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 Greetings!
The Virginia Lottery is celebrating a very important milestone this year – our 20th Birthday. It was September 20, 1988, that we sold our very first ticket. You may remember that day. We had just one game: Match 3. There were no drawings, no lottery terminals and no $100 million jackpots. What we did have was amazing potential as a source of excitement for players and a great benefit for the Commonwealth.
I remember that day well. I was part of a small team of people embarking on an adventure that was entirely new for Virginia. The voters of Virginia had approved the creation of a Lottery and we were there to make it happen.
Today, that adventure has benefitted the Commonwealth with more than $6.6 billion in Lottery profits. Since 1999 those profits have gone exclusively to K-12 public education in Virginia. The $3.8 billion that the Lottery has raised in that time is something in which all Virginians can take pride, whether or not they play the Lottery.
In those first days of the Virginia Lottery, we were determined to earn a reputation for integrity, honesty and efficiency. I am proud that we succeeded. Now, as Executive Director of the Virginia Lottery, I intend to work to keep that hard-earned reputation.
Because this is our 20th birthday, we have a wide variety of games and activities to mark this special occasion. The most notable is a return of that first game – Match 3, but with an exciting twist. This time we are holding a Birthday Celebration Sweepstakes. That means you can enter your non-winning tickets, and we will draw 20 winners from those tickets for scholarships from the Virginia College Savings Plan, each valued at $50,000. That drawing will be held March 4, 2009.
We have several other games and events to mark our birthday, which you will find here on our Web site. As you look around our site, I hope you keep in mind that when you play the Virginia Lottery, you are helping Virginia’s K-12 public schools. All Lottery employees work to achieve our mission. That mission is "contributing to Virginia's future, one play at a time."
Sincerely,
Paula I. Otto
Executive Director
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