Lucky for Life (LFL) is a lottery drawing game available in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Lucky for Life, which began in 2009 in Connecticut as Lucky-4-Life, became a New England-wide game three years later, and added eleven lotteries during 2015. LFL's slogan is "The Game of a Lifetime." Drawings remain in Connecticut; Lucky for Life is drawn Mondays and Thursdays at 10:38 pm Eastern Time, using two drawing machines and numbered balls.
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Lucky for Life was modified on September 17, 2013, adding a second "lifetime" prize tier, and a cash option for either annuity tier; LFL was modified again in January 2015 to its current format. Each Lucky for Life play costs $2.
With the District of Columbia joining Lucky for Life (the first member added without changing the game's double matrix) on February 15, 2015, Kentucky on March 22, 2015, Ohio on November 15, 2015, Iowa on January 24, 2016, North Carolina on February 7, 2016, North Dakota on February 26, 2016, Colorado on July 17, 2016, and Kansas on November 15, 2016. With Wyoming joining Lucky for Life on December 4, 2016, the game now has 23 members.
West Virginia, South Dakota, and Nebraska are expected expected to join LFL in 2017.
First- and second-prize payouts
Unlike other American lottery games (the exception being the eight-state Cash4Life) Lucky for Life offers two annuitized prize levels; both are advertised as "lifetime" prizes. Beginning with the 2013 game modification, a first-prize winner can choose cash in lieu of the lifetime annuity; second-prize winners also are offered a cash option. A first-prize winner, if the annuity is chosen, receives, or shares, the equivalent of "$1,000 a day for life" (the timing of the payments is according to the rules where the ticket was sold), with a 20-year guarantee; if the winner dies, payments continue to the winner's estate. Second prize is $25,000 per year for life.
Lucky for Life uses a 5/48 (white balls) + 1/18 (green "Lucky Balls") draw matrix; its 2013 game modification had 43 balls in each of the two drums, while the previous version was 5/40 + 1/21. (The Connecticut-only game drew 4 of 39 white balls and 1 of 19 green "Lucky Balls"; hence the name Lucky-4-Life.)
The 5/43 + 1/43 version never produced a top prize-winning ticket; the first winner under the current matrix was sold in South Carolina for the November 19, 2015 drawing. The winner, who claimed the prize anonymously under SCEL rules, was the first winner to choose cash in lieu of the annuity for the game's top prize, as all previous top prize winners are receiving their winnings under the game's pre-2013 rules.
Prize chart
A player wins a prize according to the following chart (effective January 27, 2015):
†First-prize cash option is $5,750,000; multiple winners share the top prize regardless of payment option(s) chosen. Second-prize cash option is $390,000. The cash option amounts are decided by a unanimous vote of the LFL lotteries; these amounts are posted at least 30 days before the change(s) occur.
‡Second and third prizes also have liability limits.
The prize pool is approximately 60 percent of sales.
The overall odds of winning are 1:7.8
Current members (23)
Future members (3)
The minimum age to play LFL is 18, except in Iowa, where it is 21. (Future member Nebraska requires players to be at least 19.)