A guide to some USA lotto names – January 9th 2012

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Following on from our guide to what some European lotto names mean, lottery fans may be left scratching their heads over what led to the names of some USA draws.

Indeed, there is much more to some of the names of these lottos than meets the eye in many cases and knowing why they have been called what they have been called could help players get a better understanding of what these draws are all about and what makes them special.

Powerball

The USA Powerball began life in 1988 as Lotto America and changed its name to Powerball in 1992.

It was the first game to use the two-drum matrix system allowing for high odds for top-tier prizes and low odds for smaller payouts. This second drum draws the Power Ball, the additional number than gives players the ‘power to win the jackpot’.

The Power Ball is chosen from this second drum and its number is filled in by the player in a different grid on the ticket from the main range of numbers. The system proved so successful that it has been adopted by many massive lottos including the Mega Millions and EuroMillions.

Mega Millions

Just like the USA Powerball, USA Mega Millions started life as a completely different draw.

The Big Game was founded in 2000, when multi-state games were growing in popularity, and then became the Big Game Mega Millions. By May 2002, the nine states of New York, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, Massachusetts and Virginia were all playing this draw and that was when the name was shortened to Mega Millions – with these states to welcome Washington, California and Texas into the group in the years to come.

Because millions of people are able to play the game, it means jackpots can roll over to higher sums more quickly – hence the name Mega Millions.

Hoosier Lottery

The USA Hoosier Lotto has – to those who do not live in its home state of Indiana – perhaps one of the more peculiar names of all the USA draws.

Indeed, the term Hoosier is another word for a resident of Indiana, which adopted the nickname of Hoosier State more than 150 years ago.

But what is a hoosier? According to Indiana University, the word was once a derogatory term to denote a roughneck or somebody who lived out in the sticks, but has since become an affectionate nickname.

So what better to call the state lotto of Indiana, especially as Indianans elected the name of the Hoosier Lotto to replace the original Lotto Cash name given to the draw back in 1994.