BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô The Idaho Lottery is debuting it's version of tax relief for players that win the Hot Lotto Sizzler jackpot beginning after May 15, 2013. The withholding tax will now be paid by the Lottery on behalf of the lucky winners. The jackpot will be paid 100% in cash. Players who win the advertised jackpot will receive the entire jackpot amount.

"Hot Lotto Sizzler is a unique game that fits well into our draw game portfolio between Wild Card and Mega Millions for the size of jackpots awarded," said Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. "We've taken this successful game and improved it. When players win the Hot Lotto Sizzler jackpot now, they get paid the entire jackpot ÔÇô every last penny of the advertised amount in cash."

"One of the most common questions we receive when someone wins a big prize is 'how much is that after taxes?'" added Anderson. "We can now say with certainty, that if the jackpot is $2 million, the player will receive a check from us for no less than the entire amount. We pay what we say."

The new version of the game will begin sales on May 12, 2013 after 4 a.m. with the first draw on May 15, 2013. A draw down for multi-draw players commenced on April 10th, the last day players could purchase a 10-advance multi-draw ticket for Hot Lotto. Each subsequent draw will reduce the multi-draw advance purchase by one draw until May 11. The advance ten-draw feature will be restored on May 12, 2013 when the new game's sales begin.

Hot Lotto is played in similar fashion to Powerball and Wild Card, with drawings on Wednesday and Saturday night. And, like Idaho's Weekly Grand game, players win the entire jackpot prize. Hot Lotto players select five numbers from 1 to 47 and then one Hot Ball number from 1 to 19. Each play with the Sizzler option costs $2. The Sizzler option multiplies your non-jackpot winning prize by 3. So the second place prize, with sizzler option, will now be $90,000! Match 4 with the Sizzler option and the player will win $9,000! Players may also play regular Hot Lotto for just $1 per play, but any non-jackpot prizes will not be multiplied by 3.

Hot Lotto is a multi-state game played only in 16 lotteries across the United States, mostly with smaller populations. The biggest jackpot in the game's history was $19.97 million in January 2007. Idaho's last Hot Lotto jackpot winner was Steve Colson, Caldwell, who won $2.67 million on Hot Lotto in June 2012. The current Hot Lotto jackpot is $4.68 million.

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