Mega Millions and Powerball to start cross-selling tickets in next .
DES MOINES IOWA No need to cross state lines to get the big jackpot lotto tickets Dozens of states will begin selling both Mega Millions and Powerball tickets on Sunday moving the U S a step closer to having a national lottery By the time all the states sign on to the new system this spring the nation s two biggest lotteries will be sold in 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 is played in 31 states Washington D C and the U S Virgin Islands Twenty three of those places will sell tickets for Mega Millions beginning with the Feb 2 drawing Mega Millions with drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays is played in 12 states Ten of them will sell tickets for Powerball starting with the Feb 3 drawing 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 Friday s Mega Millions drawing was 144 million and it was 90 million for Saturday s Powerball drawing both before the Sunday cross selling begins 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 The game is played in California Georgia Illinois Maryland Massachusetts Michigan New Jersey New York Ohio Texas Virginia Washington state Those not yet selling Powerball tickets are California Ohio 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 played in Arizona Arkansas Connecticut Colorado District of Columbia Delaware Florida Indiana Idaho Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Minnesota Missouri Montana Nebraska New Hampshire New Mexico North Carolina North Dakota Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Vermont U S Virgin Islands Wisconsin and West Virginia Those not yet selling Mega Millions tickets are Arizona Colorado Florida Louisiana Maine Montana Nebraska Oregon South Dakota U S Virgin Islands Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah Ga Todd Richmond in Madison Wis and Stephanie Reitz in Enfield Conn contributed to this report
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