Maryland Lottery will change to computer draws next week and stop live tv drawings
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Live draws with physical balls will finish next week, the Maryland Lottery announced on Monday.
Starting Dec. 19, instead of using numbered balls, the state lottery will conduct drawings for Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5, Bonus Match 5, and Multi-Match games using a computerized random number generator.
The agency also announced that drawings will no longer be televised. Instead, animated videos of the drawings will be available on the agency’s website.
The Maryland Lottery said that the changes are part of its effort to "embrace the future" as it prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary on Jan. 2, 2023.
"The shift to drawings using the random number generator system will not impact three multi-state games that can be played in Maryland,” said the Lottery.
“Cash4Life, Mega Millions and Powerball, which are conducted by state lotteries in New Jersey, Georgia, and Florida, respectively," Maryland Lottery officials said.
"Those games will continue to use numbered balls and mechanical drawing machines."
According to the Maryland Lottery, New Jersey-based company Smartplay International Lottery Systems created the random number generator that the Maryland Lottery will use in its drawings, as well as other similar systems used for lotteries worldwide.
The Maryland Lottery has used similar random number generator systems "for decades" to randomly generate numbers for quick-pick tickets, Racetrax, and Keno.
“Lottery balls and machines have been part of the Maryland Lottery’s history, but it’s important for us to modernize as we look forward to the next 50 years and beyond,” Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director John Martin said in a statement.
He said, “More than 30 other lotteries in the U.S. and Canada have shifted to RNG systems because they are efficient, cost-effective — and most importantly they are extremely secure.”
"From our players' perspective, nothing in the way the games are played is changing," Martin said.
"We still have the same games with the same prize structures, drawn at the same times each day. And as always, the outcomes are purely the result of random chance."
Winning numbers will be published on the website and on the Maryland Lottery’s mobile app.
Players can call into the Winning Numbers phone line at 410-230-8830.
