Washington's Lottery
For more than 40 years, Washington’s Lottery has been a place of innovation, growth and wonder, filled with hard-working, thoughtful people dedicated to two important goals: ensuring our players have fun and bettering Washington’s communities.
Our beneficiaries are at the core of everything we do. When we were founded in 1982, Washington’s Lottery funded schools, human service programs, natural resources and more. In 2000, voters approved a change so that the Lottery would primarily benefit education—from early childhood education and assistance to higher education scholarships and grants. Since 1982, Washington’s Lottery has contributed more than $2.X billion to education initiatives and $5.3 billion overall to state programs.
Those life-changing funds for the people of Washington come as proceeds from the sale of dozens of lottery games. Whether they have fun playing some of our rotating series of approximately 30 Scratch tickets that reveal instant winners, or they have fun with some of our eight “draw” or jackpot games where random numbers are drawn to determine the winners on specific days and times each week, our players also help better our communities with every ticket purchased.
Making a difference for the people of Washington extends to other programs and parts of our business, as well. Washington’s Lottery is a proud partner of both the National Council on Problem Gambling and the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling. Our goal is to raise awareness of the risks of problem gambling because we believe in responsible play and that everyone should keep it fun and know their limit.
Likewise, we proudly partner with the Washington State Patrol and others to support the statewide AMBER, Silver and Missing Indigenous Person Alerts program to ensure the safety of all Washingtonians.
At Washington’s Lottery we’re also deeply committed to achieving a pro-equity, anti-racism environment and have been working together to build a path to equitable outcomes for our players, business partners and employees. From listening to the voices of those affected by racism and discrimination and examining our own biases, to revisiting existing policies and hiring practices, we are making changes for a better future for us all.
That bright future began with a single game in 1982. Over the decades, it turned into a storied, fascinating history under the dedicated leadership of our five-member Lottery Commission, made up of regional members appointed by the Governor. And while Commissioners have changed and games have come and gone since our founding, two constants have remained – having fun and bettering Washington’s communities.