# Minnesota State Lottery *State agency that operates lotteries in Minnesota under Minnesota Statutes chapter 349A.* The Minnesota State Lottery is the agency of Minnesota state government that runs the state's lottery games. Its governing law is Minnesota Statutes chapter 349A.[^1] Voters amended the state constitution in 1988 to permit a state lottery, and the first game went on sale on April 17, 1990.[^2] Ticket revenue first pays prizes, administrative costs and retailers. The balance is divided between environmental conservation funds and the state general fund.[^2] The chapter keeps the agency's money in what the project's validated statutes master quotes from §349A.10 as "a lottery fund outside the state treasury."[^3] The master classes that sentence as a [[Declarative switch]], which it defines as "an enacted sentence whose operative content is the switching-off of an ordinary accountability control". Its 2026 tally records the placement as still in force 37 years after enactment.[^4] The agency's documented outputs include record sales of $668.6 million in fiscal year 2020.[^2] It produced about $3.3 billion for the state between 1990 and 2020.[^5] The documented record also includes: - a mid-2000s [[state auditor]] finding of preferential contracting for a friend of the director; - the forced departure of several directors and senior managers in the 2010s; - studies finding that three of every four instant tickets in Minnesota went to buyers with below-average incomes.[^6] ## Who The [[governor]] appoints the agency's director. A lottery commission serves only in an advisory capacity.[^7] The director must staff the agency under Minnesota Statutes, and one position must be an attorney handling the lottery's legal work.[^7] The agency publishes an official site at mnlottery.com.[^8] Decisions about trust-fund money sit outside the agency. The 17-member Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, created in 1963 before the lottery existed, recommends uses of lottery proceeds credited to environment and natural resource trust funds. The [[Minnesota Legislature]] appropriates every trust-fund dollar, and the Lottery has no part in that process.[^9] Tickets are sold through licensed retailers such as gas stations, grocers and convenience stores. Nonprofits and charities that run a retail business open to the public may also apply. The Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division runs compliance checks on these sellers.[^10] The record assembled here does not name the governor or the legislative majorities responsible for the 1989 enabling law or the 1990 dedication amendment. No party attribution is made. ## What In 2020 the agency offered 48 games.[^11] Its multi-jurisdiction games have included Lotto America, Lucky for Life (participation ended in 2021), Mega Millions and Powerball.[^11] Its in-state draw games include Pick 3 (formerly Daily 3), Gopher 5 and North 5 (formerly Northstar Cash). It also sells scratch games, "print-n-play" games and raffles.[^11] Buyers and prize claimants must be at least 18. Winners have had one year from the draw date to claim a prize.[^11] Minnesota law formerly required winners' names to be published. An amendment reversed that requirement, so after September 1, 2021 the agency keeps names confidential unless the winner consents.[^11] The Wikipedia account classes the state lottery as a recreational activity that raises revenue, not an investment. Players as a group get back roughly 62% of the dollars they wager.[^12] ## When - **1972:** Legislators first introduced bills to amend the constitution for a lottery.[^13] - **1986:** One such bill narrowly failed.[^13] - **Late 1980s:** Polls showed public support for a lottery. Wagering at Canterbury Downs in [[Shakopee]], charitable gambling and tribal casinos were all drawing customers in the state at the time.[^13] - **1988:** The referendum passed with 59% of the vote. It left the use of revenue to the legislature.[^13] - **1989:** The enabling legislation passed.[^13] - **April 17, 1990:** Scratch-off sales began.[^13] - **1990:** Disputes over revenue and budget pressure produced a second constitutional amendment. It dedicated 40% of proceeds to an environment and natural resources trust fund.[^13] The same year, the lottery joined Lotto America, which became Powerball in 1992.[^13] - **1991:** The Minnesota-only Daily 3 and Gopher 5 games were added.[^13] - **Early 1990s:** The agency worked with a technology company on a lottery cartridge for a modem-equipped Nintendo Entertainment System. It dropped a test of the in-home system after political opposition.[^2] - **2021:** The winner-confidentiality amendment took effect on September 1.[^11] - **2024:** The state proposed allocating 1.5% to underserved communities, and the measure went on that year's ballot (see [How much](#how-much)).[^6] ## Where The agency is headquartered in Roseville. It has four regional offices, in Virginia, Detroit Lakes, Marshall and Owatonna.[^7] ## How **Revenue split.** Of the share the state keeps, 60% goes to the general fund and 40% to the environment and natural resources trust fund.[^12] A 6.5% in-lieu-of-sales tax on tickets is credited to three funds: the general fund, the game and fish fund, and the natural resources fund.[^12] The trust funds operate like an endowment.[^9] **Autonomy and oversight.** The 1989 law gave the agency independence that the Wikipedia account calls unprecedented for a state agency.[^7] That account ties this independence to a lack of oversight.[^6] The documented sequence that follows is the mid-2000s state auditor finding of preferential contracting and the removal of several directors and senior managers in the 2010s over management practices and misuse of state money.[^6] **Statutory placement.** Chapter 349A places the lottery fund outside the state treasury.[^3] ## How much - **Record sales:** $668.6 million in fiscal year 2020.[^2] - **State earnings:** about $3.3 billion from 1990 to 2020, of which $1.4 billion went toward the environment.[^5] - **Gambling treatment:** By 2015, lottery proceeds offset about $2 million a year of a compulsive gambling program run by the [[Minnesota Department of Human Services]].[^12] - **2024 proposal:** The proposal would set aside 1.5% for underserved communities. The Wikipedia account estimates this at about 30 million a year for projects not yet named.[^6] The record here does not include the measure's text or its result. ## How many - **Games:** 48 in 2020.[^11] - **Retailers:** 3,100 at the end of 2018.[^10] - **Employees:** 154 in 2015.[^7] - **Instant-ticket buyers:** In Minnesota, three of every four instant tickets were sold to people with below-average incomes.[^6] - **Concentration of play:** 20% of players account for 80% of revenue.[^6] - **Minors:** Lottery officials have raised concerns about adults giving scratch cards to minors. A 2019 survey found that as many as 2% of Minnesota students had gambling problems.[^6] ## In the Minnesota record ### What The project's 2026 tally lists the Lottery's outside-the-treasury placement among the statutory exemptions still in force.[^4] The same list includes: - the Minnesota State High School League's rulemaking exemption (37 years); - the charter default (35 years); - the [[Destination Medical Center]] declarations (13 years); - the §43A.191 machinery (41 years).[^4] By contrast, the 1999 tobacco endowments, which statute declared "inviolate," were repealed by 2006 c 282 art 14 s 15. The tally finds that no exemption of this kind was repealed across nine administrations.[^4] The project's claim:link catalogue lists Minn. Stat. §349A under its Theory 10, *APA / Constitutional Avoidance (Thirteen MN APA-Exempt Statutes as Ultra Vires)*. That is a project theory, not a court finding.[^14] ### When [[Minn. Stat. § 43A.191]], *Agency affirmative action programs*, appears in the same tally. It was enacted as 1Sp1985 c 13 s 172 and most recently amended by 2023 c 62 art 8 s 16.[^15][^16] The master's administration table lists it under [[Rudy Perpich]]'s second (DFL) administration.[^4] Under subdivision 2(a), "the head of each agency in the executive branch" must prepare and implement an agency affirmative action plan.[^15] On January 14, 2026, the United States sued the State of Minnesota under [[Title VII]] of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] (*United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273, D. Minn.), requesting a three-judge court.[^17] The complaint alleges that the State's statutory and regulatory affirmative action mandate is a pattern or practice of discrimination. It quotes §43A.191 subd. 3(c)'s requirement that an agency missing its goals "justify its nonaffirmative action hires."[^17] Its illustrative agency is the Department of Human Services, and it does not name the Lottery. The record here does not show the case's disposition.[^17] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, *Minnesota Statutes chapter 349A, Minnesota State Lottery* (current) — the Lottery's governing statute. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/349A [^2]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, lead section (rev. 1367869564, retrieved 2026-10-27, CC BY-SA 4.0) — 1988 referendum, April 17, 1990 first game, revenue split, Nintendo test cancellation, FY2020 sales of $668.6 million. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^3]: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, *Minnesota Statutes chapter 349A* (current) — §349A.10 lottery-fund placement, "a lottery fund outside the state treasury," confirmed verbatim against the live statute in the project's statutes validation (*How Minnesota Got Here*, n. 21). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/349A [^4]: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, *Minnesota Statutes chapter 349A* (current) — the project's 2026 tally of standing exemptive provisions (lottery §349A.10 at 37 years; MSHSL, charter default, DMC, §43A.191) and the 2006 repeal of the "inviolate" endowments, confirmed on Revisor history lines (*How Minnesota Got Here*, §4 and n. 22). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/349A [^5]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "Revenue — Total state earnings" (rev. 1367869564) — about $3.3 billion for the state, 1990–2020, including $1.4 billion toward the environment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^6]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "Controversy and criticism" (rev. 1367869564) — instant-ticket income studies, 20/80 player concentration, minors and 2019 student survey, autonomy and oversight, mid-2000s auditor finding, 2010s removals, 2024 1.5% proposal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^7]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "Governance — State agency" (rev. 1367869564) — director appointed by governor, advisory commission, attorney position, Roseville headquarters and four regional offices, 154 employees in 2015, autonomy under the 1989 law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^8]: Minnesota Lottery, *Official site* (project link catalogue, row S-266) — the agency's public website. https://www.mnlottery.com/ [^9]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "Revenue — Endowment funds" (rev. 1367869564) — trust funds, LCCMR recommendations, legislative appropriation, no Lottery role. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^10]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "Governance — Retailers" (rev. 1367869564) — retailer licensing, Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division checks, 3,100 retailers at end of 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^11]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "Games and eligibility" (rev. 1367869564) — 48 games in 2020, multi-jurisdiction and in-state games, age 18, one-year claim window, winner-name confidentiality after September 1, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^12]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "Revenue — Distribution" (rev. 1367869564) — 60/40 split, 6.5% in-lieu-of-sales tax, about $2 million a year for the DHS compulsive gambling program by 2015, about 62% player return. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^13]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota State Lottery*, "History" (rev. 1367869564) — 1972 bills, 1986 defeat, 1988 referendum (59%), 1989 legislation, 1990 sales start and dedication amendment, Lotto America and Powerball, 1991 games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Lottery [^14]: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, *Minnesota Statutes chapter 349A* — listed as claim:link pair 24 in the project's Theory 10 (*Thirteen MN APA-Exempt Statutes as Ultra Vires*). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/349A [^15]: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, *Minn. Stat. § 43A.191, Agency affirmative action programs* (2025) — text of subds. 2(a) and 3(c); history line from 1Sp1985 c 13 s 172 to 2023 c 62 art 8 s 16. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/43A.191 [^16]: Minnesota Legislature, *Laws of Minnesota 1985, First Special Session, chapter 13 (H.F. No. 16)* (1985) — the state-government act proposing new law in chapter 43A, the enacting source of §43A.191. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1985/1/Session+Law/Chapter/13/pdf/ [^17]: U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, *United States v. State of Minnesota, Complaint*, No. 0:26-cv-00273, Doc. 1 (filed January 14, 2026) — Title VII pattern-or-practice allegations, quotation of §43A.191 subd. 3(c), three-judge court request, DHS Policy 4100.250 as Exhibit B. https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1423361/dl