SACRAMENTO, Calif. (January 21, 2025) – The California Lottery is debuting a brand-new Scratchers game this week called 40 Years of Play! The new game invites players to join the California Lottery in marking its 40th anniversary, celebrating decades of raising supplemental funding for public education.
“For 40 years, we’ve been proud to raise extra funding for California’s public schools,” said Harjinder K. Shergill Chima, Director of the California Lottery. “We are excited to kick off 2025 with a new game that gives people a chance to celebrate with us. Since we sold our first game in 1985, together with our players and our retail partners, we’ve raised more than $46 billion to benefit students across California.”
The new game gives players two options: a $2 version with a top prize of $40,000 or a $40 option, the California Lottery’s first-ever $40 game, which offers the chance to win $15 million.
The commemorative new game features California’s signature grizzly bear and is the first in a series of new Scratchers debuting this year that will nod to the California Lottery’s 40th anniversary.
The California Lottery began in October of 1985 after voters passed a ballot proposition allowing the State to sell games with the explicit mission of raising supplemental funding for public schools. Ninety-five cents of every dollar spent on California Lottery games goes back to the community through contributions to public schools, prizes, and retail compensation.