Decades of Dollars

Decades of Dollars is the name of a lottery game that became available on January 30, 2011 in Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginia.^[1] The game is drawn Monday and Thursday nights, including holidays. Decades of Dollars replaced Win for Life in Kentucky.

Decades of Dollars became available in Arkansas on May 3, 2011; the first drawing to include Arkansas was two days later.

Each Decades of Dollars game costs $2; players choose 6 numbers from 1 through 47. Any game with at least two matching numbers wins (see below.)

• Match 2 of 6:
  • a free $2 play automatically generated by a lottery terminal (in Kentucky and Virginia)
  • $2 cash (in Arkansas and Georgia)
• Match 3 of 6: $10
• Match 4 of 6: $100
• Match 5 of 6: $10,000 (liability limit $250,000 across the four jurisdictions)
• Match 6 of 6: see below

Matching all six numbers wins $250,000 yearly over 30 installments; unlike WfL, a cash option ($4,000,000) is available. These amounts are reduced if a given drawing produces more than two top-prize winners, as the top prize liability is $10,000,000 cash.

In the first Decades of Dollars drawing (Thursday, February 3, 2011, as the first Monday of game sales did not have a drawing), 11 games won the $10,000 second prize: seven in Virginia, with two each in Georgia and Kentucky.

As with other US multi-jurisdictional games, a Decades of Dollars winning ticket must be redeemed in the jurisdiction where the ticket was bought.

Potentially, other southeastern US lotteries may join the existing Decades of Dollars game.

As of November 18, 2011, there has yet to be a top-prize winner (of either payment option) in the game. A possible format change for Decades of Dollars is being considered.

Decades of Dollars drawings are conducted by the Georgia Lottery at WSB-TV in Atlanta, which also hosts Mega Millions drawings.

References

1. ^ [1]