Lucky Dog tickets, at $1 each and with top prizes of $5,000, represent the Lottery's first venture with players participating in the design of a ticket.  Players submitted over 1,000 photographs of their dogs to Player City, the Lottery's VIP Club.  Seven dogs were selected to appear on the new ticket. 

"The Lucky Dog contest was a huge success; it exceeded our expectation by a wide margin," Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters said.  "Folks obviously loved it and we were pleased to see the level of interest and participation."In addition to $5,000 top prizes, Lucky Dog has almost $3.5 million in total prizes available to players.  Dogs appearing on the Lucky Dog tickets include Milo from Clinton Township, Abbey from Alpena, Buddah from Saginaw, Barney from Berrien Springs, Spooky from Waterford, Droopy from Warren and Webster from Lapeer.  Three other Lucky Dogs, Austin, Courage and Harley, were used in the early stages of development of the ticket and were retained during final production.

Players who haven't already done so are encouraged to sign up and become "residents" of Player City.  To do so, players should go to www.playercity.net.  Registration is free and entitles "citizens" to a number of Lottery perks, including alerts about jackpots and new games, surveys and special offer coupons.  Members also accumulate "PC Points" for various on-site activities, including participation in the Lucky Dog contest, which awarded 5,000 points.  Points can then be redeemed for members-only contest entries and other activities.

All proceeds from the Lottery are contributed to the state School Aid Fund which supports kindergarten through 12th grade public education in Michigan.  In fiscal year 2005, the contribution was $667.6 million.

For additional information, please visit the Lottery's Web site at www.michigan.gov/lottery.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Artwork to accompany the Lucky Dog story can be found on the Lottery's Web site.  Click on Media Resources in the blue Quick Links box on the right side of the home page.