“While Florida Lotto is an established brand with a loyal player base, the game has had very few changes over its 30-plus year history,” Florida Lottery spokeswoman Keri Nucatola said in an email Wednesday. “We felt the game was in need of a refresh to give players new and more ways to win, bigger prizes and better odds.”
Nucatola said the increase is also expected to bring in more money for education. Since being launched in 1988, Lotto has generated more than $8 billion for education.
Along with increasing non-jackpot prizes, the changes include offering free ticket prizes for matching two of six numbers, according to a news release from the lottery.
Also, players can pay an extra $1 to use the same numbers for a chance to win up to $250,000 through a second drawing, held immediately after the Lotto drawing.
The increased price, which went into effect last week, brings the cost of a Lotto ticket in line with the $2 tickets for multi-state games such as Powerball and Mega Millions.
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This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2020.