Lottery Executive Director pushes for entertainment worthy of players' budgets
By Kate Northrop
The Delaware Lottery is celebrating its golden 50th anniversary all year long and has launched a $50 scratch-off ticket to commemorate the milestone achievement.
Delaware Lottery staff have been buzzing with delight to celebrate its 50th Anniversary, but they are even more excited to share the state's first $50 scratch-off with players, as well as other special events happening throughout the year.
On Oct. 25, 1975, the Delaware Lottery sold its first lottery tickets. On April 4, 2025, the Lottery kicked off its year-long celebration to commemorate 50 years since launching its operations.
Keeping the "50" theme in mind, the Lottery also launched its very first $50 scratch-off ticket called "50th Anniversary." Dressed in black and gold, it's now the state's most expensive ticket, outshining the $30 tickets that previously held the title.
"We know that with everybody's home budgets that we get a portion of it, and so we want to make sure that it's entertaining, we want to make sure they have a good time while they're playing, and we also understand that when our players win it can change their lives," Lottery Executive Director Helene Keeley told WDEL.
The game offers two top prizes of $1 million, followed by four second-tier prizes of $100,000 and nine third-tier prizes of $50,000. The base level prize is $100, double the value of the ticket. This prize level offers most of the game's total winnings, with over 112,000 prizes totaling more than $11 million in available prizes. Overall, the game offers over $17.5 million in winnings across all prize levels.
It hopefully won't be the last $50 scratch-off game that hits the shelves in Delaware, Keeley informed Lottery Post. Delaware players may see other $50 instant games in the future.
In addition to the new $50 game, the Lottery is planning several events between now and October, including lots of second chance draws and Facebook live events, Keeley continued. Everything is set to culminate on Oct. 25, 2025 with a big party for retailers, vendors, players, and government officials.
In its 50 years of operations, the Lottery has evolved since it first employed the use of traditional ball drawing machines.
"We understand that people want to see those ping pong balls coming out, but at the end of the day they are just not as secure as the randomizers are," Keeley said in an interview with WDEL.
Most of all, the Lottery has returned $6.5 billion to the state's general fund since its inception.
"Whether it's going to Cape Henlopen State Park, or Bellevue State Park, or the Future Farmers of America getting grant money, it runs the gamut," Keeley added.
As of Monday, both $1 million top prizes remain in the "50th Anniversary" scratch-off game. According to the Lottery, as of April 14, there are also three out of four second-tier prizes of $100,000 left to claim.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the $50 game are 1 in 3.76.
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Happy Anniversary Suckers!
* $50 for a million dollar " top prize"- that's insane. CA has a $30.00 scrather - top prize " 7 million dollars." Delaware can do better, don't be shy!
When $50 tickets came out in other states 10+ years ago, the overall odds of winning was much better. Sad to see their first ticket with such terrible odds for the cost
California population 39 million, Delaware population 1 million is your answer. I asked at one store as I got my numbers about sales for this game and he said he had 2 tickets left on the roll.
The only way I purchase a 50 dollar scratch ticket is if I win $50- on a less expensive ticket first.