Hot Lotto

The Hot Lotto game was launched by MUSL (Multi-State Lottery Association) on April 10th, 2002 to celebrate a decade of successful Powerball games. It was launched only in several of the MUSL jurisdictions and was lately joined by Maine (October 11th, 2009). With Hot Lotto small lottery jurisdictions get the chance to produce a middle-sized jackpot, common to the high population density jurisdictions like Texas and California. The Hot Lotto prize can be paid as a single sum of money or 24 payments spread on a 25 years period.

In Hot Lotto the player has to pick 6 numbers. 5 white numbers between 1 to 39, and an additional orange number from 1 to 19. The Orange number also called the "Hot Ball" can be a repeated number that was already chosen as a white number. White numbers and the Orange number are picked from different pools. Hot Lotto has additional options for the player to choose from. The "Quick-Pick" option in the Hot Lotto means letting the computer pick your numbers, weather the white, Orange or both. "Sizzler" is another winning option in the Hot Lotto game.

Hot Lotto Tickets and Rates

A regular Hot Lotto ticket costs but the player can bet an extra in order to triple any of the winning prizes except for the jackpot. This option resembles the PowerPlay offered in the Powerball but unlike it, the player may only triple its non-jackpot prizes. The PowerPlay option allows the player to multiply its non-jackpot prizes between 2 and 5 times.

However, the "sizzler" option has caused some troubles since it was launched in January 2008. The steakhouse chain Sizzler filed a lawsuit against the Multi-State Lottery Association for the use of the word Sizzler. As a result some of the MUSL jurisdictions offering the Hot Lotto refrained from adding the Sizzler option, such as Idaho, until a decision is made.

Hot Lotto is played twice per week, on Wednesday and Saturday, just like the Powerball. The drawings are held at the MUSL headquarters in Iowa as oppose to the Powerball drawings held in Florida. Unlike the Powerball drawings, the Hot Lotto is no longer aired on television and the drawing is made by the RNG (Random Number Generator) rather then the typical ball machine. The televised drawing of Hot Lotto ended in beginning of 2006.