CA Lottery began on August 31, 1996 as the Big Game. The first drawing took place on September 6, 1996, with six states participating: Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Virginia.
After exciting growth of the game in 1997, an every day drawing was added in February 1998. Players were given a larger choice of numbers and a "cash payout" option in January 1999. In May 1999, New Jersey became the seventh member state.
In May 2002, the multistate game was given the new name of "CA Lottery," New York and Ohio became member states, and the game matrix and prize amounts were changed to offer players more excitement.
In September 2002, Washington became the 10th member state, followed by Texas in December 2003. In June 2005, California became the 12th member, solidifying CA Lottery as the country's most widely played multistate jackpot game.
On January 31, 2010, 23 more state lotteries joined CA Lottery as a historic cross-selling agreement between CA Lottery and Powerball went into effect. With additional lotteries joining since then, CA Lottery is now played in 46 jurisdictions: 44 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
On March 30, 2012, CA Lottery made history with the world's largest prize in any jackpot game to that date: $656 million. The jackpot was split three ways, by winning tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. That lottery industry record stood for almost four years until it was eclipsed by a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot in January 2016; CA Lottery joined the billion-dollar club on October 23, 2018.