Frequently Asked Questions
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These decisions are made by the Legislature and Governor, and then
administered by the agencies that they designate. Currently, all
funds are earmarked for higher education through the Legislative Lottery
Scholarship program administered by the Higher Education Department.
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No. The New Mexico Lottery does not administer scholarships. Our
mission is to provide the maximum amount of revenue for New Mexico
education through the operation of a fair, honest lottery for the
entertainment of the public.
The New Mexico Higher Education Department oversees the Legislative
Lottery Scholarship program and sets eligibility. The New Mexico
Higher Education Department's toll-free phone number is
1-800-279-9777 and its website is
www.hed.state.nm.us.
For more information about
Legislative Lottery Scholarship eligibility, click here.
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Get 5 games for $5 when you ask for "The Works."
When you purchase "The Works," you will receive a $1 Quick
Pick ticket for each New Mexico Lottery drawing game (Powerball,
Mega Millions, Hot Lotto, Roadrunner Cash and Pick 3). Players will
not be able to purchase "The Works" from 8 to 10 pm Monday-Saturday.
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Winning Powerball numbers are available on our website.
Click here.
Watch the winning numbers drawn live at approximately 8:59 p.m. on
KOB Eyewitness News 4, the Official Station of the New Mexico
Lottery. Winning numbers are also available at all Lottery retailers
and on the player hotline at 505-342-PLAY (regular phone usage
charges apply.)
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Powerball is currently played in 42 lotteries.
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Similar to other New Mexico Lottery games, proceeds from the sale of
Powerball, Mega Millions and Hot Lotto tickets remain in state. Member lotteries
send a percentage of their sales to fund the multi-million dollar jackpots, but
the proceeds from ticket sales remain in the state.
Click here to learn more about Powerball.
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Winning Mega Millions numbers are available on our website.
Click here.
See the winning numbers every Tuesday and Friday at approximately
9 pm on KOB Eyewitness News 4, the Official Station of the New
Mexico Lottery. Winning numbers are also available at all Lottery
retailers and on the player hotline at 505-342-PLAY (regular phone
usage charges apply.)
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Mega Millions is currently played in 42 lotteries.
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When a player asks for a Quick Pick, the player's numbers are
randomly selected by the Lottery computer system.
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Hot Lotto winning numbers are available on our website.
Click here.
Watch Hot Lotto drawing results Wednesdays and Saturdays on KOB
Eyewitness News 4, the official station of the New Mexico Lottery,
at apprx. 8:45 p.m. Winning numbers are also available at all
Lottery retailers and the player hotline at 505-342-PLAY (regular
phone usage charges apply.)
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Roadrunner Cash winning numbers are available on our website.
Click here.
Watch Roadrunner Cash drawing results Monday through Saturday on KOB
Eyewitness News 4, the official station of the New Mexico Lottery,
at approximately 10:20 p.m. Winning numbers are also available at
all Lottery retailers and on the player hotline at 505-342-PLAY
(regular phone usage charges apply.)
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Pick 3 winning numbers are available on our website.
Click here to
go there now.
Watch Pick 3 drawing results Monday through Saturday on KOB
Eyewitness News 4, the official station of the New Mexico Lottery,
at apprx. 10:20 p.m. Winning numbers are also available at all
Lottery retailers and the player hotline at 505-342-PLAY (regular
phone usage charges apply.)
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No. Winning
tickets are distributed randomly throughout a game's packs of tickets. The packs of tickets are sealed before they are
delivered to the Lottery. The still-sealed packs of tickets are
distributed randomly to the retailers as the game is ordered. You never know where the
winning tickets are or who will win. That's what makes playing the Lottery so
much fun!
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To determine the overall odds of a Scratcher game, take the number
of tickets in a game and divide it by the total number of prizes
in that same game. For example, 100 tickets divided by 25 winners equals
overall odds of 1 in 4.
If the "overall odds of winning a prize" in a game are 1 in 4, this
does not mean that there is an automatic winner within every 4
consecutive tickets. Prizes are distributed randomly throughout the
total game and there is no pattern as to where they will occur. It's
all a matter of luck and that's what makes it fun!
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Second-chance drawings are opportunities for players to enter their
non-winning New Mexico Lottery tickets for a second chance to win
cash or merchandise prizes. Information about second-chance drawings
is available at www.nmlottery.com and at Lottery retailers. Check
the website frequently for information on promotions, new games and
winners.
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All New Mexico Lottery prizes must be claimed within 90 days from
the date of the drawing or of the announced end date of a Scratcher
game or the business day prior to the 90th day if the Lottery is not
open for business.
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The New Mexico Lottery is a government instrumentality and falls
under the Inspection of Public Records Act. The law requires public
access to virtually all public records including records about
Lottery prize winners. According to a policy adopted by the New
Mexico Lottery's Board of Directors, the Lottery will release a
winner's name, their city of residence and prize amount when
requested. Knowing who is winning Lottery prizes promotes the
public's confidence in the Lottery as a fair and honest enterprise.
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A Lottery prize is like any other asset. Per the New Mexico Lottery
Act, prizes may be paid to a deceased winner's estate or to a person
designated by judicial order. In the event of the death of a Lottery
winner during the annuity payment period for the Powerball, Mega Millions or Hot
Lotto game, the remaining annuity payments may be paid each year to
the estate. Or, upon the petition of the estate to the New Mexico
Lottery, with the approval of the Multi-State Lottery Association
(MUSL), the Lottery may accelerate the payment of all the remaining
Lottery proceeds to the Estate. If such a determination is made, the
cash value of the securities and/or cash held to fund the deceased Lottery winner's annuitized prize may be distributed to the estate.
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Lottery tickets are available at many grocery, gas and convenience stores.
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While visiting New Mexico, travelers can purchase New Mexico Lottery
games from Lottery retailers across the state and bring the tickets
back to their home state or country. Currently, no Lottery can sell
tickets over the Internet or by mail across state lines or the U.S.
national border. Any Internet lottery site that purports to sell
tickets or "shares" for games such as Powerball is operating
illegally.
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No legitimate lottery knows the identity of a winner until the player
presents a ticket for verification. Therefore, Lottery winners are not notified
by email, letter or telephone call except in instances when a player completed
an entry form for a New Mexico Lottery second-chance drawing or other New Mexico
Lottery promotion. The criminals behind email, letters or telephone calls
identifying you as a Lottery winner are trying to obtain personal information
from you to engage in identity theft or to collect bogus fees for processing the
so-called prize. No legitimate lottery charges winners a fee when claiming a
prize. Please do not respond to these fraudulent emails, letters or telephone
calls or provide any personal information. If you feel you have been a victim of
a Lottery scam, call the New Mexico Attorney General's Office at 1-800-678-1508.
Click here for more information on lottery scams.
Scam brochures are available in Lottery displays at most New Mexico
Lottery retailers.
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Under no circumstances should an individual purchase a Lottery
ticket of any kind from anyone on the street. No one should ever
have to pay someone for a legitimate, winning Lottery ticket. Any
winning Lottery ticket exceeding $600, instant (scratcher) or
online, needs to be brought to Lottery headquarters for
verification.
Click here for more Information on Lottery Related Scams.
Additionally, Scam brochures are available in Lottery displays at
most New Mexico Lottery retailers.
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No. In the New Mexico Lottery Act, the Legislature declared that
"the most desirable, efficient and effective mechanism for operation
of a state lottery is an independent lottery authority organized as
a business enterprise separate from state government, without need
for state revenues or resources and subject to oversight, audit and
accountability by public officials and agencies."
As a result, it established the New Mexico Lottery Authority as
a government instrumentality, separate and apart from the state,
governed by a board of seven directors, who are appointed by the
Governor. The Lottery is subject to oversight by the Legislative
Finance Committee.
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The Origin™ digital draw system, manufactured by Smartplay
International, is a self-contained random number generation and
graphic display device.
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The system uses two hardware devices which pass all
internationally-accepted scientific and mathematical randomness
tests. It uses quantum physics to create a range of more than six
billion numbers. The system is then programmed to randomly generate
winning numbers within a particular games matrix (range.)
An independent testing lab, Secure Software of Chantilly, VA, has
tested and certified both the Origin™ System in general, and the
New Mexico Lottery's specific game matrix and program.
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The draw application queries the random number server for random
numbers. When the drawing option is selected, the system switches
from selecting random numbers from within the entire range of more
than six billion numbers to only those in the matrix for a
particular games drawing --- the same range of numbers available
with traditional ping pong-style balls.
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No. There is no connection to any network or the Internet. The
system is locked into the console and stored inside a secured room
with restricted access. Log-on validation is required prior to the
start of a game. Once the system is powered up, every keystroke is
recorded to a secure log that cannot be altered. All activities are
monitored by closed circuit camera. The system also runs a
self-diagnostic check during startup known as a cyclic redundancy.
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More than half of all US lotteries use a computerized drawing system
to select some of their winning numbers.
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An employee from the Lottery security staff operates the computer
inside a secure draw studio. An independent auditor monitors each
step of every drawing, following a detailed checklist of dozens of
items. A separate team of a Lottery control room operator and an
additional auditor monitor different transactions with different
checklists. All procedures must balance and match before drawing
results are made official. Additionally, all New Mexico Lottery
drawings are open to the public for viewing and monitoring. Advance
requests are necessary because of after-hours access to a secured
facility.
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Information about the latest Powerball jackpot winners is available at our website by clicking on the link titled "How to Play Powerball." At the Powerball page, there is a link titled "Click here to find out where the latest Powerball jackpot was won." This link is immediately below the NM Drawing Results table.
There are similar links at our website's "How
to Play Mega Millions" page. You may wish to bookmark these links so that you can get the information more quickly.
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As a matter of policy, the New Mexico Lottery does not disclose the city or name of store that sold a winning ticket until the player has had an opportunity to come forward to claim the prize. We believe this promotes greater player and store security and it encourages all players to check their tickets for prizes.
Once a prize has been claimed, the information is posted to our website.
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The New Mexico Lottery is required by law to report any prize in excess of $600 and to withhold state taxes at the current rate of 6% and federal taxes at the rate of 25% from any prize in excess of $5,000.
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Both the advertised annuitized jackpot and the estimated cash option for Hot Lotto, Powerball and Mega Millions are pre-tax amounts. As of May 2010, the current federal tax rate is 25% and the current NM tax rate is 6%.
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The New Mexico Lottery raises money for the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program while the New Mexico Higher Education Department oversees the entire program.. Oftentimes, state legislators will propose changes to the program. You may wish to share your suggestion with your state legislator or the New Mexico Department of Higher Education.
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While the New Mexico Lottery raises money for the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program, the New Mexico Department of Higher Education establishes eligibility and administers the program. Please call the Higher Education Department at 1-800-279-9777.
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E-mail:
custservice@nmlottery.com
Mail:
New Mexico Lottery
Communications Office
PO Box 93130
Albuquerque, NM 87199-3130
Phone: (505) 342-7600
For the latest winning numbers and current jackpots, call the
Player's Hotline at (505) 342-PLAY (regular phone charges apply.)
If you have any questions or concerns regarding accessibility or
auxiliary aids and services for persons with disabilities, please
contact our offices at (505) 342-7600. Our TDD phone number is (505)
342-7535.
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