The Texas Lottery Commission voted today to join 10 other states in the multistate lottery Mega Millions.

Lottery officials expect $324.5 million in game ticket sales in Texas over 10 months starting this fall.

To begin participating in the multi-jurisdiction lottery, certain steps must be taken including entering into an agreement with Mega Millions and adopting game rules, said Reagan Greer, executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission.

"We are looking at a late fall timeline for having this process completed," Greer said.

For weeks, Greer had been studying whether to recommend that Texas join Mega Millions or Powerball. Both are multistate lotteries.

The Legislature in its regular session this past spring approved joining a multistate lottery as a way to raise more state revenue.

Multistate lottery games are designed to generate jackpots into the hundreds of millions of dollars, creating a frenzy of ticket purchases across the country. Participating states get a cut of the tickets sold within their borders.

The push to join a multistate lottery comes as Lotto Texas, the state's signature game, continues to suffer from depressed ticket sales. This spring, lottery officials increased the odds against winning a jackpot from one in 25 million to nearly one in 48 million.

Powerball and Mega Millions officials made presentations to lottery commissioners in June.