Gambler In Santa Claus, Indiana Wins $2.2 Million From State Lottery

By | Updated on 23 November, 2020

Brian served as a senior reporter and online content manager for Card Player Magazine for nearly a decade before joining USBets in October 2018. He is currently focused on legal and regulated sports betting and online gaming. He's an avid jiu-jitsu practitioner in his free time.

Christmas is right around the corner, but an Indiana gambler in Santa Claus got an early present.

The Hoosier Lotto jackpot was an estimated $2.2 million for Saturday night’s drawing, with the winning prize the largest since a $4.9 million pot was won in October. Hoosier Lotto jackpot odds are 1 in 9,366,819, per the state lottery, with the game also awarding smaller, easier-to-win prizes.

The winning ticket for the $2.2 million drawing was purchased at Circle S Food Mart #36 located on Highway 162 in Santa Claus. The winning Hoosier Lotto numbers for Saturday, Nov. 21 were: 2-4-14-21-27-30. The lottery is encouraging players to check their tickets as soon as possible.

The Hoosier Lottery has yet to publish its 2020 annual report, but it is known that the lottery has been doing well during the pandemic — and actually much better than the casinos (aside from their sports betting apps), due to the casinos having limited occupancy.

Business is booming at the lottery

In the most recently completed fiscal quarter, the Hoosier State lottery reported $520.7 million in sales, up 24% from the same period last year, according to a recent report.

“We saw a fantastic fourth quarter in fiscal year 2020 that has continued into fiscal year 2021,” said Carrie Stroud, Hoosier Lottery chief of staff. “We’re thrilled with the results we’ve seen so far in [FY] 2021.”

In fiscal year 2019, the Hoosier Lottery, which is powered by IGT, saw record sales of $1.3 billion and a record transfer of $312 million to the state. The are roughly 4,300 lottery retail locations throughout the state.
The state’s sports betting market is also growing rapidly alongside the lottery, with operators reporting record handle of more than $230 million in October according to the Indiana Gaming Commission. More than $193 million of that handle was generated through online and mobile betting.
Unlike sports betting, Indiana lottery gambling mostly has to be done in person, though the Hoosier State lottery app does, for example, let players enter certain non-winning tickets into “second chance” promotions. Also unlike Tennessee, Indiana sports betting is regulated by the state’s casino commission, not the lottery.
Indiana is expected to see an online casino gambling bill hit the table next year, which could conceivably include allowing the Hoosier Lottery to bolster its online options as well. Without the Hoosier Lottery becoming more state-of-the-art, like the neighboring lottery in Michigan, its revenues could eventually plateau with increased competition in the gambling space.