People can buy as many tickets as they want in the upcoming Multi-state Millions Raffle.
Frizzi-Babb said it’s not clear how much Ohio could profit from the venture. The lottery has estimated it could sell anywhere from $5 million to $10 million in tickets.
“This is something that really has never been done before,” she said.
The multistate raffle comes at a time when traditional lottery games such as scratch-off tickets are seeing a slight decline in sales and Ohio lawmakers are seeking a plan for how the lottery will compete with the new casinos.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.