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Lottery games were popular among the first settlers in America, and one of the first government-administered lottery games was held in New York. By 1900 the American government banned lotteries.
Probably because the first funds raised in New York helped fund the building of New York City Hall, repaired canals, bridges, churches, and more, lotteries were held again in New Hampshire in 1964, and in New York in 1967. New York continues to use the money raised by the lottery to fund the state's educational programs, and since 1967, the New York lottery has raised over $34 billion for those programs.
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Players choose six numbers from between 1-59, plus a bonus number, and if they match all six numbers they win the jackpot. If more than one player matches all the numbers, the jackpot is shared between them. Whoever matches five of the six numbers and the bonus ball number wins a smaller prize. There are even smaller prizes for players who match five, four, or three numbers out of six.
Recently, the New York lottery added an extra feature called Lotto Extra, which cost an extra dollar to play. It adds three more ways to win prizes, giving the players better odds at winning.
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The New York jackpot usually begins at $3 million, which is smaller than state-wide lottery jackpots like Mega Millions. If no one wins the jackpot, then the prize money rolls over to the next week, making for a larger jackpot that week. Whoever wins the jackpot can choose to receive their winnings as a lump sum or as 26 annual payments.
New York Lottery winners must claim their prize within the first 12 months after the draw, if their prize is worth more than $10,000. All unclaimed prizes are reclaimed by the lottery organization and are used for other games. Between April 1 and May 31, 2007 around 4.8 million went unclaimed. For such a small lottery, that is a lot of unclaimed money, but it goes toward educational programs, which is a good cause.
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When an immigrant, Mr. Martinez, from Paraguay won $65 million, New York lottery history was made. He was the only winner, so he didn't need to share with anyone.
Ten colleagues called the Found Treasures Gang from Chemung and Steuben New York won $7 million when their Quick Pick lotto numbers were drawn in the New York lottery, in December, 2008.
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