Games cost $2 the minimum jackpot is $1,000,000. As with Mega Millions or Powerball, Megabucks utilizes a 5+1 format it draws 5 of 41 numbers from the first machine, and 1 of 6 from the second. Megabucks became Megabucks Plus on July 26, 2009, then switched back as Megabucks in the late 2010s. The original Megabucks, a "classic" six-number game, began in 1985. Pick 3 and Pick 4 are numbers games played twice daily, including Sundays. These games are always drawn in New Hampshire: New Hampshire's version of lottery keno, called "Keno 603" (the state's area code) launched on December 15, 2017. Current draw games Īll of New Hampshire's draw games are shared with other lotteries, with the exception of Keno. In September 2018, the New Hampshire Lottery offered online lottery products for the first time. Tickets were sold mostly in the state's liquor stores. Initially, the New Hampshire Sweepstakes was conducted by Thoroughbred horse races at Salem's Rockingham Park, with the winning numbers based on the races, rather than simply drawing numbers from a barrel or using ping pong balls, to avoid violating US anti-lottery statutes. One author would later paraphrase this as "Only 13 of the state's 211 communities voted disapproval of the measure." Sweepstakes tickets went on sale two days later, on March 12, 1964. Only 12 towns out of 224 ( New London, Canterbury, New Hampton, Brookfield, Dummer, Lyman, Monroe, Piermont, Hollis, Sharon, Durham and Madbury) voted against the measure, as did one of the 78 city wards (Ward 5 in Concord). Ī special election, on March 10, 1964, allowed residents of New Hampshire's cities and towns to vote for or against the sale of Sweepstakes tickets. The New Hampshire Sweepstakes was approved by the New Hampshire General Court (state legislature) in 1963, at the urging of Representative Larry Pickett, from Keene, who had proposed the idea five times over the prior decade. Commission members are nominated by the Governor of New Hampshire for three-year terms and must be approved by the Governor's Council. Initially known as the Sweepstakes Commission, its first members were sworn into office on August 1, 1963.
The state's lottery is overseen by the three-member New Hampshire Lottery Commission. Established in 1985, the Tri-State Lottery was the nation's first multi-jurisdictional lottery. New Hampshire is also a member of the Tri-State Lottery, operated in conjunction with the Maine Lottery and Vermont Lottery. New Hampshire is part of the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), having joined it in 1995. All New Hampshire Lottery games require players to be at least 18 years old. New Hampshire's lottery games include Lucky for Life, Mega Millions, Powerball, Tri-State Megabucks Plus, and numerous scratch tickets. The New Hampshire Lottery was established in 1964, making it the third-oldest lottery in the United States, and the oldest in the contiguous United States.