Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

Lottery board approves Lucky for Life game 

CHEYENNE (AP) — WyoLotto players could have a new draw game to play by this fall after the Wyoming Lottery Corp. board of directors on Thursday unanimously approved adding the Lucky for Life game to the three currently offered.

Lottery CEO Jon Clontz said he hoped Lucky for Life tickets could be sold in the state by October or November.

Lucky for Life is similar to Powerball in that players pick six numbers. Matching all six numbers wins the jackpot. The ticket costs $2.

Lucky for Life is different in that the jackpot prize is $1,000 a day for the life of the winner, who has the option of taking $5.75 million in cash up front instead. Second prize is $25,000 a year for life.

WyoLotto began selling Powerball and Mega Millions tickets in 2014 and added the in-state Cowboy Draw game last year. By law, all the WyoLotto games must be draw games.

Lottery officials say Lucky for Life has better winning odds than Powerball and Mega Millions. While Lucky for Life’s odds aren’t as good as the Cowboy Draw game, its tickets are $3 less than Cowboy Draw.

Montana and Idaho already offer the game, and the Colorado Lottery is looking to add it this summer, Clontz said.

Clontz said staff research indicates adding Lucky for Life won’t hurt overall WyoLotto ticket sales and should boost WyoLotto earnings.

“We’re always thinking about, within the confines of draw games, what kind of things can we put out there that won’t cannibalize and will have more interesting, exciting jackpot prizes and so on,” Clontz said. “So this is a game we think will do that, and we are pretty confident it will produce, or we wouldn’t be recommending it.”

He said the new game should boost WyoLotto payments to cities, towns and counties by about $100,000 per quarter.

State law requires the first $6 million of lottery proceeds to be distributed to cities, towns and counties on a quarterly basis. After paying off its private startup loans, WyoLotto’s first quarterly payment is scheduled to be made next month. The payment is expected to be about $1 million.