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Monday, July 26, 2004
Lottery gears up for a new jackpot
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Norman Aloisio of Brunswick wants to be at the head of the line when his employer, Day's News and Variety in Brunswick, starts selling Powerball tickets at noon Friday. But he's afraid he'll have some tough competition. "I was hoping I'd get the first one, but there's going to be a fight here" for that honor, Aloisio said recently from his spot behind the lunch counter at the popular downtown news stand. State lottery officials in Augusta and 982 retail agents across the state are gearing up for a run of Powerball madness Friday when Maine becomes the 27th state to offer the big-jackpot game, which also is available in the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. "It's the question of the day - when is Powerball coming?" said Phil St. Pierre, owner of Victor News in Lewiston. "People are very anxious" for the startup, said Gayle Baker, a clerk at Day's News and Variety. The game has a strong appeal because of the size of its jackpots, which start at $10 million and have been known to run as high as $315 million, said Pam Coutts, director of the state Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations. In 2001, Patricia and Erwin Wales of Buxton won $41 million playing Powerball, with a ticket they bought in Rollinsford, N.H. The prospect of such big payoffs should make Powerball much more attractive than the smaller Megabucks game offered by Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Maine will continue to sell Megabucks tickets, but state officials predict a 17 percent drop in Megabucks sales as Powerball siphons off players. Even taking a Megabucks hit into account, state officials predict the twice-weekly Powerball game will be so popular that it will net about $9 million in first-year revenues for the state. "The amount of money that was going over the border to play Powerball in New Hampshire was incredible," said St. Pierre. He says adding Powerball to the lineup will make his store and other lottery outlets a destination for shoppers, especially when jackpots get into the high range. "It will create lines at the registers," St. Pierre said. "It's a whole new level of potential business for convenience stores across the state." "I go to New Hampshire to buy them. I might as well buy them here," Aloisio said. The Legislature agreed this year to join the Powerball lottery after Gov. John Baldacci, who had opposed the idea, reversed himself because he decided the state needed the extra money. The revenues will go into the state's general fund. Coutts says the state will start running radio ads this week to promote Friday's launch, to be followed by television ads announcing the jackpots and winning numbers, once the game gets off the ground. To play Powerball, a player chooses five numbers between one and 53 and a sixth number between one and 42. There are nine chances of winning, depending on how many numbers match up with the drawing. The smallest prize is $3, running up to the jackpot, which stood at $36 million late last week. Of course, the odds of winning shrink as more numbers have to be matched to win the larger prizes. For example, there's a one in 70 chance of walking off with $3, which requires only one matching number, but the odds of hitting the jackpot are about one in 120 million, according to state lottery officials. Those odds have critics grumbling that Powerball will simply separate gullible players from their hard-earned money. "I just think it's a big dream," said Dick Bernier of Brunswick, who does not plan to play the game. "It's the state of Maine once again playing people for suckers," said Dennis Bailey of Casinos No!, an anti-gambling group. "Your chances are far greater that you'll find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." Still, Aloisio spoke for many when he said he will play Powerball because somebody's winning all those jackpots, despite the long odds. "You can't win if you don't play," he said. Powerball tickets sell for $1 apiece, but the game features a "power play" option that allows players to multiply their winnings, except for the jackpot itself, by plunking down $2 for a ticket. Before each Powerball drawing, officials spin a "prize multiplier wheel" to decide if prizes other than the jackpot will increase two, three, four or even five times for players who doubled their bets. If that spin increases the payout by three, for example, a $5,000 prize on a $1 ticket becomes a $15,000 prize if the player threw in an extra buck for the power play option. Friday's kickoff will make Maine the fifth state in New England to join Powerball, leaving Massachusetts, which participates in a different multi-state game, as the lone holdout in the region. Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at:
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