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Saturday, May 18, 2002

By The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As Ohio joins a multistate lottery game to pump up state finances, an opponent is taking its campaign to the airwaves to get people not to play.

"The idea is to reinforce what people already know: That the lottery is a scam," said David Zanotti, president of the Ohio Roundtable, a public advocacy group.

"One of the major themes of the ads is that gambling and good government don't mix."

Ohio joined the Mega Millions game to raise money to help patch a $1.5 billion deficit.

The state hopes to raise about $41 million a year from multistate lottery sales.

The first drawing was last night for a jackpot of $27 million. The numbers drawn were 15, 18, 25, 33 and 47. The Mega Ball was 30.

Sales of the new game have been strong since they began Wednesday morning, totaling $1.4 million through yesterday afternoon, said Ohio Lottery spokeswoman Mardele Cohen. Joe Andrews, spokesman for Gov. Bob Taft, defended the new game as a way for the state to reduce its deficit while keeping Ohio from losing lottery ticket sales to other states.

He acknowledged that the $41 million expected to be generated by the new game this fiscal year will go to schools and that the state will reduce other funding the schools receive by the same amount.

Unlike other state agencies, the school budget will not be cut, Andrews said.