Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 16, 1990 TAG: 9007160279
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Since no one correctly matched all six numbers in Saturday night's Lotto drawing, the $11.4 million jackpot will roll over into a fifth week, lottery officials said. They estimated at least $16 million will be at stake in the next drawing Saturday, the biggest jackpot since the games began in January.
"We're breaking all kinds of records," said Paula Otto, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Lottery Department. "This is the first time we've gone four weeks without a winner."
The lottery also set a record for single-day ticket sales. Otto said 3.84 million tickets were sold across the state Saturday as players hoped to bring home the big prize.
She said 138 people won $1,751 each for matching five of the six numbers, and 8,717 won $59 for correctly picking four. The lottery also will give more than 147,000 people a free play for matching three of the six numbers.
The winning numbers were 5-8-22-24-43-44.
"We sold even more tickets than we thought we would," Otto said. At the peak of sales, between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., vendors were doling out tickets at the rate of 6,000 per minute.
Lottery Director Kenneth W. Thorson said the huge jackpot likely will lure more out-of-state players to cross Virginia's boundaries for a shot at the big prize.
"This is certainly going to attract a lot of regional attention this week," he said.
The Lottery Department hopes to prompt more sales with television advertisements that began running in all markets Wednesday.
Although a $16 million jackpot would be Virginia's biggest ever, it pales in comparison with the nation's record of $115.5 million, which was given away by the Pennsylvania Lottery in the spring of 1989.
Virginia's previous record was $8.6 million won by a Richmond family in May.
by CNB