The introduction of instant lottery tickets - WATCH Dr. John Koza
Dr. John Koza, the co-founder of Scientific Games Corporation, grew up in Redford Township, Michigan, is credited with introducing the instant ticket, which the Michigan Lottery and other state lotteries around the country adopted into their lottery programs. Here's that story as part of CBS News Detroit's America at 250 series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeSAtP6vzdA
If you've ever scratched a lottery ticket and instantly learned you won, you can thank a Michigan native.
John Koza, who grew up in Redford Township, helped create the instant lottery game. It's a concept that quickly spread across the country and reshaped how state lotteries operate.
Before the 1970s, most state lotteries functioned like raffles. Players bought numbered tickets and then waited days for a televised drawing or newspaper listing to learn whether they had won.
Koza, a Redford Union High School graduate who later earned a doctorate from the University of Michigan, saw an opportunity to modernize the process. After early work developing supermarket giveaway games, he co-founded Scientific Games.
In 1974, the company launched the first instant ticket for the Massachusetts State Lottery. Koza said the impact was immediate.
"It is very gratifying to be part of something that helped to improve education and other benefits," he said. "There were hundreds of people who won a million dollars or more whose lives were changed."
He said he still plays often. "I still buy tickets regularly. It is fun to play the tickets and think back and see how the game is different now," Koza said.
At a local retailer, employees said they have never seen any evidence to support the common player theory that it is better to buy scratch-off tickets either right when they are released or later in the game cycle. They said winners appear to come at random, consistent with how lottery games are designed.
Meanwhile, the Michigan Lottery continues to generate significant revenue for Michigan schools. In January, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the lottery contributed more than $1 billion to education for the seventh consecutive year. The funding includes more than $10,000 per pupil for every child in every Michigan school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeSAtP6vzdA
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/the-introduction-of-instant-lottery-tickets-has-a-michigan-story/