THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300491
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A lot of folks who will end the year under piles of debt apparently fancy themselves starting off the New Year as millionaires. And that could happen New Year's Eve, thanks to the Virginia Lottery.
After four weeks without a winner, the lottery jackpot is forecast to swell to $22 million by the time of the drawing in the final hour of 1994.
It had been expected to hit $20million, but ``because this morning's sales were already doing very well, we decided to raise the estimate to $22 million,'' Cherie Phaup, a lottery spokeswoman, said.
The last time the jackpot was more than $20 million was on May 7, when it hit $22.7 million. The biggest prize on record in Virginia is the $28.4 million won on Nov. 28, 1992.
The last jackpot win came on Nov. 30 when the prize was $8.7 million. Since then, the prize has built steadily, since no one has gotten the correct six numbers between 1 and 44. The odds of picking all the numbers correctly is 1 in 7.1 million.
The winning numbers Wednesday, when the prize was $16.1 million, were 11, 12, 21, 24, 30 and 42.
``We are very happy to have a large jackpot for New Year's Eve. If someone wins, it will make 1995 a very good year,'' Penelope W. Kyle, the lottery director, said.
Phaup said interest in this jackpot became obvious as soon as sales started Thursday. ``Typically, the bulk of our daily sales come in the late afternoon or early evening,'' she said. But by noon, it was apparent that the pace of sales was well ahead of normal and showing no sign of slacking off.
The lottery must sell more than 7 million tickets to meet the jackpot prediction. ``During peak times, tickets will be selling at a rate of 8,000 to 10,000 per minute,'' Phaup said.
This year has seen just five wins above $10 million. On Oct. 1, the prize was $18 million; on July 23 and again on Aug. 17, it was $13 million; on June 15 it was $15.8 million; and on May 7 it was $22.5 million.
Since lottery drawings began in January 1990, there have been 128 jackpot wins with 174 winning tickets sold.
Because of player pools and similar arrangements, the lottery is making payments to 252 individual winners who are entitled to $892 million over the 20 years jackpot prizes are paid. by CNB