Entry from
October 17, 2004
Lotto: “Dollar and a Dream” & “Hey, You Never Know” & “You’ve Gotta Be In It To Win It”
"All you need is a dollar and a dream" and "Hey, you never know" are two successful slogans of Lotto, the New York State lottery. The money from Lotto is supposed to go to New York education, but you never know.
"Dollar and a dream" was probably taken from the title of a film documentary. "Hey, you never know" is a phrase on the Washington Post database from October 30, 1980.
"You've gotta be in it to win it" was probably coined by the late lotto announcer Bob Brown,
16 January 1952, New York Times, pg. 15:
That leaves the man who once commanded a multi-million dollar housing concern back where he started when he had only a few thousand dollars and a dream.
1 January 1988, New York Times, pg. 9:
And Ayoka Chenzira's animated satire, "Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyheaded People," will be screened on March 20 and 24 with Stanley Nelson's "Two Dollars and a Dream," a 1987 film about Madame C. J. Walker, whose invention of the hot comb at the turn of the century made her America's first black woman millionaire.
17 February 1989, New York Times, pg. A31:
"It's like that commercial for Lotto. All you need is a dollar and a dream."
5 November 1991, New York Times, pf B6:
At the same time, a new advertising campaign is about to be unveiled. The state is dumping its catchy and highly successful "A dollar and a dream" slogan for "Hey, you never know," a phrase meant to suggest that you just never know if you might win many millions of dollars.
28 January 2005, New York Sun, "Bob Brown, 79, Mets Radio Host, TV Lottery Presenter," pg. 24:
"He was the one who came up with the phrase 'You have to be in it to win it,'" Ms. Mayer (Joanne Mayer, his daughter - ed.) said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. A New York lottery spokeswoman in Albany, N. Y., could not confirm that claim.
"Dollar and a dream" was probably taken from the title of a film documentary. "Hey, you never know" is a phrase on the Washington Post database from October 30, 1980.
"You've gotta be in it to win it" was probably coined by the late lotto announcer Bob Brown,
16 January 1952, New York Times, pg. 15:
That leaves the man who once commanded a multi-million dollar housing concern back where he started when he had only a few thousand dollars and a dream.
1 January 1988, New York Times, pg. 9:
And Ayoka Chenzira's animated satire, "Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyheaded People," will be screened on March 20 and 24 with Stanley Nelson's "Two Dollars and a Dream," a 1987 film about Madame C. J. Walker, whose invention of the hot comb at the turn of the century made her America's first black woman millionaire.
17 February 1989, New York Times, pg. A31:
"It's like that commercial for Lotto. All you need is a dollar and a dream."
5 November 1991, New York Times, pf B6:
At the same time, a new advertising campaign is about to be unveiled. The state is dumping its catchy and highly successful "A dollar and a dream" slogan for "Hey, you never know," a phrase meant to suggest that you just never know if you might win many millions of dollars.
28 January 2005, New York Sun, "Bob Brown, 79, Mets Radio Host, TV Lottery Presenter," pg. 24:
"He was the one who came up with the phrase 'You have to be in it to win it,'" Ms. Mayer (Joanne Mayer, his daughter - ed.) said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. A New York lottery spokeswoman in Albany, N. Y., could not confirm that claim.