Kentucky Gov. Wallace Wilkinson bought the state’s first lottery ticket at a Thorntons gas station and food mart in Louisville on April 4, 1989. Wilkinson, who made a state lottery the cornerstone of his 1987 gubernatorial race, bought $3 worth of tickets and came up empty. Wilkinson turned and jokingly told lottery president Frank Keener that he “could have organized this a little better.” The governor later bought $100 worth of tickets — 50 “Beginner’s Luck” and 25 “DreamStakes” — for his wife, Martha. Kentucky voters overwhelmingly supported the lottery in the previous fall’s general election. The Kentucky Lottery Corp. says it has earned nearly $4 billion for Kentucky’s state treasury since 1989.  Photo by Frank Anderson | Staff