When the first Virginia Lottery ticket was purchased on September 20, 1988, there was just one game available: Match 3. Now, to celebrate the Lottery’s 20th birthday, Match 3 is back – and with an exciting twist. Players can enter their non-winning tickets in a drawing for one of 20 $50,000 college scholarships established with the Virginia College Savings Plan.

The scholarships will be established as accounts in the Virginia Education Savings Trust (VEST), a 529 savings program open to any U.S. citizen or legal resident and usable at public or private technical schools, community colleges and universities worldwide to pay for tuition, fees and other qualified higher educations expenses as defined in Section 117 of the Internal Revenue Code. The 20 scholarship winners will be drawn March 4, 2009.

“This partnership between the Virginia Lottery and the Virginia College Savings Plan is a natural,” said Lottery Executive Director Paula I. Otto. “Lottery profits benefit Virginia’s K-12 public education, so this is a chance for players to help a student continue his or her education.”

“We are pleased to work with the Virginia Lottery to offer a vehicle to provide 20 winners a big jump-start on paying for higher education,” said Mary G. Morris, Executive Director of the Virginia College Savings Plan, an independent state agency which manages Virginia’s 529 programs. “More importantly, this is an opportunity to highlight the 20-year record of the Virginia Lottery’s contributions to K-12 education and to introduce individuals and families to VEST and the other tax-advantaged 529 college savings programs offered by the Virginia College Savings Plan.”

The Match 3 Scratcher game will be available at Virginia Lottery retailers across the Commonwealth beginning September 18. The game features prizes ranging from $5 all the way up to $20,000. If a ticket does not win one of those prizes, it can be entered in the Birthday Scholarship Sweepstakes.

After the Virginia Lottery Grand Prize Drawing on March 4, 2009, the Virginia Lottery will fund the scholarship prizes and representatives of the Virginia College Savings Plan will assist the winners and designated beneficiaries in establishing VEST accounts with initial balances of $50,000. The beneficiaries will be eligible to use the funds for qualified higher education expenses when they are ready to go to college.