This summer the Louisiana Lottery will upgrade its flagship game Lotto to offer starting jackpots of $500,000 beginning with the drawing on Aug. 5, 2020. These changes that double the starting jackpot mark only the fourth time Lotto has changed in the game’s 28-year history.
“There will be more to love about Lotto this summer with more frequent $1 million-plus jackpots that our loyal Lotto players enjoy,” Lottery President Rose Hudson said. “Our players have spoken, and we listened with a Louisiana game that is still just a dollar.”
To create larger starting jackpots, the redesigned game will require players to select six numbers out of 42, bumping up the overall odds of winning to 1 in 34.4 The previous matrix was six of 40 with overall odds of 1 in 30.
The match-5 and match-4 prizes will continue to be pari-mutuel, meaning the actual prize won will be determined by dividing each respective tier’s prize pool by the total number of winners for that drawing. The match-5 prize would average $1,000 and the match-4 prize average stays the same at $50.
Because the matrix will change, the Lottery will temporarily suspend the multidraw option for Lotto to prevent future draw purchases that eclipse the new version’s sale date of Aug. 2. On Aug. 2, multidraw will return to full functionality under the new game matrix. The multidraw option allows players to purchase tickets for a select number of future drawings.