The minimum age to purchase a Florida Lottery ticket, regardless of game, is 18.
It began operation on January 12, 1988 by order of a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters by a 2-to-1 margin in the general election of November 4, 1986. The point of the Lottery is to give extra funding to state education, and it was mandated that a significant proportion of all revenue generated by ticket sales go to the Education Enhancement Trust Fund. The Bright Futures scholarship program is funded by the Florida Lottery.
The first game offered by Florida Lottery was Millionaire, a $1 Scratch-Off game with a US$1 million annuity prize. Seventeen days of ticket sales allowed for the Lottery Commission to repay with interest the initial US$15.5 million bond from Florida's General Revenue Fund that got it going.
The first On-line number-drawing games offered by the Florida Lottery were Cash 3 and Florida Lotto, which both started on April 29, 1988. Florida Lotto, the six-number game with multi-million-dollar USD jackpots, had its initial jackpot at US$2 million, and was played every Saturday initially, with the first drawing being April 30. From that point on, jackpots would start at $6 million and rollover, or increase, if no one won. Josie Moore of Port Charlotte, Florida, won the first jackpot on May 28. It was worth US$14 million, and paid in an annuity of 20 yearly payments. Cash 3 had a US$500 jackpot.
On September 3, Sheelah Ryan of Winter Springs, Florida, won the largest single lottery jackpot in world history to that point, a jackpot of US$55.16 million. She was the 10th FLORIDA LOTTO WINNER. However, the Florida Lotto cash option was still 10 years away. She died before receiving all her winnings.
On April 28, 1989, the Florida Lottery expanded with Fantasy 5, a five-number on-line drawing game played every Tuesday and Friday initially. Its jackpots were typically in the tens of thousands of dollars, but had reached over $1 million through rollovers.
The first US$100 million FLORIDA LOTTO jackpot in world history came about on the September 14, 1990, drawing. Six players split a US$106.5 million jackpot, each getting $17.75 million. That day, the Florida Lottery set a record with US$30 million in revenue from LOTTO alone.
In 1991, a daily four-number On-line game, PLAY 4, is introduced on July 4, with a top prize of $5,000. December 10 sees the advent of the FLORIDA LOTTO month, where minimum jackpots and rollovers were guaranteed at US$10 million for the Christmas season.
On September 27, 1993, the first $2 Scratch-Off game, BINGO, was introduced. Through variants, it is the longest-running Scratch-Off game in the Florida Lottery.
On January 24, 1994, FANTASY 5 expanded to every weeknight. On May 22, the first FLORIDA LOTTO mail-in promotion began where losing tickets could be mailed in for a prize. Called the Great LOTTOMOBILE Giveaway, 50 tickets each won their holders a 30th Anniversary 1995 Ford Mustang.
In October 1995, the Florida Lottery launched Flamingo Fortune, a game show where people who sent in losing Scratch-Off tickets were selected to play for lucrative prizes.
On February 28, 1996, Barbara Arens of Clearwater, Florida, was announced as the first grand prize winner of the Win for Life $2 Scratch-Off game. FLSLOTTERY She is guaranteed a payout of US$1,000 per week for the remainder of her life, paid out in annual installments of US$52,000, with a guaranteed total payout of US$1 million should she die before she reaches that amount.
The 500th FLORIDA LOTTO drawing occurred on November 29, 1996, with a jackpot of US$26 million. It rolled over twice before being won by PAPI-AMOR Partnership of Lake Worth.
The Lottery celebrated its 10-year anniversary on January 12, 1998. To that point it had grossed US$21 billion in sales and given US$8 billion to Florida education. On February 25 of that year, they began MEGA MONEY, a four-plus-one On-line drawing game played every Tuesday and Friday with jackpots in the hundreds of thousands of dollars USD. Initially rolled out on an 18-week trial run, it was relaunched on a permanent basis on June 1, 1998.
Later in 1998, FLLLOTTERY began its cash option, with the annuity lengthened to 30 annual payments.
On February 2, 1999, Florida Governor Jeb Bush declined an offer to join the multi-state Powerball Lottery.
On October 24, 1999, FLORIDA LOTTO underwent major changes. It was increased from a 6x49 matrix to a 6x53 matrix, and increased to two nights a week, adding Wednesday. Its initial jackpot was reduced to US$3 million with lower initial rollovers. FANTASY 5 followed suit on July 16, 2001, increasing to a 5/36 matrix from a 5/26 matrix and changing to a rolldown format.
On September 8, 2003, FLLLOTTERY the largest unclaimed Florida Lottery ticket in the Lottery's 15-year history expired after the 180-day deadline with no one claiming the ticket. The FLORIDA LOTTO ticket was worth an estimated $53.7 million. ($30.1 million Cash Amount). Note that while Florida Lotto (and Mega Money beginning in 2004) jackpot winners have roughly six months to claim their prizes, if they want to be paid in lump sum, they must claim within 60 days of the drawing, unlike most states, which start the clock when the ticket is claimed.
On January 28, 2004, FLLLOTTERY Mega Money was revamped. Instead of 4/32 + 1/32 matrix, it moved to a 4/44 + 1/22 matrix. Also, the jackpot was changed from all-cash to 20 annual payments with cash option.
In 2005, a new online ticket package called Grouper was made available with the statewide rollout of new ticket sales terminals, manufactured by GTech. For $5, a player can get quick-picks of each of the five online games (Cash 3, Play 4, Fantasy 5, Mega Money and Lotto), each for the next available drawing, then a free ticket for a major game (Fantasy 5, Mega Money or Lotto) chosen at random.
On March 20, 2006 a new play option called "EZmatch" was added to FANTASY 5. For an extra dollar players could win up to US$500 instantly, by matching their FANTASY 5 numbers to the random EZmatch numbers.
To date, the Florida Lottery has raised US$17 billion for public education FLLLOTTERY.
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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BettingExpress.com - betting lines
Betting Express is regarded as one of the BEST sports betting lines sites on the web and as they are one of the oldest sports books in operation and their great reputation for fast payouts and friendly customer service! They are also a players favorite because they give out 4 free $10 bets each month, sometimes more!
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