WyoLotto celebrates eight years of bringing fun, low-cost entertainment to Wyoming since Aug. 24, 2014. Over the last eight years, WyoLotto has grown from two games to six, contributed millions of dollars to the State of Wyoming, and kept money in the state.
“As we reflect on these eight years, we are astonished and proud of what we have accomplished. We started a lottery with no state funding, paid off our start-up loan early, contributed over $26.2 million to the state income, and now we will offer six games starting Sept. 18,” said Jon Clontz, WyoLotto CEO.
WyoLotto launched in 2014 with two national games, Powerball® and Mega Millions®. A third game was added in 2015, Cowboy Draw®, which is Wyoming’s own game. Then in 2016, Lucky for Life® was added to the portfolio as the only “for-life” game where the grand prize is $1,000 a day for life rather than a growing jackpot amount.
WyoLotto also has a raffle game that launched in 2019 as Ragtime Raffle. The raffle adds additional entertainment as a short-term game for players, which WyoLotto has ready to roll out in the market for future fun as well. Most recently in 2021, WyoLotto brought players a daily game, 2by2®, which has a grand prize of $22,000 and a chance to double prizes when players purchase seven consecutive draws.
The next big game for players, WyoLotto KENO, will launch this year on Sept. 18.
“So stay tuned for the best game yet,” Clontz said.
“We attribute much of our success to our ability to operate as a private company and put the players and Wyoming first. We put giving back to the cities, towns and counties as our top priority, and so we have given back more than expected each quarter. That is especially amazing given that we can only offer draw games and no scratch tickets due to the current statute,” Clontz added.
Before WyoLotto, many lottery players in the state went to bordering states to purchase tickets. “Now Wyoming players keep their hard-earned dollars here, and we also get many people coming over the border from Utah,” said Clontz.
Each quarter the company, per its mission and statute, transfers net profits of at least 75 percent to Wyoming, which is then distributed directly to the cities, towns, and counties to use as needed. The company has also provided Wyoming with complete transparency through audits each year.
WyoLotto started transferring profits directly to the state in April of 2016. Additionally, the company has paid over $14.4 million in retailer commissions and $112.6 million in winnings.