Friday’s report:
Lottery ticket vendors all over the North Olympic Peninsula are bracing for a sharp spike in the sale of Mega Millions lottery ticket purchases today, since the jackpot has topped $207 million.
That’s a nice chunk of change, even after taxes.
“Around $200 million is when sales really take off,” Jacque Coe, Washington’s Lottery communication director, said.
“A lot of people don’t buy tickets until it hits $100 million — they think anything less than that is not worth their time. But where they really go to town is at $230 million to $300 million.”
With a $207 million jackpot, the cash option for a winner would be $130.1 million. The odds of winning are one in 175,711,536.
The final prize pot won’t be determined until totals are tallied Saturday, after sales close at 7:45 p.m. today.
The winning numbers will be announced just 15 minutes later, at 8 p.m.
Billed as “America’s biggest jackpot game,” Mega Millions is a 12-state consortium administered in Washington by the state lottery commission.
While no lottery ticket-selling stores in Clallam or Jefferson counties have had huge winners in state lottery games, many have sold Washington’s Lottery jackpot tickets worth at least $10,000.
Lightning may not strike twice in the same place, but Coe said lottery ticket buyers tend to be superstitious, and stores that sell winning tickets will often see higher ticket sales.
Lovell’s Road Runner 76 on Front Street in Port Angeles has sold a $10,000 scratch ticket, and owner Bob Lovell said he expects to see sales brisk before the cutoff.
“When it’s up this high, people start buying more,” he said. “It’s the nature of the beast.”
The Sequim Safeway store on Washington street also has a past winner listed.
Opal Franklin, video clerk, said sales are going “fantastic.”
$100 ticket purchases
“Customers are buying $100 at a time. It’s outrageous,” she said. “Everybody wants a piece of the pie.”
Port Townsend’s Seabreeze Grocery sold a $175,000 ticket in 2004.
Owner Diane Knutson said sales are high already, but “tomorrow it should be massive.”
Her customers are buying $20 to $40 worth of $1 tickets at a time.
There haven’t been any winners in Forks, according to the lottery commission, but that doesn’t stop people from buying into the dream.
Stephanie Browning, owner of Ron’s Food Mart, said she has seen an increase in sales and expects them to rise even more today.
“That reminds me — I need to buy my own ticket,” she said.
While many people go it alone, Coe said when the prize gets this big, retailers start to see more office pools.
“That’s a really, really smart way to go,” she said.
While a pool decreases individual winnings, it increases the overall odds of winning.
The state lottery commission encourages pools to be under the direction of one person, who carefully records contributors and contributions
After winning is not the time to be arguing over who gave what.
With the current state of the economy, Coe said, lottery sales are down about 6 percent, which affects the state budget.
If the Mega Millions pot reaches $250 million or more, it will mean “tens of millions” in revenue for the state.
“We’re doing the happy dance at the lottery commission,” she said.
The Mega Millions is drawn twice a week, Tuesday and Friday.
If there is no winning number, the jackpot continues to grow, with the amount dependent upon sales.
If more than one participant has selected the winning numbers, they will split the prize.
The last time Mega Millions had a winner was July, when one winner claimed $133 million.
That reset the pot to $12 million, and it has climbed steadily from there.
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Features Editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at marcie.miller@peninsula dailynews.com.
