New $20 Mass. Lottery scratch game off to a record start
The Massachusetts State Lottery rolled the dice when it launched its first ever $20 instant ticket, the most expensive new product in its history.
A week after its big rollout, the gamble already appears to be paying off, with sales of the Billion Dollar Blockbuster off to one of the fastest starts of any ticket in Lottery history.
Nearly 2 million tickets have been sold so far, ringing up more than $40 million in sales. That edges two other tickets that in recent years got off to fast sta ...
Oct 4, 2007, 4:23 pm - - Lottery News forum
Record powerball lottery winner reflects on sad life
In his darkest moments, Jack Whittaker has sometimes wondered if winning the nearly $315 million Powerball game was really worth it.
The jackpot that was the stuff of dreams turned into a nightmare: His wife left him and his drug-addicted granddaughter his protege and heir died. He endured constant requests for money.
Almost five years later, Whittaker is left with things money can't cure: His daughter's cancer, a long list of indiscretions documented in newspapers and court records, a ...
Sep 14, 2007, 12:45 pm - - Lottery News forum
Briton claims UK's biggest lottery win
Someone in Britain is a lot richer on Tuesday after claiming the country's biggest ever lottery win 35,425,411.80 pounds (US$71 million).
The winner matched all five main numbers and both lucky star numbers, 23, 40, 42, 43, 49, plus 2 and 6, to claim the entire Euro Millions jackpot from the August 10 draw.
Camelot, which operates the British arm of the trans-European lottery, said the lucky ticket holder had now come forward and the prize had been paid out.
It is the largest jackpot ...
Aug 14, 2007, 10:58 am - - Lottery News forum
Maryland Lottery revenues hit record $1.5 billion
The Maryland Lottery's sales for the past fiscal year topped $1.5 billion, a record high, marking the lottery's 10th consecutive year of sales growth, lottery officials reported yesterday.
From July 1, 2006, through June 30, prizes paid to players totaled a record $919 million, an increase of more than $16.5 million over the previous fiscal year. And retailers earned more than $112 million in commissions, an increase of $9.4 million. The lottery will contribute more than $494 million in reven ...
Aug 9, 2007, 9:34 am - - Lottery News forum
Record Irish Lottery win offers escape from hard life
The Cinderella-style magic of the Irish National Lottery was never more evident than on Cork's Bridevalley estate yesterday.
The huge 16 million (US $22.1 million) Lotto jackpot won by Paul and Helen Cunningham and the dream lifestyle it can now offer them stood in stark contrast to the everyday challenges facing people in this most tight-knit of northside communities.
Bridevalley is a proud area where everyone knows and watches out for everyone else and locals are deeply protectiv ...
Jul 30, 2007, 9:21 am - - Lottery News forum
Kentucky Lottery has record revenues
The Kentucky Lottery Corp. had a record $744 million in revenues, or total ticket sales, in the fiscal year ending June 30, according to year-end figures.
The brisk sale of tickets for interactive, scratch-off games offset a decline in tickets sold for online, or computerized, games, including Powerball, Pick 3 and Pick 4.
Those sales suffered, in part, because there was only one large Powerball jackpot, which was hit at $254 million last January. Some tickets for the interactive games se ...
Jul 30, 2007, 8:32 am - - Lottery News forum
Vermont Lottery announces largest Megabucks jackpot in 14 years
The Megabucks prize for Wednesday's draw has surpassed recent record levels, with a current (annuitized) jackpot of $8,900.000. The last time the Megabucks jackpot exceeded $8.9 million was 14 years ago in July of 1993.
Between December 2006 and January 2007, Vermont had three Megabucks winners in a row, winning jackpots of $500,000, $950,000 and $4.5 million. To date, there have been 75 winning Megabucks jackpot tickets sold in Vermont since the game began in 1985.
The highest jackpot t ...
Jul 30, 2007, 8:08 am - - Lottery News forum
Georgia Lottery sets sales record with $3.4 billion sales
The Georgia lottery took in a record $3.4 billion dollars during the last fiscal year a $244 million jump from the previous year.
Officials say more than $850 million was transferred to the education fund, which pays for HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten classes. That brings the total funds raised to nine-point-three billion since the lottery began in 1993.
State officials were concerned a few years ago that lottery sales wouldn't meet the growing demand for pre-kindergarten class ...
Jul 18, 2007, 12:53 pm - - Lottery News forum
Kansas Lottery sets sales record
The Kansas Lottery hits the jackpot itself record sales are recorded for the fiscal year ended June 30th.
Lottery officials report sales of nearly $241 million. That's up two percent from the previous year, which also showed record sales. Some $71 million will go into state coffers, the highest transfer in a single year since Lottery sales began in 1987.
Kansas Lottery director Ed Van Petten cited the success of the lottery's first $20 scratch ticket and Kansas-themed tickets promoting b ...
Jul 11, 2007, 1:29 pm - - Lottery News forum
Jack's back: Judge orders record lottery winner to pay settlement
The winner of a $315 million lottery jackpot has been ordered to honor a settlement he reached with a racetrack worker who accused him of assaulting her.
A judge issued a summary judgment Wednesday against Jack Whittaker in a breach of contract lawsuit filed in February by Rhonda L. Lilly.
Lilly, who was a floor attendant at Tri-State Racetrack Gaming Center in Nitro, had agreed to an undisclosed settlement from Whittaker in exchange for dismissing a personal injury claim against him, th ...
Jun 1, 2007, 8:42 am - - Lottery News forum
