Mega Millions sales to begin in North Carolina

By Gary D. Robertson

RALEIGH, N.C.

North Carolina lottery players should soon get to take a chance on two more multimillion-dollar jackpots a week without having to drive to Georgia or Virginia.

The North Carolina Education Lottery Commission voted Monday to enter the Mega Millions multistate drawing as soon as the end of January. North Carolina already sells Powerball tickets.

A cross-selling agreement reached in principal last month between the two state associations behind Mega Millions and Powerball would bring more potential players for both games, and possibly faster-rising jackpots and more jackpot winners.

That would bring as much as $52 million more in North Carolina ticket sales annually, or up to $15 million for education initiatives the lottery supports, according to an analysis performed for the N.C. Education Lottery.

During the previous fiscal year, the North Carolina lottery said it generated $411 million for education based on ticket sales of almost $1.3 billion.

"We believe first and foremost that it will raise more money, for we will have four large jackpots to play for, and you can choose anyone you want during the week," lottery executive director Tom Shaheen said in an interview before the commission voted 8-0 in favor of the agreement during a teleconference.

Powerball drawings are on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Mega Millions is played Tuesdays and Fridays. If the Mega Millions jackpot soars, lottery players on the border with Mega Millions members Virginia and Georgia already can easily drive over the line and play. But there's no such luck for people living in the middle of North Carolina, Shaheen said.

Shaheen, who is also president of the board of directors of the Multi-State Lottery Association that runs Powerball, said he's hopeful ticket vendors can work out details so Mega Millions sales can begin Jan. 31.

It's optional for states to participate in the cross-sales, but lottery boards in a few other states already have endorsed the expansion, including the Tennessee Education Lottery on Monday.

Both numbers games follow the same format — players purchase a $1 slip and select six numbers. Depending on any of nine different winning combinations, players can earn between $3 and the full jackpot.

The odds to win the jackpot by getting all six numbers correct are similar, too: 1 in 195.2 million for Powerball and 1 in 175.7 million for Mega Millions.

"More people will be enticed to play a game that will take more money out of their pockets and bring more revenue into the lottery, and that's their agenda," said Bill Brooks with the North Carolina Family Policy Council, a lottery opponent.

"The odds are about the same whether you play the lottery or not," he added. "Somebody's going to win but it's not going to be you."

An analysis performed by lottery vendors GTECH Corp. and Scientific Games Corp. found the number of jackpots won from Powerball and Mega Millions games would increase from a combined 25 times a year to 35 with the change. And it would mean fewer drawings without a big winner before they reach $100 million jackpots.

The cross-selling would be a first step toward the creation of a national lottery game late next year or early 2011, Shaheen said.