Opinion No. (1998)

DANIEL E. LUNGREN Attorney General GREGORY L. GONOT Deputy Attorney General THE CALIFORNIA STATE LOTTERY COMMISSION has requested an opinion on the following question: Are the games of Super Lotto, Daily 3, Fantasy 5, and Scratchers, as conducted by the California State Lottery Commission, lottery games? CONCLUSION As conducted by the California State Lottery Commission, Super Lotto, with the exception of the Bonus 7 and Match 3-of-6 features, is a lottery game; Fantasy 5 is a lottery game; Scratchers is a lottery game; Daily 3 is an unlawful banking game. ANALYSIS The California State Lottery ("CSL") was established pursuant to the California State Lottery Act of 1984 (Gov. Code, §§ 8880 - 8880.68 , "Act"), 1 an initiative measure approved by the voters on November 6, 1984. The purpose of CSL is to raise revenue for public education in California. 2 This revenue is raised by means of various lottery games conducted on a statewide basis by the CSL Commission ("Commission"). As authorized by section 8880.28 , the Commission has promulgated regulations specifying the types of lottery games to be conducted as part of the CSL. One such game, Keno, was ruled by the Supreme…