The Michigan Lottery began on 13 November 1972 with the launch of the Green Ticket game. In October 1975 the first instant game ticket was sold, with terminal-based games following in June 1977 with the debut of the Daily 3 game. The first ticket for the Michigan Lotto game was purchased in August 1984, while the first ticket for The Big Game – the forerunner to Mega Millions – was sold in August 1996. As well as Daily 3, other games currently offered by the Michigan Lottery include Daily 4, Fantasy 5 and Classic Lotto 47.

The Michigan Lottery has donated over $17bn to the state’s education system since 1972, a figure which includes payments of more than $600m in 13 of the past 15 fiscal years. For every dollar of revenue generated by the Lottery, 30c goes towards education, with 58c put towards winning player payments. Of the remainder, 7c makes up commissions to lottery retailers and 5c is put towards various expenses including advertising.