The Maryland Lottery is an independent organisation that facilitates a range of lottery and gambling games in The US east-coast state of Maryland. Players are offered several different games courtesy of the broad lottery, including Mega Millions, Powerball, Multi-Match, Keno and Bonus Match 5. There are also numerous scratch ticket games on offer.

The Maryland Lottery outlines its core mission as to “generate revenue to help support the good causes of Maryland including education, public health, public safety, human resources and the environment”, according to its official website. As a result a percentage of the profits from the state’s lottery games go to a number of different causes, including almost half to education and a percentage reserved for small businesses

The Maryland Lottery was formed in 1973, where legislation passed allowed it to begin running. Since its founding, the lottery has contributed $12.8 billion to the state and handed out almost $20 billion in prizes to participants of the lottery’s games.

Maryland’s lottery hit the headlines in 2012 when its Mega Millions draw saw a jackpot of roughly $656,000,000 on offer, which was a world record for a lottery.