Historically, lotteries in America were used not only as a form of entertainment but as a source of revenue to help fund the colonies. For instance, the financiers of Jamestown, Virginia introduced lotteries to raise money to build infrastructure and fund healthcare and education in the state.

These lotteries were quite sophisticated for the time period and even included instant winners. It wasn’t long before each of the 13 original colonies in America had established a lottery system to raise much-needed state funds.

In the early post-independence era, legislators commonly authorised lotteries to fund schools, roads, bridges and other public works. In the 1830s, evangelical reformers began denouncing lotteries on moral grounds and petitioned legislatures and constitutional conventions to ban them. Recurring lottery scandals and a general backlash against legislative corruption following the Panic of 1837 also contributed to anti-lottery sentiments.

From 1844 to 1859 alone, 10 new state constitutions contained lottery bans. By 1890, lotteries were prohibited in every state except Delaware and Louisiana.

The first modern government-run US lottery was established in Puerto Rico in 1934. This was followed, decades later by the New Hampshire lottery in 1964. Instant lottery tickets – known as scratch cards – were introduced in the 1970s and have become a major source of lottery revenue.

As of November 2019, lotteries are established in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The most recent US state to legalise a lottery is Mississippi where a lottery commission was established in October 2018.

In September 1987, the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) was established to administer lotteries offered in 45 participating states. Each MUSL member offers one or more of the games administered by MUSL and are licensed to cross-sell major lottery games such as Mega Millions.

Lotto America was launched in 1988 and was the pre-cursor to Powerball. The multi-state lottery game was changed to a two-drum draw format in April 1992 and renamed Powerball. This is because the second drum held the red Powerballs which in other lottery games is the bonus ball or number.