Who was California governor when the lottery became legal?

1. Ballot approval: what “became legal” means in context

When the question asks who was governor “when the lottery became legal,” the clearest legal milestone is the voter approval of Proposition 37 — the California State Lottery Act — on November 6, 1984, which authorized establishment of a state-run lottery and thereby made that form of gambling lawful under California law; multiple state and official sources date that approval to November 6, 1984 ^{[1] [4] [5]}.

2. The governor on the day Proposition 37 passed

George Deukmejian was the incumbent governor at the time voters approved Proposition 37 in November 1984; sources documenting the early administrative steps of the lottery identify Deukmejian as the governor who appointed the first lottery commissioners and the first director in 1985, tying his administration directly to the lottery’s creation and startup phase ^{[2] [6]}.

3. From authorization to operation: why dates sometimes get conflated

Legal authorization by voters (November 6, 1984) and operational launch (first Scratchers sales began October 3, 1985; draw games followed in 1986) are distinct milestones that often cause confusion in reporting; the ballot measure made the lottery lawful in 1984, while the Deukmejian administration carried out implementation actions — including appointing commissioners and Mark Michalko as the first director in May 1985 — before tickets were sold the following year ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

4. How later changes complicate a simple answer

The lottery’s legal architecture and funding formulas were amended in later administrations — for example, significant statutory adjustments in 2010 under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger changed how revenues were allocated to education — but those later reforms do not alter who was governor when the lottery was originally authorized by voters in 1984 ^{[2] [7]}.

5. Bottom line and limits of available reporting

Bottom line: the sitting governor when the California State Lottery was made legal by voter approval on November 6, 1984, was George Deukmejian, and his administration oversaw the appointment of the Lottery’s first leadership as the agency moved from authorization to operation in 1985 ^{[1] [2]}. If the question instead intends to ask who was governor when tickets first went on sale, the answer remains Deukmejian, since ticket sales began in October 1985 during his administration ^{[3] [2]}. Reporting cited here focuses on voter approval, statutory history, and administrative appointments; these sources do not provide alternative claims about a different governor being in office at the time Proposition 37 passed, and they do not contradict the timeline presented above ^{[1] [2] [5]}.