Paying the extra dollar for Extra! changes what your matches are worth, not how often they land. Your six numbers face the same 1 in 25,827,165 wall for the jackpot either way, and the jackpot is the one prize Extra! is explicitly barred from touching.
The game at a glance
6 of 54
Mon · Wed · Sat
United States
1 in 25,827,165
The same for every possible combination, including this one.
All divisions →
18+
Must be 18+ to play Lotto Texas.
Lotto Texas, in brief
Lotto Texas is the state's own jackpot game and its longest-running draw game, first played in 1992. A play costs $1 and asks for six numbers from 1 to 54, marked on a playslip, built in the Texas Lottery app, or handed to the terminal as a Quick Pick. Since September 2025 the game has been overseen by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation rather than the Texas Lottery Commission.
Drawings are held Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:12 PM Central, with terminals shut for a draw break from 10:02 to 10:15. The jackpot resets to $5 million once it's won and climbs from there with no cap. You pick the payout at the counter, marking either 30 annual payments or the cash value option, and that decision is locked in when the ticket prints.
The one add-on is Extra!, at $1 more per play. It doesn't apply to the jackpot. Below that it adds a flat amount to every tier, $10,000 on a match of five, $100 on four and $10 on three, and it opens a tier the base game doesn't have at all: matching just two of six numbers pays a guaranteed $2. Overall odds move from 1 in 71.1 to 1 in 7.9, though that second figure counts break-even prizes.
Prize tiers
6 of 6Jackpot
The jackpot, pari-mutuel and shared among winning plays, paid as 30 annual installments or a cash value option
5 of 6
A pari-mutuel prize the Lottery estimates at around $2,000, higher or lower depending on how many tickets reach the tier
4 of 6
A pari-mutuel prize estimated at around $50, plus $100 on tickets carrying Extra!
3 of 6
A guaranteed $3, rising to $13 with Extra! attached
2 of 6 (Extra! only)
Nothing at all in the base game. On a ticket with Extra! it pays a guaranteed $2, roughly what the add-on cost
Where Lotto Texas came from
The first drawing, November 1992
The Texas Lottery sold its first scratch ticket in May 1992, and Lotto Texas followed that autumn once GTECH had installed terminals in 5,250 retail locations. The opening drawing went out on 14 November 1992 at 9:59 PM, televised across the state by satellite. Two weeks later Janie Kallus of Schulenburg became the game's first jackpot winner, taking $21.8 million. The original field ran to 50 numbers, not the 54 in use now.
Two matrix changes and a reversal
On 19 July 2000 the Lottery added four numbers to the field, taking it from 50 to 54 and stretching the jackpot odds to about 1 in 25.8 million. Three years on it tried something else entirely. From 4 May 2003 players picked five numbers from a field of 44 plus a bonus ball from a second field of 44. That format ran until 26 April 2006, when the game reverted to a straight six of 54 and has stayed there since.
Extra!, Mondays and a new regulator
Commissioners approved the Extra! rule change in January 2013, and the first drawing with the add-on ran on 17 April 2013. Monday draws arrived on 23 August 2021, taking Lotto Texas from two nights a week to three. Then on 1 September 2025, under Senate Bill 3070, the Texas Lottery Commission was abolished outright and responsibility for the game moved to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Picking numbers, honestly
People still talk about the Lotto Texas bonus ball. There genuinely was one, between May 2003 and April 2006, when the game was five numbers from 44 plus a bonus from a second field of 44. That version is long gone. Today's game draws six balls from one field of 54 and nothing else.
The 54-number field leaves twenty-three numbers above 31 that calendar-based picks never reach. Choosing from the whole field doesn't improve your odds of matching, since every combination is equally likely, but it does cut the chance of splitting a jackpot with the crowd of players filling slips with birthdays and anniversaries.
Lotto Texas — frequently asked
Not any more. Between 4 May 2003 and 26 April 2006 the game used five numbers from 44 plus a bonus ball from a separate field of 44. Since 26 April 2006 it has been a straight six of 54 with no extra ball drawn.
23 August 2021, the same night Mondays were added to Powerball in Texas.
For $1 more per play it adds a fixed sum to each non-jackpot tier: $10,000 on 5 of 6, $100 on 4 of 6 and $10 on 3 of 6. It also creates a 2 of 6 tier worth a guaranteed $2 that doesn't exist in the base game. The jackpot is excluded.
No. Senate Bill 3070, in force since 1 September 2025, made it a Class A misdemeanor to order, purchase or sell a Texas Lottery ticket by telephone or through an internet or mobile app. Tickets have to be bought in person from a licensed retailer, and retailers are barred from working with courier services.
About 1 in 71.1 on a base ticket, counting all four paying tiers. With Extra! the figure is 1 in 7.9, though that number includes break-even prizes such as the $2 for matching two numbers.