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Powerball Jackpot Soars to $190 MillionNews Story
Fourteen Powerball players across the nation were just one ball shy of winning the world's largest current lottery jackpot Wednesday night. The ball those players were missing was the Powerball.Powerball is the most exciting and well-known lottery game in the world, just ask the nearly one million players that collected cash prizes Wednesday night.There were no jackpot winners but 930,975 players across the nation won a total of more than $7.7 million in prizes in America's Game.Because no one c
Oct 23, 2003, 4:02 am - Lottery News

Texas to start Mega Millions in time for holidaysNews Story
Lottery officials are hoping to jingle all the way to the bank this holiday season, as Texans for the first time will be able to buy tickets in their state for the Mega Millions multi-state lottery drawing.Tickets will be on sale Dec. 3. The first drawing in Texas is targeted for Dec. 5.Jackpots start at $10 million and have averaged $42.3 million over the past year. But lottery officials in Texas and 10 other states that participate anticipate a much larger bounty.The Texas Lottery Commission e
Oct 23, 2003, 3:53 am - Lottery News

Lottery winner temporarily shuts down philanthropic Web siteNews Story
Powerball winner Jack Whittaker has temporarily shut down his philanthropic organization's Web site to allow staff to catch up on thousands of requests for financial help, an employee said Tuesday.Whittaker established the Jack Whittaker Foundation after winning the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day, the largest undivided jackpot in the game's history. The Scott Depot resident was a millionaire businessman before he claimed his winnings as a $113 million cash option.The foundatio
Oct 22, 2003, 3:38 am - Lottery News

Powerball players clamor for shot at $162 millionNews Story
Jo Pictor has been playing the lottery regularly since 1986 and is still hopeful that the next drawing will call her lucky numbers. Last year, I played in 11 states, Pictor, 80, said. If I win, the grandkids will be very happy because they will each get a new car. The Westsider bought three Powerball lottery tickets Monday afternoon in Santa Teresa, beating the rush of ticket buyers eager for a chance at winning an estimated $162 million jackpot.Wednesday's drawing will be the 15th since the j
Oct 21, 2003, 4:09 am - Lottery News

Is Rebecca Paul as good as they say?News Story
When state lottery commissioners hired Rebecca Paul as the nation's highest-paid lottery director, they justified their decision by saying she was the best, the gold standard. State Sen. Steve Cohen dubbed her the Michael Jordan of her field.But a Tennessean review has found that many of the claims surrounding her are overstated.For instance, Paul said last month that Georgia lottery sales had grown on average 13% a year during her tenure. Lottery commissioners cited similar increases in ex
Oct 20, 2003, 7:52 am - Lottery News

Powerball Jackpot Reaches $162 MillionNews Story
The biggest current lottery jackpot in the world is getting bigger.There were no Powerball jackpot winners Saturday but 839,469 players across the nation won a total of more than $7.7 million in prizes in America's Game.Because no one correctly matched all six numbers in Saturday's drawing the jackpot will grow to an estimated $162 million. That would rank as the 6th largest Powerball jackpot ever.This is the third time this year and the fourth time in the last eleven months that Powerball has c
Oct 20, 2003, 4:22 am - Lottery News

Super 6 jackpot hit for first time in 11 monthsNews Story
One player matched all six winning numbers drawn in Friday's Pennsylvania Super 6 Jackpot, the first time in 11 months that the jackpot has been hit.The winning ticket holder selected the cash payout option, worth $36.1 million. The jackpot had grown to more than $61 million, the third-largest in the game's history. The largest was $73 million.Sales of Super 6 tickets have slowed since the state introduced Powerball -- a multi-state lottery -- in June 2002. The last winning Super 6 ticket w
Oct 18, 2003, 1:57 pm - Lottery News

Texas signs contract with Mega Millions; game to begin soonNews Story
The Texas Lottery Commission on Thursday entered into a contract with the Mega Millions multistate lottery, which over the past year had average jackpots of more than $40 million.The commission next will begin purchasing equipment such as a random number generator to prepare for the launch later this year. The date hasn't been set, but executive director Reagan Greer said it probably will be after Thanksgiving.The long-term agreement has a six-month out clause, Greer said.The commission also
Oct 17, 2003, 5:08 am - Lottery News

Sparks fly at N.C. lottery forumNews Story
The arguing, at times, seemed personal on a panel which featured everyone from lawmakers to ministers.At issue -- just how much money is being lost to border states like South Carolina, which has a lottery. The state has noticed most sales tax rise in history on things like chips since the lottery came, said panelist Gardner Payne. We're losing that money to those states. Last December, North Carolina drivers poured across the border for the $100-million-plus Powerball drawing.Governor Easley
Oct 17, 2003, 4:48 am - Lottery News

S.D. Lottery investigating system failureNews Story
The South Dakota Lottery has asked a private company to explain why connections to the central lotto computer system failed, leaving many retailers unable to sell lotto tickets for nearly 2 1/2 hours last Saturday night.It was the third network outage since early July, said Clint Harris, executive director of the Lottery.Phone lines and equipment connecting the Lottery and retail outlets to a central lotto computer system in Dover, Del., and backup site in Sharon Hill, Pa., failed.It kept most o
Oct 17, 2003, 4:40 am - Lottery News