SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — California is one of 45 U.S. states where lotteries are legal.
Lottery tickets are also sold in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the latter two being American territories.
According to the California State Lottery website, here are the draw games that are played in the state:
- Powerball
- Mega Millions
- SuperLotto Plus
- Fantasy 5
- Daily 4
- Daily 3
- Daily Derby
- Hot Spot
Here are the differences between the draw games.
Powerball
The Powerball is a lottery game that is played in 45 American states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Drawings for the Powerball are held three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 7:59 p.m. PT. To play, tickets are $2 and can be purchased up until 7 p.m. PT on the night of the drawing.
To win the jackpot, winners must match all six numbers. Depending on the prize, winners can also win big with five numbers matching on their ticket.
The largest Powerball jackpot in history was won on Jan. 13, 2016, which was a prize of $1.586 billion, according to the Associated Press. California had three winners in that jackpot, but the prize was split with other winners in Florida and Tennessee.
A 7-Eleven in Chino Hills sold the winning ticket in California.
Mega Millions
The Mega Millions drawing is offered in 45 American states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In 2005, California became the 12th U.S. jurisdiction to offer the Mega Millions game.
Drawings are every Tuesday and Friday at 7:59 p.m. PT. Tickets are $2 to play and can be purchased on the night of the drawing at 7:45 p.m. PT.
Like Powerball, to win the jackpot in the Mega Millions, winners must match all six numbers. People who match five numbers on their tickets can also win a prize.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot in history was $1.537 billion, which was won on Oct. 23, 2018. The winning ticket was sold in South Carolina, according to the Associated Press.
In 2022, the second-largest Mega Millions prize was won and the winning ticket was sold in Michigan.
SuperLotto Plus
The SuperLotto is an exclusive game for California and it’s the first to have a drawing in the state. The first SuperLotto drawing was in 1986, two years after voters approved the Lottery Act in 1984 in the November ballot of that year.
Drawings for the SuperLotto are every Wednesday and Saturday at 7:57 p.m. Tickets are $1 to play and can be purchased on the night of the drawing until 7:45 p.m.
Tickets cannot be sold between 7:45 p.m. to 7:50 p.m., which is when a drawing break separates sales during draw periods, according to the frequently asked questions section of the California State Lottery website.
Tickets may be sold after 7:50 p.m. but those would be ineligible for that night’s draw and are eligible for the next one.
The way SuperLotto works is players must choose five numbers from one through 47 and one Mega Ball number from one through 27.
To win the SuperLotto jackpot, players must match all six numbers, but can still win a prize if they only match five.
Each jackpot starts at $7 million and increases after every drawing if there is no winner.
Fantasy 5
The Fantasy 5 is another exclusive game in California and it’s played similarly to the SuperLotto.
In this game, players choose numbers from one through 39 and can win by matching two, three, four, or all five numbers on their tickets.
Tickets also include five sets of numbers that can be played for up to 12 drawings.
Drawings for Fantasy 5 are every day at 6:59 p.m. The draw entry closes at 6:30 p.m. and tickets for $1 each.
According to the frequently asked questions section on the state lottery’s website, sales can occur from 6:30 p.m. to 6:35 p.m., separating sales during draw periods.
Each top prize starts between $60,000 to $80,000 and if there are no winners, the prize increases.
Hot Spot
Hot Spot is a game where players use a play slip and choose a set of numbers they want to play per draw, according to the lottery website.
Players can play one to 10 spots and then will pick numbers from one to 80 or they can choose to randomly generate numbers.
According to the lottery, the numbers that are played must equal the number of spots selected. For example, if someone picks a “3 spot” they must play three numbers.
In addition, a player can choose a Bulls-Eye wager for a chance to win a bigger prize. A Bulls-Eye wager must be at least $2 and should equal your Hot Spot wager.
For example, if someone were to play $4, $2 goes to the Hot Spot and $2 goes to the Bulls-Eye. The lottery said picking separate numbers for a Bulls-Eye is not required.
Wagering for this game can either be $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, or $20 per selection.
Drawings for Hot Spot are every day and every four minutes from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Winnings can be checked either by looking at the Hot Spot monitors at lottery retailers, or on the lottery website.
Daily Derby
Daily Derby is a mock horse racing game where a player picks three horses out of 12 to finish in first, second, and third places. The player also has to pick their race time, which is the time that takes for the first-place horse to finish, the lottery website said.
Players can also use the Quick Pick feature to randomly select the horses and race times.
Tickets are $2 and the draw is at 6:59 p.m. every day. Draw entry closes at 6:30 p.m.
Daily 3 and Daily 4
Daily 3 has someone pick three numbers between zero through nine. Players can use randomly select numbers with the Quick Pick feature.
Daily 4 is played the same way as Daily 3, but instead of picking three numbers from zero to nine.
For Daily 3, players must choose their playstyle: Match winning numbers in the same order, match the winning numbers in any order, or match the winning numbers in exact order and win half of the prize and half of the box prize, or match the winning numbers in any order and win half of the box prize only.
The style is the same way for Daily 4.
Tickets for Daily 3 are $1 per ticket and the draws occur every day at 1:29 p.m. and 6:59 p.m. Tickets for Daily 4 are $1 per ticket and drawings are held once per day.
