Lotteries

The Hollywood Community Housing Corp. wasn't giving away housing vouchers Thursday -- just the slim chance of securing a subsidized apartment in a new, 58-unit building. Even so, by 11 a.m. more than 700 people were waiting in a line that snaked down Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles -- and housing advocates were worried enough about potential unrest that they called police to help manage the crowd.

For $100, you could fund a shopping spree at the 99 Cents Only store or host a feast catered by your favorite fast-food eatery's dollar menu. Or you could buy a house -- maybe. The Santa Clarita Valley Rotary Club, a chapter of Rotary International, is hosting an online raffle of a house of the winner's choice valued up to $600,000, with an included reserve of $400,000 for closing costs and taxes on the sale, said Maureen Micklich, a spokeswoman for Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers Inc., which is a beneficiary of the contest.

Kim Ky Noodle House in San Gabriel is best known for its simple and affordable fare. A bowl of noodles goes for less than $5. But after a customer purchased a winning lottery ticket there last week worth $166.5 million -- the second-biggest Mega Millions jackpot in California history -- the restaurant became an instant landmark. "People from Monrovia, L.A., even San Francisco called to get our address," restaurant manager Linda Wong said during the lunch rush Tuesday. "They say, 'I never heard of you before.

The company that supplies the gaming system for the California State Lottery has upped its ante to $1 million in a campaign supporting Proposition 1C, which could greatly benefit the company by allowing the lottery to upgrade and expand its equipment. GTECH is reporting a $750,000 contribution this week on top of $250,000 given earlier to a campaign committee it formed called Californians for Modernization. Under its contract, GTECH was paid $46.2 million last year as its 1.36% share of sales and for software support, equipment and other services.

Reader's Digest Assn. Inc. is under scrutiny by Indiana authorities who want to see if the company used misleading sweepstakes come-ons. It was also included in a broader review in Connecticut. The Pleasantville, N.Y.-based publishing company said Tuesday that it had not been notified of any formal investigation, and spokeswoman Donna Pierpont said all mailings were honest and legal. Indiana Atty. Gen.

A raffle to raise money for a local Red Cross chapter would hardly raise eyebrows. But the International Committee of the Red Cross' plan to host a worldwide lottery over the Internet may pique the interest of U.S. law enforcement officials. The Geneva-based humanitarian organization expects to raise at least $1 billion by the turn of the century with the game Millions 2000. People from all around the world can enter the drawing by purchasing tickets at http://www.millions2000.

The Pasadena Unified School District has implemented a lottery to replace its first-come, first-served placement system. Last year, parents pitched tents outdoors to be the first to apply for seats at the Don Benito Fundamental School, which serves elementary grades; the Marshall Fundamental School, grades 6 through 12; and Nooma Coombs Alternative School, kindergarten to 8th grade.

A tight-knit fraternity of gambling Ohio machinists, who dryly called themselves "The Lucky 13" during a decade spent purchasing losing lottery ticket after losing lottery ticket, finally have hit the biggest jackpot of all. The members of the blue-collar club from the Columbus, Ohio, suburb of Westerville held the only winning ticket to Wednesday night's multi-state Powerball drawing, which reached a mind-numbing $295.7 million, their just-hired attorney said.

Lottery operator Gtech Holdings Corp. said it created a new unit to market Internet lottery games outside the United States, where federal law prohibits using phone lines for betting. Gtech's effort would be the first major attempt to use technology to restrict international access to Internet wagering, said Tim Kelly, acting executive director for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

For the first time, the Los Angeles Housing Authority will accept applications for a lottery to decide who gets 2,000 slots for federally supported low-income housing. The last time the housing agency sought applications for rent-subsidized housing was in 1990, when 81,859 people applied during a three-month period. A lottery system was not used then and it took eight years for the waiting list to be whittled down.