Rhode Island Lottery Results

About the Rhode Island Lottery

Despite being the smallest US state, Rhode Island's Lottery is up there with the best of them. Having first sold tickets on May 21, 1974, the RI Lottery is certainly one of the older state lotteries around and in that time has generated almost $2 billion for the state, as well has handing out almost $6 billion in prizes.

The RI Lottery, or Rilot as it's often called, is certainly no stranger to big prizes – just ask Sheila Botelho. Botelho was the lucky winner of $151,900,000 following the RI Powerball drawing of November 28, 2007. Botelho had bought the ticket with her husband at a Warren store and chose to receive the cash option meaning that she was able to retire with around $51 million.

Rhode Island was actually one of the first states to sell Powerball tickets as it was among the founding states of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) in 1987. Powerball was then created just three years later in 1992. But Rhode Island Powerball isn't the only lottery available in the state as Mega Millions, Wild Money and the Rhode Island Numbers lotteries can all be played.

Like many other state lotteries, the Rhode Island Lottery only began to sell Mega Millions tickets on January 31, 2010 after a deal was made between the MUSL and Mega Millions' operators. Unfortunately this hasn't paid off yet in the form of a top jackpot for Rhode Island Lottery players, but with the Mega Millions jackpot regularly toping $100,000,000 it surely won't be too long until the top prize is won in the state.

It's no wonder that the Rhode Island lottery is popular with players and residents of the Ocean State, with the majority of money spent on ticket sales going to prizes and the state itself. Of every dollar spent on lottery tickets from the Rhode Island Lottery, 78.17% goes straight back to the players in the form of prizes and jackpots. The State General Fund receives 13.5%, while the rest covers commissions and operating costs.

The money given to the general fund is shared about with education, transport, public safety and human services all benefiting. Throughout the years that the RI Lottery has been running, the total given to these funds exceeds $2 billion and is ever-increasing.