THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120335
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HANK KURZ JR., ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 53 lines
Virginia and four other states on Tuesday announced plans to begin a multistate lottery called ``The Big Game'' in September.
The new game, which includes Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland, will have drawings every Friday night beginning Sept. 6. Jackpots, which start at $4 million, could exceed $50 million, officials said.
In Virginia, where players seeking huge prizes have traveled to Kentucky, West Virginia and the District of Columbia to play the 21-jurisdiction Powerball game, the game is expected to satisfy the desire for bigger prizes.
``It will bring in some of those bench warmers who tell us they never play until the jackpot gets high,'' said Virginia Lottery spokeswoman Paula Otto.
The game will cost $1 to play and offer nine ways to win. Players will select five numbers from 1 to 50 from one pool and one number from 1 to 25 from another. Besides the jackpot, earned by matching all six numbers, it will offer prizes ranging from $150,000 to $1 for combinations of numbers.
Overall, the odds of winning a prize are 1 in 22.4, officials said. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 53 million.
Penelope Kyle, director of the Virginia Lottery, joined officials from the four other states at a news conference unveiling the game in Chicago.
She said adding a multistate game to Virginia's current offering of Pick 3, Pick 4, Cash 5, Lotto and Kicker games, along with 15 to 20 scratch-off games, was in keeping with the natural growth of all state lotteries.
The Big Game, she said, is expected to cost less than $50,000 to implement and to add about $25 million to the state's lottery revenues.
In the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, the lottery hopes to turn over $314 million to the general fund, Kyle said. All of the money is earmarked for education, she said.
One casualty of the new game could be Lotto, a twice-weekly game that offers a jackpot beginning at $1 million, the highest offered in Virginia.
``Somewhere down the road, we may have to drop back to a one-night-a-week Lotto drawing, but we're not willing to concede even that yet,'' said Kyle.
The Big Game drawings will be held in Illinois. ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
States playing: Va., Mich., Ill., Mass., Md.
Jackpots: Starting at $4 million, may top $50 million
HOW TO PLAY
The game will cost $1 to play and offer nine ways to win. Players
will select five numbers from 1 to 50 from one pool and one number
from 1 to 25 from another. Besides the jackpot, earned by matching
all six numbers, it will offer prizes ranging from $150,000 to $1
for combinations of numbers. by CNB