Today marks the first time both of the USA's huge multi-state lottery games can be purchased within the same state.
Dozens of states begin selling both Mega Millions and Powerball tickets today, moving the U.S. a step closer to having a national lottery.
By the time the remainder of the states with a lottery sign on to the new arrangement — as early as this spring — the nation's two biggest lotteries will be sold in 45 jurisdictions: 43 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"We expect there will be larger jackpots faster. We expect there to be more winners," said Margaret DeFrancisco, co-chair of a committee for both lotteries and president and CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corp.
Powerball, with drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays, was formerly played in 31 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S Virgin Islands. The addition of 10 more states brings the total number of jurisdictions selling Powerball tickets to 43, with the first Mega Millions drawing on Feb. 2.
Mega Millions, with drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays, was formerly played in 12 states. The addition of 22 states plus Washington, D.C. brings the total number of jurisdictions selling Mega Millions Tickets to 35, with the first Powerball drawing on Feb. 3.
The change could end the tradition of driving into a border state to buy tickets for another game when jackpots climb.
Ermelinda Ribero, a Powerball customer at Angie's State Line Package Store on the Connecticut/Massachusetts line in Enfield, Conn., usually buys her Mega Millions tickets in her hometown of Longmeadow, Mass. She said Friday that the change will let her make one stop instead of two.
"Since I never win in Massachusetts, maybe I'll win here," she joked.
Customers at Casey's General Store in the southeast Iowa city of Keokuk, just across the Mississippi River from Illinois, have been talking about the change, said general manager Michelle Walker.
"They've asked for sure when the right date is and when they'll be able to start purchasing," said Walker, who added that she herself will also stop driving into Illinois to buy Mega Millions.
In downtown Savannah, Ga., a sign went up Friday at Chirag Patel's convenience store, advertising Powerball tickets that previously required a drive across the Savannah River into South Carolina.
"Regular players, they ask, 'When are you going to start?'" he said. "One way or the other, people want to be a millionaire in this economy."
The estimated jackpot for Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing is $12 million, and Wednesday's Powerball jackpot is an estimated $107 million.
Some retailers aren't expecting a flood of new business. Brian Chapel, owner of Everett's Liquor Store in South Beloit, Ill., right across the state line from Beloit, Wis., said Illinois offering Powerball tickets should help offset any potential losses from Wisconsin Mega Millions customers staying in their state.
Plus, he said, most of his lottery customers are regulars, sometimes stopping in daily to play other Illinois-specific games.
"People pick where they buy their tickets based on the retailer," Chapel said.
Powerball and Mega Millions have been working on the logistics since October. Most states not yet cross-selling the tickets are expected to approve the change by spring, said Tom Shaheen, president of the Iowa-based Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball.
DeFrancisco said that assuming customers like the change, lottery officials will soon focus on a true national lottery. They hope that will happen by spring 2011, but haven't sorted out many details, including a name or drawing frequency.
Mega Millions holds the record for the largest U.S. lottery jackpot — $390 million on March 6, 2007. The largest Powerball jackpot was $365 million on Feb. 18, 2006.
In Mega Millions, players pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers — five different numbers from 1 to 56 and one number from 1 to 46. The jackpot is won by matching all six winning numbers, the odds of which are 1 in 175 million.
Mega Millions is now played in: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Those not yet selling Mega Millions tickets are: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
In Powerball, players pick six numbers from two different pools of numbers — five numbers from 1 to 59 and a Powerball from 1 to 39. Odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 195 million.
Powerball is now played in: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Those not yet selling Powerball tickets are: California and Ohio.
Best News Of The Year Besides President Obama Speech 3 Words New Record Jackpots!!!
It begins...
nc is one of the states for what good it'll do nc never have a winner in pb only one time when it first started so i'll just give the other 44 states my money lol
I didn't know that Mooky, I'll keep my money then LOL!!!!
Don't worry we will not turn your money down...lol
I just bought my Mega Millions Tickets for Tuesdays drawing! I'm very excited!
More cheese?
I bought my first Kentucky MegaMillions ticket this afternoon. Woo-hoo! Nice to be able to buy both PB and MM here.
Too bad MM pot is small but PB is nice chunk to play with. Nice to rotate between the 2
Let the games begin!
I am soooooooo jealous. California will be the last holdout. My only chance is going to my husband's family reunion with him in Texas and get a few powerball tickets with the powerplay but thats months away.
I think I'm gonna win - we all do -- thats why we play - L O L
I have a strange, well for me it is, question. Since Washington has just started allowing Powerball which has been only available in Oregon, how will the states be able to tell where there tickets were purchased? Oregon has 8% tax while Washington has no tax. I see a lot of folks rushing off to Washington who normally buy in Oregon to try and bypass the taxes. Does anyone have opinion/insight about this?
They will be able to tell because (probably) the tickets look different but more because the serial number on the ticket I assume is also linked to where/when the ticket is sold (or even using the Agent # on the ticket). What will BE confusing is people not knowing which game is which. I urge all Stores put up big signs explaining the difference!
Nice to have in nj because my prg. does better if using the most current info. This is hard to do when PB requires a 40 mi. trip to PA meaning playing way ahead to be in future drawings. However there WILL be future PA runs because PA has Megaplier and we don't! I told them put a sign up saying that so people from nj keep coming!
thank god tennessee has mm now, i use to cross state lines to Georgia to play mm
, sense my state"tn" has 0% tax rate and Georgia: 6% State Tax on jackpots
you can go screw your self now georgia, you never catch me buying lotto tickets in georgia anymore
i really hate tax's, govt should funding should be ran like charity funding"donations"
if the govt does not do a great job, no more money for them,
it would be the ultmate check and balance of power
the pocket book,
Got my powerball ticket and my lucky numbers! I think I was the first at that store to buy PB because the clerk wasn't aware they sold them until I bought them. I hope I have better luck on powerball than I have Mega Millions. And I hope I can do it with just one set of numberss.
I bought a $1 qucik pick tonight for Wednesday's draiwng. I hope its the winner! The quickpick gave me power ball # "1"
I picked up some Powerball tix in NJ tonight. Very strange to see those familiar pink tickets with "Powerball" at the top.
I bought 5 Powerball tickets here in Michigan with power play. I spent 10 dollars. Remember everybody to use the power play! We never know.
Sorry, Bagent--the only thing universal lotttery will do is keep out of state winners from having to pay taxes to both where they live AND where they bought the tkt.
The government and states are already WAYYYYYYY ahead of us poor wanna-be winners and have figured all the tax wrinkles--besides--why would you want to cheat any government out of their fair share for roads, health care, industry tax abatement for industry, fact finding missions to China--hmmmm--on the other hand maybe I better rethink that--LOL.
If you play it right--any win is a life changing amount--and trying to manage your own money rather than handing it over to a REPUTABLE money manager is the fastest way to a grave in the backyard of some chickie's boyfriend's backyard. Before you pick up the money, MOVE, change your phone. . .contract with a bank to take over paying your bills so your address isn't on ANY data base. I heard that after that Florida guy won his money, the crowd around his mother's house was in the hndreds, looking for a handout.
I also know a lottery wineer of 25 yrs ago in OH who won a small pot ($536,000 after taxes) and got a good money manager at their bank--they bought a slightly nicer house and he continued to work, but was able to retire early after assuring that both their kid's college fund was taken care of--ran into her at the gym last year and she told me that they initially got several mailbags full of requests for money, and all the 'in person' requests were referred to their bank--eventually the notoriety died down--but this was on a relatively small jackpot. Also was in my LLS (local lottery store) when someone won $5500 last week and the guy in back of him tried to hit him up for free lottery tkts.
I haaaate yooouuu, FLORIDA!!!!!
Boooooo Booooo Hoooo.....
Hey Todd,
I just had a scary thought...
What happens if you win a huge jackpot and move to Bora Bora to sip rum on the sand? Will that be the end of LP?? NOOOOO!!!!
Yep, powerplay is the way to go. An average of 3.5 times the amount of normal prizes for only twice the amount. At the very least, you'll double your prize. Instant million IN CASH for matching all five without the bonus. What's not to like about that?
Don't worry. You're not missing much. At odds which are worse than 195 MILLION to ONE, you'll never win. In fact, the Powerball odds are even WORSE than the Mega-Millions. Stick with the Super Lotto Plus. At 41 million to 1 odds, at least you have a chance of winning in your lifetime... if you play $1,000!!!
At 176 million to 1 odds, I rarely play Mega-Millions. I only play when the jackpot is above $200 million.
I started this site because I wanted to do something I loved. Why would I close it if I won a jackpot?
I might have to run it from an island though...
(Just gotta make sure it has a fast Internet connection!)
Thanks Todd for being a standup guy if you win.And i hope you do win one day.Thanks again for all your efforts for making this website so informative..
On another note ,now i can sleep late on saturday mornings because the old lady and i don't have to drive to Connecticut any more.It was interresting to see the ruckus that started when i asked a few times on this website about how the taxes would work out being that i live in New York and hit the jackpot in Connecticut..
Just brought our groups Mega Million tickets with Megaplier in Oklahoma today when I got off work we play both Powerball & Mega Millions.