For Immediate Release: June 5, 2017
Contact: Kelly Thompson at 605-773-5983 or kelly.thompson@state.sd.us

Lucky for Life Lotto Tickets Now On Sale in South Dakota

(Pierre) – South Dakotans who've long dreamed about what they'd do with $1,000 a day for life took the first step towards making those dreams a reality, purchasing $4,714 in tickets on Sun., June 4, 2017, the first day lotto tickets for the game were available for sale in South Dakota.

The first drawing for the new game is tonight (Mon., June 5, 2017); tickets can be purchased at all lottery retailers until 8:30 p.m. CT. There are two Lucky for Life drawings per week, on Mondays and Thursdays.

While adding a new lotto game to the South Dakota Lottery's product line has its challenges both technologically and in raising player awareness, Norm Lingle, the Lottery's executive director, says Sunday's game launch went relatively smoothly.

“We've been preparing for the game launch for months and had staff on standby this weekend, making sure everything was covered and the retailers were ready to go to start sales Sunday morning. There's always that moment when you wonder if you've overlooked something but we’ve had minimal problems reported and heard from many retailers that players were excited to get their first tickets," said Lingle. "Now we're focused on the first drawing on Monday night. It would be great to start the game with a top prize winner in South Dakota!"

Lucky for Life costs $2 per play and tickets can be purchased via play slip or Quick Pick. Five numbers are randomly drawn from a field of 48 white ball numbers and one Lucky Ball is picked from among 18 numbers. Matching five of five white ball numbers and the Lucky Ball wins the player the top prize of $1,000 a day for life while hitting five numbers without the Lucky Ball is worth the second prize of $25,000 a year for life. The odds of winning the top prize in Lucky for Life is 1:30.8 million and the odds of winning any prize are about 1:7.8.

More information on the game is available at https://lottery.sd.gov/games/lottogames/luckyforlife/  Lucky for Life is currently played in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

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