New York Lottery Icon Yolanda Vega Celebrates 20 Years with a Whole Lotto Memories

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The year was 1990. Dark horse nominee "Dances with Wolves" rode off with Best Picture honors at the 62nd Annual Academy awards as newcomer Mariah Carey picked up Best New Artist accolades at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards. Nineteen-ninety was also the year Brooklyn-born Yolanda Vega offered up for the first time what would become her signature salute – "For the New York Lottery, I am Yo-LAAAHN-da Vega!" - a simple albeit exaggerated statement of fact that would make her a celebrity in a world of staid Lottery drawings, and cement her status as the New York Lottery's most viewed on-air personality of all time.

Now celebrating her 20th anniversary as the official voice of the New York Lottery's twice weekly Lotto drawings, Vega looks fondly at the tapes of the more than 2,000 drawings she has officiated over the past two decades, and welcomes the additional responsibilities she's taken on within the Lottery's drawings unit; serving at times as program manager for the Lottery's other daily drawings and managing the schedules for three of the newest members of the Lottery's growing draw team. For Vega, the additional responsibilities mark her growth as a team leader.

"My job is to be where the Lottery needs me to be, whenever they need me to be there," Vega quipped. "Over the past 20 years, that's been on the top of Empire State Building, the boardwalk at Jones Beach, the State Fair, the 50-yard line at Ralph Wilson Stadium and everywhere in between to announce new game launches and huge jackpot roll ups," she said. "But, most times, I'm working on promotional schedules for the team, introducing our new Lottery millionaires, announcing the winning numbers, or getting the studio ready for a drawing that someone else is doing. It's a job like no other."

Vega said she enjoys being the public face of the Lottery despite the added stress of her on-demand schedule. "The Lottery is a very personal thing for a lot of people," said Vega. "I've been very fortunate to be part of some people's lives for 20 years. These are the people who watch our drawings every day and buy our tickets one at a time. These are the people that make the New York Lottery the $7.5 billion business that we are – one ticket, one drawing at a time. These are my friends on the other side of the TV camera." In an average year, Vega estimates she hands out more than 5,000 autographed photos to well wishers during her appearances at promotions, fairs and festivals statewide. "It's my way of passing on some Lottery luck."

Throughout her 20-year career in State service, Vega has presided over many of the Lottery's milestone moments including, but not limited to:

• Recapping the winning Lottery winning numbers in Spanish in May of 1990
• Appearing for the first time on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" in October of 1994
• Launching the Lottery's "Who wants to be Yolanda Vega" contest in February of 1999
• Announcing winning numbers for New York's First mega jackpot game (Millennium Millions) in Times Square in December of 1999
• Officiating the Lottery's first-ever $1,000,000 Half Court Shot at Madison Square Garden in November of 2002
• Announcing winning numbers for a $230,000,000 Mega Millions drawing live from Times Square in February of 2004
• Broadcasting winning numbers live on location at the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse in August of 2005
• Revealing the winning number for the Lottery's first motion picture-themed promotional drawing (King Kong Millions) on the observation deck of the Empire State Building in December of 2005
• Generating headlines for the Lottery's first-ever on-line talent search on the "Live! With Regis and Kelly" show in March of 2008
• Introducing of New York's first Powerball jackpot winner: Coming soon!

Vega came to the Lottery on February 5, 1990 with a B.A. degree in Economics from Hunter College (minoring in both accounting and communications), and a new husband, State Police Trooper Miguel Vega. The two settled in the Albany area and raised two daughters; one in college and another soon to follow. Vega admits her irregular schedule has made it difficult at times to balance the demands of work and family, but, she said, her priorities have never waivered. "My family knows they come first. My girls have seen and learned a lot through my experiences. They're more aware than most of just how much one person can accomplish in a single day."

New York Lottery Director Gordon Medenica applauded Vega's 20th anniversary and credited her continued popularity to one simple fact, "New Yorkers like the way Yolanda says her name, but they love her because she's the real deal…genuine, knowledgeable, and accessible. You can't ask more than that of anyone."

The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, earning more than $36.7 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago. The Lottery contributed nearly $2.54 billion in fiscal year 2008-09 to help support education in New York State, which was over 12 percent of total state education funding to local school districts. The Lottery's ongoing commitment to education also includes the awarding of more than 1,100 Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) Scholarships annually to high school students pursuing their higher education in New York State. Since 1999, the Lottery has awarded more than 11,500 scholarships representing a total commitment of almost $50 million.

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