Texas Lottery

The Texas Lottery is the government-operated lottery available throughout Texas. It is operated by the Texas Lottery Commission, headquartered in downtown Austin.

History

The voters of Texas approved an amendment to the Texas Constitution in November 1991 authorizing lottery sales in Texas.

The Texas Lottery Commission created an unusual contest for the Lottery logo – designs from a contracted ad agency were pitted against designs from the general public. One logo from each source was placed in head to head competition, and the winning logo – a cowboy hat thrown high in celebration (still in current use) – was the public design (the winner was Susan Holten, from Carrollton).

The Lottery's first game was the scratch-off ticket Lone Star Millions, with the first ticket sold to then Gov. Ann Richards at Polk's Feed Store in Oak Hill. First-day sales of 23.2 million tickets set a then-world record, with first-week sales (ending June 5, 1992) also setting a world record.

Lotto Texas began sales on November 7, 1992, with the first drawing on November 14, 1992 and the first jackpot (from Schulenburg) won on November 28, 1992. By November 1993, Texas Lottery sales would exceed $1 billion, breaking the Florida Lottery's record set in 1989.

Texas

Texas /ˈtɛksəs/ (Spanish: Texas or Tejas [ˈtexas]) is a state in the United States of America. It is the second most populous and second largest state by area in the US. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares an international border with Mexico to the south and borders the states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²) and a growing population of over 27.5 million residents (July 2015).

Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest United States metropolitan statistical areas, respectively. Other major cities include Austin (the state capital) and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify Texas as a former independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. The "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state flag and on the Texan state seal. The origin of the state name, Texas, is from the word, "Tejas", which means 'friends' in the Caddo language.