Florida Lotteries, a Florida-based company that has operated in Florida since the 1980s, announced plans on Tuesday to hold a lottery to determine which states and territories will host the 2022 World Series.
The announcement came on the same day that US sports teams were set to be awarded the first-ever Major League Baseball team in 2021.
But the announcement was met with disappointment among some of the state’s residents, who have long felt that the lottery has been plagued by fraud and mismanagement.
“We have seen the state of Florida not be competitive in the US since the inception of the lottery,” said Chris Bowers, a spokesman for the state Lottery.
Bowers said the state will hold a “state-wide lottery” on November 10.
“As part of the national Lottery, each state will have a state lottery,” he said.
“The winner will be chosen from all of the states in which they reside and will be the winner of the prize.
This is a first for Florida.
This is a very exciting moment for Florida Lotters, and we look forward to seeing how it unfolds.”
The Florida Lottering Association, which represents the state lottery’s largest players, welcomed the news, but it is unclear whether it will follow through on its promise to award the winning teams in 2021, and if so, when.
Florida Lottery officials said in an emailed statement that the state would “continue to monitor the progress of the federal lottery” and said that it would “be announcing further details in the coming days.”
The move comes amid widespread concern over how the Florida lottery has operated, particularly its handling of a number of high-profile high-stakes tickets for the 2022 MLB World Series that were purchased before the state had announced the winner.
According to documents obtained by ESPN, a number or two of the tickets sold for the World Series were for sale before the dates were announced and in the days following.
In addition, an investigation by The Associated Press revealed that at least a quarter of the $1.1 billion the US Lottery had raised for the 2021 MLB World Championship had been spent on tickets for future games.
At least four of the ticket winners in Florida were not in the state for the first time in 20 years.
In addition to Florida, the other major winners were the states of Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.
The Lottery was also fined $10,000 for selling tickets to Florida fans in a game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Angels in 2021 before the ticket was sold.
The Florida State Lottery issued a statement to ESPN, saying that the “state lottery has always had a high level of transparency and accountability.”
“The Lotterys transparency and integrity are key to our success,” it said.
“We have always conducted ourselves with integrity, honesty and professionalism.”
The announcement of the 2022 US Lotter’s World Series was met by widespread outrage from residents in Florida.
A spokesperson for the US State Lottery said in a statement: “To the many Florida Lotteers who have lost out on winning this historic prize, we want to extend our thanks for your patience and your support.
We look forward for a positive, successful conclusion to the 2022 season and we will continue to monitor developments.”
Last year, the state said it would have awarded $10 million to Florida Lottters to cover “a significant portion of the cost of the USFL’s 2022 World Championship” and the state is still paying out that money, despite the winning team having already been announced.