[5] A corruption probe in the early 2000s effectively ended with the suicides of a long-time director and a public relations contractor,[6][7] and mismanagement of the lottery agency led to the ouster of several top executives in the 2010s.

[13] Political disputes about how to direct revenue and state budget pressures led to a second lottery-related constitution amendment in 1990, which established and dedicated 40% of lottery proceeds to an environment and natural resources trust fund.

[12] In 1991, the lottery added the Minnesota-only Daily 3 and Gopher 5 lotto games, which were considered "on-line" as they used a central computer system.

[12][11][16] In partnership with Nintendo and the Bloomington-based Control Data Corporation, the state agency had plans to launch a test lottery with 10,000 Minnesota households in 1992 via an experimental modem for the NES.

At the time, Japanese consumers were able to use the Nintendo Famicom console for banking and stock purchases with the Network System peripheral.

[5] The American console had a relatively unknown expansion port that made the device capable of connecting to phone lines.

Technology companies hoped the idea would spur greater American interest in the burgeoning industry of electronic commerce.

The lottery would have been conducted via connection to a central computer and with pre-paid credits and an encrypted password to ensure users were 18 years of age or older.

[5] The concept was ultimately not pursued after receiving substantial opposition by advocates worried that use of an in-home video game console would encourage youth gambling.

[19] In 2004, George R. Andersen, the longtime director of the lottery who had served in the role since its inception in 1990, died the day after meeting with the Legislative Auditor about a pending report.

[20] In 2005, Michael Priesnitz, a public relations executive who was both a friend of Anderson and contractor of the lottery, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Priesnitz's death came a month after the lottery cancelled a $1.3 million promotional contract with his company and as he was under a probe by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

[21] Ramsey County prosecutors concluded in 2006 that Anderson had engaged in "a string of self-dealing, favor granting, and contract-rigging actions of the type expected from the ‘Chicago-style’ politics of the past."

When he was confronted by the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper about lavish expenses that he charged to state accounts, Van Petten resigned the following day.

[14] Johnene Canfield, the lottery's interim director after Van Petten's departure, was fired in 2015 after being intoxicated at out-of-state conferences and meetings.

[28] In 2017, a Ramsey County District Court narrowed the scope of the suit to potentially allow Canfield to return to the lottery as a lower-level employee but not as its director.

[30] By 2018, unaffiliated, out-of-state companies were essentially operating as courier services to facilitate online sales of Minnesota Lottery games for state residents.

[2][9] Mitigation measures for the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota were seen as a factor driving sales despite people staying home and record levels of unemployment.

[33] As with other state lotteries, ticket sales were uninterrupted by Walz's emergency stay-at-home order and considered an "essential" service,[34] but the agency's regional field offices closed to the public, which affected some prize claiming.

[14] Nearly any retailer—or organizations such as non-profits and charities with a retail business open to the general public—may apply for a license to sell lottery tickets.

[46] Some lottery proceeds offset the cost of a Minnesota Department of Human Services' compulsive gambling program[13] to the amount of approximately $2 million annually by 2015.

Multiple studies of the lotteries offered in Minnesota and other U.S. states have found that the people who play instant lotto games are more likely to have below-average incomes.