Texas Mega Millions Sales Begin Today

Dec 3, 2003, 5:50 am (Post a comment)

Mega Millions

For Texas Lottery lovers, there's a whole new ball game today.

Beginning at 6 a.m., tickets were going on sale for Mega Millions, Texas' first foray into high-stakes, multistate lotteries.

While chances for Mega Millions and the traditional Lotto Texas cost the same $1 the odds of winning the new game are much lower.

But with the additional risk comes the lure of a substantially higher jackpot a minimum of $10 million, compared with Lotto Texas' $4 million minimum.

"People who play the lottery like it because of the bigger jackpots," said Reagan Greer, a former Bexar County district clerk and now the executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission. "I think people will embrace it because of the high jackpot."

Texas will be the 11th state participating in Mega Millions, which hosts drawings each Tuesday and Friday.

Like Lotto Texas, Mega Millions jackpots accrue each time a drawing doesn't produce a winner.

The biggest payoff in its history is $183 million, compared with Lotto Texas' biggest award of $85 million.

Hearing numbers like those brought smiles to some lottery fans' faces.

"I might give it a shot," Frank Altamirano said. "The purse is higher, but the chances are a little harder."

Altamirano is right on the money.

The odds of winning Lotto Texas' biggest prize is one in 47 million, while for Mega Millions it's one in 135 million.

You'd have a much better chance of drowning in your own bathtub this year which happens to one in every 685,000 people.

While the odds are steeper, Greer is betting that Texas is ready to take a gamble.

He predicts the new game will pump an average of $120 million in revenue each year over the next five years into the state's Foundation School Fund to support public education.

Last year, the state made $888 million in lottery revenue.

"The bottom line is the additional revenue to the state of Texas," Greer said. "There are a lot more people, a lot more tickets being sold."

Mega Millions began in 1996 as the Big Game.

The other participating states are Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Washington.

Texas will be the only state to feature a multiplier, called a "megaplier."

For an extra dollar per play, players have a chance to increase their non-jackpot prize winnings by up to four times.

Mega Millions drawings are held in Atlanta at 10 p.m. CST. They will be taped and broadcast to TV stations at 10:12 p.m.

Greer realizes the new game likely will shift sales away from the state's other lottery games, of which the best sellers are scratch-off tickets.

"It's uncharted waters," he said. "We're still going to be ahead. We think it'll offset the Lotto Texas shift. It's still positive for the state."

No matter how big the jackpot, there are some, like Steve Will, who won't be lured.

"I've never played and I never will," he said. "It's something I'd never do I'm not a gambler."

But Greer and other lottery officials have their money riding on occasional lottery players like Randy Hawes, who buys a ticket about every six to eight weeks and more so when the jackpot is swollen.

"A million's a hell of a lot of money," he said. "But I'm greedy. I usually play when the numbers are bigger."












San Antonio Express-News

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