States sell out 9s in Wed. lottery draws
Lottery players around the United States hoping to win big by betting on all nines may have come up empty when they got to the lottery terminal.
Several states reported that Pick 4 combinations 9-9-9-9 and 9-9-0-9, as well as Pick 3 combination 9-9-9, sold out due to heavy buying.
The reason? Today's unique date numbers of 9/9/09 (September 9, 2009).
Lottery officials say people who play daily lotto games such as Pick 3 and Pick 4 tend to make their number choices based on special numbe ...
Sep 9, 2009, 11:00 pm - Lottery News forum
Powerball lottery jackpot cracks $200M mark
4th biggest Powerball jackpot over the last 2 years
Mega Millions also in rarified territory
The multi-state Powerball lottery drawing happened last night once again without any jackpot winners, causing the new jackpot for Saturday's drawing to grow to an estimated $213 million, with a cash option of $104.7 million.
Wednesday night was the 13th consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner.
Even though there were no jackpot winners, six lucky tickets matched the first five numbers for ...
Aug 13, 2009, 3:47 pm - Lottery News forum
New Ohio Lottery director appointed
A corporate lawyer from Shaker Heights who was the first woman to head the Ohio State Bar Association will be taking the reins of the Ohio Lottery Commission.
Kathleen Burke, 60, a partner at Jones Day, was tapped by Gov. Ted Strickland today as the lottery's new executive director.
She comes on board at a critical juncture for the state lottery system, which is trying to get as many as 17,500 slot machines at seven Ohio horsetracks up and running. The state budget over the next two years ...
Aug 10, 2009, 6:26 pm - Lottery News forum
Ohio Lottery director resigns
Ohio's lottery director resigned Tuesday from a rocky tenure serving in Gov. Ted Strickland's cabinet, as the state tries to expand the lottery to include video slot machines at horse racing tracks.
Dolan did not say why he's leaving in his resignation letter to Strickland, other than to say that he had thought about the direction of the lottery, including the new policy for slot machines.
My reflection has led me to conclude that the best interests of the Lottery and the state, as well a ...
Aug 4, 2009, 9:51 pm - Lottery News forum
Ohio Lottery signs up two NFL teams for branded games
With the signing of partnership agreements with the Ohio Lottery, the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns have become the sixth and seventh National Football League (NFL) teams to sign up to launch a limited number of team-branded lottery scratchcards through their state-sponsored lottery.
Set for launch in late August, the Ohio Lottery will debut $5 Cincinnati Bengals and $5 Cleveland Browns instant games, with a top prize for each game of $100,000.
The games will also offer a wide ar ...
Jul 31, 2009, 9:00 am - Lottery News forum
West Virginia Lottery brings in $20M more than expected
The West Virginia Lottery beat its forecast by $20 million during the just-completed fiscal year, despite the recession and competition from neighboring Pennsylvania, agency officials announced Wednesday.
Sales reached $1.49 billion during the 12 months that ended June 30, or just over 1 percent more than expected.
State government's share of the resulting revenues topped $616.6 million, while West Virginia's counties and municipalities together reaped nearly $16 million.
But an overall ...
Jul 22, 2009, 6:09 pm - Lottery News forum
Ohio Lottery operator switch has some glitches
A new company began running the Ohio Lottery's computer system on Wednesday, causing frustrating problems for some retailers and leaving some winning tickets incorrectly coming up as losers.
Lottery spokeswoman Marie Kilbane said the problems were being worked out.
What we saw early were mostly common problems we had predicted, such as some calls from retailers who had forgotten sign-on passwords. But overall, selling has been going well, Kilbane said.
The Ohio Lottery decided last yea ...
Jul 1, 2009, 7:41 pm - Lottery News forum
Ohio Lottery switches to Greek operator Intralot
Greek company takes over operation of games
At 11:59 p.m. today, in an office park in Strongsville, state officials and a gaggle of computer technicians, some from Greece, will change how Ohioans get their lottery tickets.
Success will be measured by how few people notice.
What happens inside the 80,000-square-foot, unadorned brick building not far from the Lorain County line is being watched like Y2K, at least in the world of state lotteries.
A lot of people are rooting for us, and ...
Jun 30, 2009, 8:26 am - Lottery News forum
Ohio Lottery facts and trivia as it turns 35 years old
Thirty-five years ago this summer, the newly created Ohio Lottery held its first-ever drawing, a public spectacle at Parmatown Mall that drew more than 1,000 people.
Comedian Don Rickles had originally been invited to emcee the drawing of the new Buckeye 300 weekly game, but the public had to settle for Miss Ohio World 1974 and local TV stars Big Chuck and Hoolihan.
Since then, the Ohio Lottery has turned hundreds of people into millionaires and transferred about $16 billion to Ohio's publ ...
Jun 18, 2009, 12:01 pm - Lottery News forum
Ohio Lottery director under scrutiny for equipment debacle
A year ago, Ohio Lottery Director Michael A. Dolan persuaded skeptical lawmakers to buy $11.6 million worth of equipment to launch the state's new Keno game on a promise that the setup would still work after a year a premise that Dolan later admitted was false.
Now, as Dolan prepares to ask the same legislative panel to approve a $41 million contract with a company to run Keno and other lottery games for the next two years, the director's own dubious promises could return to haunt him.
On ...
Jun 1, 2009, 9:51 am - Lottery News forum
