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Lottery players can't wait for shot at colossal jackpots

Saturday, June 08, 2002

By John M.R. Bull, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Correspondent

HARRISBURG -- Excitement is building among lottery players at the prospect of becoming multi-multi-multimillionaires.

The record payout for Powerball is more than $295 million, and three weeks from today, Pennsylvanians will get in the game.

Good luck.

	Online Chart: Powerball odds

"This is the largest jackpot game Pennsylvania has ever offered. This is going to be great," said Sally Danyluk, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Lottery. "We're really excited about it."

And so are the retailers who will sell the tickets. In fact, almost 80 percent of them attended Powerball training sessions over the last two weeks.

"That shows our retailers are really pumped up," Danyluk said.

Powerball tickets cost $1 and will be available at all licensed lottery locations in the state. Jackpots start at $10 million and roll over until someone hits. Players from 22 states and the District of Columbia can play.

To win bigger than big, tickets must have five winning numbers out of a possible 49, and the so-called Powerball number chosen from 42 possible numbers.

The largest jackpot payout so far has been $295.7 million.

Here's the catch: The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 80 million. Lesser prizes of between $100,000 and $3 are paid for correctly choosing three or more of the five winning numbers but not the Powerball number.

An added feature is a $1 Power Play option. At the beginning of each drawing, a spinning wheel with 12 slots numbered 1 through 5 is used to choose the Power Play number.

If you win anything but the Powerball jackpot, your prize will be multiplied by the number on the wheel.

So, if you won $7 on three correct Powerball numbers, and played the Power Play option that came up 5 that day, your payoff would be $35.

The overall odds of winning something playing Powerball is 1 in 35.

Tickets will go on sale starting June 27. The first drawing will be Saturday, June 29.

Drawings will be every Wednesday and Saturday and will be televised locally at 11 p.m. on KDKA-TV.

Drawings for the Super 6 Lotto will be moved from their current Wednesday/Saturday slots to Tuesday and Friday evenings.

Gov. Mark Schweiker decided last year to allow the state to participate in Powerball as a way to boost flagging Lottery profits. The new game is expected to reap $35 million extra for the state over the next two years, then decline a bit in profitability.

The extra money will help lottery proceeds, but not eliminate the possibility that sagging profits will jeopardize state subsidies of prescription drugs for low-income elderly people.

"Powerball is not the be-all to end-all for our lottery problems," said Steve Aaron, Schweiker's spokesman. "It doesn't fix the problem for sure. Maybe it will buy us some time to deal with the issue."

Not everyone is happy about the new game.

Pennsylvanians Against Gambling Expansion considers adding a new lottery game "a step in the wrong direction," said spokesman Tom Shaheen.

Studies show that lotteries act as a regressive tax on the poor, who can least afford to throw their money away, he said.

He fears that slot machines may be approved at racetracks, as is proposed in the Legislature, and then be expanded in the same way the state Lottery is with the addition of Powerball.

"It's something that anyone could see was coming, and which anyone can see would be coming if slots get their foot in the door," he said.