Oklahoma Lottery News

As of January 5, 2008 Oklahoma joined the Hot Lotto operated by the Multi-State Lottery Association. Hot Lotto is a large jackpot lottery game with jackpots starting at $1 million and continues to grow until someone wins. Hot Lotto is played every Wednesday and Saturday night. Unlike Powerball which uses actual lottery balls to determine winning numbers, Hot Lotto uses a “random number generator” – a computer program, to arrive at the winning numbers.

To play Hot Lotto players must choose five white numbered balls out of a total of 39 balls, numbered from 1 to 39 and one orange Hot Ball from a total of 19 balls, numbered from 1 to 19. It is not necessary to pick the white balls in the order drawn. Picking all five white balls and the orange Hot Ball correctly wins the jackpot. The odds of any single Hot Lotto play winning the jackpot are 1 in 10,939,383.

In addition to winning the jackpot, players may also win in other ways with prizes ranging from $2 for picking only the Hot Ball correctly to $10,000 for picking all five white balls correctly. Between these two extremes other prizes players may win are $3, $4, $50 and $500 for varying numbers of correct white balls with or without a correct Hot Ball picked. For a complete breakdown of possible prize winnings and odds of winning see the Hot Lotto – Prizes and Odds page on the Powerball web site.

Hot Lotto picks cost $1 for each set of numbers picked (5 white balls plus the Hot Ball).

Hot Lotto players when purchasing their tickets may purchase the ‘Sizzler’ option which multiplies their winnings of any prize other than the jackpot multiplying their winnings three times. Selecting the Sizzler option when purchasing Hot Lotto numbers adds $1 to the cost of each pick purchased.

For example, if a player picked all five white balls correctly they would win $10,000. If that same player had taken the ‘Sizzler’ option their $10,000 winnings would be multiplied by three resulting in a $30,000 win.

Hot Lotto players may either select their own numbers using the play slip method, manually marking the play slip with their desired choice or simply chose to have the lottery computer terminal generate the numbers for them. The odds of winning are the same either way.

For more information on Hot Lotto see the Powerball and the Oklahoma Lottery web sites. Links to both appear on the main page of this site.