NH Lottery Celebrates Its 45th Anniversary with Parties, Special Prizes with Retailers around the State
March 12 marks sale of first ticket in country’s first state-run lottery
CONCORD, NH – Officials from the New Hampshire Lottery will celebrate the 45th anniversary of its creation with special prizes and parties in various locations across the state on Thursday, March 12. To mark the day New Hampshire launched the first legal state run lottery, celebrations will be held at some of the lottery’s longest-running retail outlets.
“This is a great way to thank our many players and commemorate a watershed moment in New Hampshire history,” said Executive Director Rick Wisler. “The creators of the Sweepstakes really blazed a trail which has since become the inspiration for 42 other states. To this day, the New Hampshire Lottery has remained true to its original mission: providing funding for local education while maintaining a high degree of integrity and public confidence.”
At more than a dozen lottery retail locations across the state, players can enjoy cake and win 45th anniversary prizes like back packs, coffee mugs, and mini radios. In addition to all of the usual jackpot and instant games, players can also try out the Lottery’s new commemorative scratch games: “$1 45th Anniversary®” and “$5 45th Anniversary Special®.” Players can win a variety of top prizes between $4,500 and $45,000.
Retailers celebrating the Lottery’s anniversary on March 12th include:
- Kulicks Market (30-08 Warwick Rd) in Winchester 11 AM to 2 PM
- Don’s Market (219 Main St) in Hampstead 11 AM to 2 PM
- Janeto’s Market (77 Main St) in Dover 1 to 3 PM
- Deep Meadow (93 Linden St) in Exeter 2 to 4:30 PM
- Shaw’s (1150 Eastman Rd) in Center Conway 11 AM to 1 PM
- Simon’s Market (Union St) in Littleton 10 AM to 3 PM
- Campton Cupboard (1315 Route 175) in Campton 11 AM to 2 PM
- Canaan Cash Market (6 Depot St) in Canaan 11 AM to 3 PM
- Kozy Korner (147 Lake St) in Nashua 12 to 2 PM
- Rockland Convenience (18 Rockland Ave) in Manchester 2–4 PM
- Hannaford (859 Hanover St) in Manchester 12 to 2 PM
- Store 24 (201 S. Main St) in Concord 3–5 PM
- NH Lottery Headquarters (14 Integra Drive) in Concord 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
The first ticket for the “NH Sweepstakes” was sold on March 12, 1964 and purchased with much fanfare by NH Governor John W. King. In April of 1963, King signed the legislation creating the first state-run lottery in the United States. Tickets cost $3 and were sold only at the 49 state liquor stores and at 3 licensed racetracks. Modeled after the Irish Sweepstakes, names of contestants pulled in the NH Sweeps were matched with horses in a race on September 12, 1964. Prizes ranged from $200 to $100,000. The NH Sweepstakes was an international media event which sold $5.7 million in tickets and distributed $2 million to local education.
Since 1964, the New Hampshire Lottery has had a significant financial impact on the state. For the past 45 years, the New Hampshire Lottery has recorded $4 billion in lottery sales and other earnings, with $2.5 billion being paid in prizes and other cost of sales. Net proceeds to education to date total more than $1.4 billion.
The New Hampshire Lottery Commission, located at 14 Integra Drive in Concord, currently manages all lottery operations in the state, including Instant games, New Hampshire POWERBALL®, Tri-State Megabucks®, Tri-State Weekly Grand®, Hot Lotto Sizzler®, and Tri-State Pick3/Pick4 Daily Numbers® games.