$250M lottery prize gets players buzzing
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 posted 04:02 AM EDT
If you need something quick from a convenience store today, expect delays while lottery players ante up their dollars for tonight's $250 million Mega Millions jackpot.
Lottery fever was already high with a $314 million hit on the multi-state Powerball over the weekend. Powerball and Mega Millions are the only multi-state lottery games with large payoffs available.
In addition to New York, Mega Millions is in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
Powerball is played in 29 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. Virgin Islands. Since Pennsylvania is one of the states, many local lottery players are familiar with Powerball as well as Mega Millions.
Karen Nisco, owner of The Community Bookstore at West Gray and North Main streets in downtown Elmira, said as soon as the Mega Million jackpot goes over $100 million, more people buy. The jackpot, drawn Tuesdays and Fridays, has rolled over 14 times (no winner) leading to today's $250 million jackpot, said acting New York Lottery Director Gardner Gurney.
The biggest single largest lottery jackpot in North America occurred Mary 6, 2007, when the Mega Million reached $390 million, he said.
Dan Robertson of Elmira said he plays the daily lotteries several time a week, but plays the Mega Million only when it is unusually high, like today. He plays the same numbers every time.
Ticket buyers also can choose computer-generated numbers called quick picks.
Robertson is realistic about his chances of winning, although he wins a fair amount of $40 payoffs on the daily tickets.
"One year, I put all the money I usually spend on lottery tickets in the bank," he said. "At the end of the year, I compared it with what I had previously made buying tickets."
He said saving the money was clearly more profitable.
"But I went back to buying tickets the next year," he said.
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