Third multi-state game to be offered in the state

By Kate Northrop

The Mississippi Lottery officially announced today that it will expand its repertoire to begin offering tickets for the multi-state game Lotto America.

Mississippi lottery players will soon have another multi-state draw game to play in addition to Mega Millions and Powerball, with Lotto America launching locally next month.

Lotto America is currently offered by 13 other U.S. lotteries. Mississippi will bump up that number to 14 U.S. lotteries beginning May 12.

"Lotto America is popular in many other states," Mississippi Lottery President Jeff Hewitt said in a press release. "As we noted player feedback, many players mentioned offering a draw-style game with a jackpot in between Match 5 and Powerball or Mega Millions. Lotto America is the perfect addition to our portfolio."

At $1 per play, Lotto America is a draw-style game in which players select five numbers from 1 to 52 and for the red balls and then one number from 1 and 10 for the blue star ball. Players can also opt for the Quick Pick option to have the terminal randomly select the numbers for you.

With a starting jackpot of $2 million, it grows until someone matches all five red balls in any order plus the blue star ball to win the jackpot. The largest Lotto America jackpot ever won was $40 million, claimed by one man in Iowa.

There are also eight other non-jackpot prizes offered by the game, which range from $2 to $20,000. All winning numbers, odds, and prize amounts can be found on Lottery Post's Lotto America Results page.

Players can add the All Star Bonus to their ticket for an additional $1 per play, which multiplies winnings by two, three, four or five times. The multiplier number is randomly selected before each drawing but does not apply to the rolling jackpot.

The Mississippi Lottery is also offering another add-on feature called EZ Match. At $1 per play, players may add the EZ Match option to their ticket, which generates a second set of six numbers on your ticket in addition to the numbers for the regular drawing. Each individual EZ Match number corresponds to a set prize amount worth up to $500 printed directly on the ticket. If any of the EZ Match numbers printed on your ticket match the first five regular draw numbers on your ticket, or if the Star Ball EZ Match number matches the Star Ball number in the regular draw, you win the prize correlating with the matching number. If you play more than one set of regular draw numbers, each set gets its own EZ Match ticket.

Players may purchase up to 24 consecutive drawings in advance by indicating the number of desired draws on the play slip.

Lotto America is operated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). It was re-launched as the replacement for the scandal-ridden Hot Lotto game in 2017 after it was revealed the former MUSL Security Director Eddie Tipton had rigged the Hot Lotto computerized drawings (among other games) to win large lottery jackpots for himself and his accomplices. You can watch the video we produced on that topic on our YouTube channel that goes into more depth about the entire scheme.

The game switched from traditional mechanical ball drawings to computerized drawings in April 2023.

The first Lotto America drawing for Mississippi will take place on Mon., May 13, with sales starting Sun., May 12. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 9:15 pm Central Time and are conducted via computerized drawings in a dedicated draw room in Johnston, Iowa.