 Hot Lotto is administered by the United States' Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which also operates the Powerball lottery game. As of November 1, 2007, Hot Lotto is available in 11 of the 31 MUSL jurisdictions (10 states and the District of Columbia; see list below). It began in April 2002, as a way of MUSL celebrating the 10th anniversary of Powerball. It also gives lotteries an opportunity to create the "middle-sized" jackpots found in the larger single-state games.
Hot Lotto drawings are held every Wednesday and Saturday (the same drawing days as Powerball) at MUSL's headquarters within Screenscape Studios in (West Des Moines), Iowa. Normally, the Hot Lotto drawing is immediately following the 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time (9:59 p.m. Central; 8:59 p.m. Mountain; 7:59 p.m. (Pacific) drawing of Powerball. Unlike Powerball, Hot Lotto drawings are not televised, and are drawn with a computerized RNG (using radioactive material, rather than the usual kind of RNG, since "true" computerized drawings are very unpopular with lottery players) instead of a traditional rubber ball/gravity mix or air mix and ping pong ball machine.
The Hot Lotto jackpot for Wednesday, November 14, 2007, is an estimated $6,840,000 (annuitized); the cash option, which is a "floating percentage" of the annuity which varies according to interest rates, is $4,120,000. The most recent jackpot win was on August 4, 2007 on two tickets; one bought in Minnesota (its fifth Hot Lotto jackpot winner), the other in New Mexico (its first), the only time so far a Hot Lotto drawing produced multiple jackpot winners. Each ticket was worth approximately $990,000 (annuitized) or $588,818 cash. The Minnesota winner came forward on August 8, 2007 and chose the cash option; the New Mexico ticket holder later claimed their prize, and also chose cash. There have been 28 rollovers since the jackpot was last won.
The record for the game's largest prize belongs to John Hall of Indianola, Iowa; he won just under US$20 million in the January 13, 2007 drawing. He chose the cash option of about $11.9 million.
Playing the game
To play the game, a player pays one dollar (US$1) and picks five distinct numbers from 1-39 plus one additional number (the “Hot Ball”) from 1-19 drawn from a separate pool. (The "Hot Ball" in any game, on a ticket and/or actually drawn, can be a duplicate of one of the regular numbers.)
The player wins according to the following:
| Matches |
Payoff |
Odds of winning |
| Hot Ball only |
$ 2 |
1: 39 |
| 1 number with Hot Ball |
$ 3 |
1: 47 |
| 2 numbers with Hot Ball |
$ 4 |
1: 183 |
| 3 numbers without Hot Ball |
$ 4 |
1: 108 |
| 3 numbers with Hot Ball |
$ 50 |
1: 1,950 |
| 4 numbers without Hot Ball |
$ 50 |
1: 3,575 |
| 4 numbers with Hot Ball |
$ 500 |
1: 64,349 |
| all 5 numbers without Hot Ball |
$ 10,000 |
1: 607,744 |
| all 5 numbers with Hot Ball |
Jackpot |
1: 10,939,383 |
The Hot Ball cannot "cross over" to be used to match any of the five regular numbers, and vice versa.
Overall odds of winning a prize are approximately 1:16.
Unlike Powerball's PowerPlay, there is currently no multiplier for non-jackpot prizes (more below).
Jackpot prizes are determined by a modified parimutuel system. The minimum jackpot prize is a US$1 million annuity disbursed in 25 equal payments over 24 years. If no one picks all five correct numbers and the Hot Ball, the jackpot prize pool is rolled over into the following drawing, increasing by at least $50,000 each time. (When Hot Lotto began, the minimum rollover was $100,000; it was reduced later in 2002.) All jackpot estimates (annuity and cash) are rounded to the nearest $10,000.
Jackpot winners have the option of receiving the annuity prize (mentioned above), or the present-day cash value (see below.) The latter is the then-current value of the annuity, which is typically approximately 55% - 60% of the annuity value depending on prevailing interest rates. All Hot Lotto members give jackpot winners a 60-day window in which to choose either cash or the annuity; the overwhelming choice has been the lump sum. Depending on where a ticket is purchased, winners (jackpot or otherwise) have from 90 days to one year in which to claim their prize.
Participating states
- Idaho (joined in October 2007)
- Iowa
- Kansas (March 2006)
- Minnesota
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico (November 2006)
- North Dakota (June 2004)
- South Dakota
- West Virginia
- District of Columbia (April 2004)
- Oklahoma (Thursday, January 3, 2008)
- To be announced (sales to begin Sunday, January 27, 2008)
The MUSL members that offer the game are officially known as the "Hot Lotto Group".
The minimum age to purchase a Hot Lotto ticket is 18, except in Iowa, where it is 21. In many, if not all, cases, minors may receive a Hot Lotto ticket as a gift.
Idaho had offered an unrelated in-state game called "Hot Lotto" in the 1990s. It was a pick-5-of-32 game that rolled down if nobody won the top prize; this may explain why Idaho was reluctant to offer the multi-state Hot Lotto until 2007. MUSL's ultimate goal for this game may be to expand it to all of its 31 members. The addition of Idaho means that Hot Lotto is now played in all four time zones of the contiguous United States. Also, MUSL members (i.e. Connecticut, Missouri, Wisconsin) have been reluctant to replace their annuitized "classic" games with Hot Lotto. A revamped version, with longer jackpot odds than the current 1-in-11 million, might entice such states since a "bigger" Hot Lotto would consistently offer higher jackpots than these small games.
The District of Columbia was to be among those involved in starting the game, but, at the time, there were personnel problems at the D.C. Lottery. However, it was the first MUSL member to join Hot Lotto "in progress".
Subscription play for Hot Lotto is available only within North Dakota. However, all jurisdictions offering Hot Lotto allow advance play; the number of draws varies by member.
Since Hot Lotto is a multi-state game, a jackpot winner selecting "cash option" does not necessarily collect their prize in lump sum. This is because each of the 11 (expanding to 13 by January 27, 2008) jurisdictions holds on to the accumulating jackpot money until after the jackpot is won. In such a case, a cash option winner first receives a check representing the cash in the jackpot pool accumulated from the winning MUSL member; then a second check for the remainder of the cash value, for the funds accumulated from the jackpot pools from each of the other lotteries selling Hot Lotto.
Hot Lotto continues to "Sizzle"
The Oklahoma Lottery announced on June 26, 2007 that it will join Hot Lotto. Its first day of sales will be January 3, 2008 (when the "Sizzler" option is planned to take effect.) Idaho became the 11th participant in October 2007. In addition, still another state will join on January 27, 2008. This will give Hot Lotto 13 members, one more than Mega Millions, although the latter is a super-jackpot game.
Despite the successful additions of MUSL members to Hot Lotto, it is unlikely in the near future that the 5/39 + 1/19 double matrix will be altered. More likely in the short term is an enhancement similar to Powerball's multiplier PowerPlay, which is also expected to be offered in MUSL's cash jackpot game Wild Card 2. The multiplier in Hot Lotto is to be called "Sizzler", and it would triple non-jackpot prizes (e.g. second prize would pay $30,000 if Sizzler is activated.) The Sizzler option is expected to be available beginning January 3, 2008, the date that Hot Lotto gains its 12th member.
Hot Lotto is expected to continue to add states after January 2008, including those in the highly-populated East.
Winner breakdowns
From January 1, 2003 to August 4, 2007, there have been 16 jackpot-winning tickets, each from a different drawing, except there were two winning tickets on August 4, 2007. (2002 information unavailable on MUSL site.) In the history of the game, only two jackpot winners have chosen the annuity. All others have taken the cash option.
Hot Lotto has never been hit at the minimum $1 million; in fact, each jackpot win has followed at least six consecutive drawings with no top prize winner. The minimum jackpot win on one ticket (annuity value) was $1.3 million; however, the August 4, 2007 drawing had two winners, each receiving about $990,000 ($589,000 cash) before withholdings.
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