October 14, 2009 – During the recent fall conference of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) in Oklahoma City, the members of the Multi-state Lottery Association (MUSL) which operates Powerball agreed in principle to begin a cross-selling arrangement with the Mega Millions game.

The Nebraska Lottery is a member of MUSL, and sells Powerball under the auspices of the 33-member organization. Mega Millions is comprised of 12 member lotteries.

Nebraska Lottery Director, Jim Haynes, said of the agreement, “This action by the directors of the Powerball group is a first step toward the prospect of Powerball being sold in Mega Millions states and Mega Millions being sold in Powerball states. However, it is simply an agreement in principle at this point. Member lotteries have the option of offering both games, and it will be some time before each lottery is prepared to initiate cross-selling.”

Each lottery operates using a vendor-provided terminal network, and each has a unique contract with those vendors which dictates the terms and timing of software development for new games.

Haynes sits on the MUSL Board and serves as chair of the Security and Integrity Committee of the Powerball group.

The Nebraska Lottery began operations in September of 1993, and began selling Powerball in July of 1994. Since then, the Nebraska Lottery has sold more than $483 million worth of Powerball tickets, accounting for 35 percent of total Nebraska Lottery sales of more than $1.39 billion (as of fiscal year-end on June 30, 2009).

Since 1993, the Nebraska Lottery has raised more than $357 million for its beneficiary programs including the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the Education Innovation Fund, the Nebraska Scholarship Fund, the Nebraska State Fair, and compulsive gamblers assistance. Every county in Nebraska has benefited from projects funded by Nebraska Lottery proceeds.