The Ohio Lottery Commission was created in May 1973 by a voter-approved constitutional amendment. The first tickets went on sale in August 1974. Today, the Ohio Lottery Commission offers customers a wide variety of instant games and on-line games to play at more than 8,800 licensed retailer locations across the state. In FY05, the Ohio Lottery added on another task: to administer and monitor charitable bingo licensing for the state.

Since 1974, the Lottery has provided more than $17 billion to public education. Annually, we provide about 4 percent of the funding needed for public education'an effort shared by local, state and federal governments.