Lotteries United States

It's the street of dreams, a place where fantasies flower every few feet while merchants with empty stores fume. Under the hot sun, behind the yellow tape, they stood in line for three hours on Greenwich Avenue on Tuesday waiting for their chance to feed the two hungry green Powerball lottery machines inside Zyn's News and Cigars. Wary police kept order, making sure no one crashed the line.

An elderly Maine couple who hid their winning ticket in a box of cereal, a married mother of three from Minnesota and a 46-year-old former convict from Kentucky were the three of the four winners of the $294.8-million Powerball jackpot to claim their shares Monday. "It's a poor man's dream," David Edwards said at the Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville, Ky. The jackpot is the third-biggest lottery prize in U.S. history.

Enticed by a multimillion-dollar Lotto jackpot, struggling writer Lanny Turner grabbed $50 worth of blank game cards three years ago, went home to his small Greenwich Village apartment and filled in his picks. While tediously blacking the required six boxes per game, "I started going nuts" thinking of lucky numbers, he recalled recently. "Once you begin filling in those squares, you see patterns and start brooding: 'No, I used this number too many times already.'

Powerball Lottery ticket machines got a workout as near-record numbers of people bought chances at a $295-million jackpot. The jackpot for the drawing in Des Moines, the host of the game played in 21 states and the District of Columbia, was the second-highest in Powerball history and the third-largest lottery jackpot in the U.S. The winning numbers were 8-17-22-42-47 with Powerball 21. It was not immediately known if there were any winning tickets.

An elderly Maine couple who hid their winning ticket in a box of cereal, a married mother of three from Minnesota and a 46-year-old former convict from Kentucky were the three of the four winners of the $294.8-million Powerball jackpot to claim their shares Monday. "It's a poor man's dream," David Edwards said at the Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville, Ky. The jackpot is the third-biggest lottery prize in U.S. history.

A multistate lottery called "Lotto America," billed as the biggest and potentially richest game in the nation, was announced by five states and the District of Columbia. Organizers said they intend to start selling tickets early next year, probably in February. Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Rhode Island and West Virginia agreed to participate, along with the District of Columbia. Missouri is expected to join soon.

There's nothing wrong with America's nascent information highway policies that a little gambling couldn't cure. You can bet on it. While the feds struggle to deregulate the Baby Bells, re-regulate the cable industry and guarantee every resident "universal service," the states have a unique chance to load their policy dice in ways that could accelerate public acceptance of new network technologies.

Kitty Hawkins had that look, that anxious, mildly pained expression of a God-fearing woman about to commit . . . a sin. "I'm sinning," she croaked as she pulled a single $1 bill from her purse and headed toward the lottery line. "I'm a sinner. Oh, boy, I'm going to be repenting for this all week." Then a devilish little smile crept across her face, and her voice gained confidence and volume. "I tell you, though, $325 million will make all that repenting a whole lot easier.

The U.S. government has begun notifying would-be immigrants selected as "lucky winners" in a lottery for 10,000 visas to be issued outside the normal annual total of 270,000 over the next two years, U.S. District Judge Irving Hill said Friday. But Hill secured a pledge from a government attorney that none of the visas would be issued until a legal challenge to the visa lottery is resolved in a March 23 trial in federal court in Los Angeles.

Out of the millions who wanted to win mega-millions, the Big Game lottery came down to two tickets--one sold in Michigan, the other in Illinois--whose holders will split a record $363-million bounty. Michigan lottery officials were contacted Wednesday by a "remarkably quite calm" man they believe holds one of the winning tickets. But Illinois officials had not heard from the ticket holder there. The winning tickets to Tuesday night's drawing in the seven-state lottery were sold at Mr.

Kitty Hawkins had that look, that anxious, mildly pained expression of a God-fearing woman about to commit . . . a sin. "I'm sinning," she croaked as she pulled a single $1 bill from her purse and headed toward the lottery line. "I'm a sinner. Oh, boy, I'm going to be repenting for this all week." Then a devilish little smile crept across her face, and her voice gained confidence and volume. "I tell you, though, $325 million will make all that repenting a whole lot easier.

Three years ago, critics of legal gambling's rapid spread across the country persuaded President Clinton and the Republican Congress to launch a blue-ribbon inquiry into its social and economic consequences. Now, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which wrapped up its deliberations in San Francisco on Thursday, is preparing to submit its final report June 18.

It's the street of dreams, a place where fantasies flower every few feet while merchants with empty stores fume. Under the hot sun, behind the yellow tape, they stood in line for three hours on Greenwich Avenue on Tuesday waiting for their chance to feed the two hungry green Powerball lottery machines inside Zyn's News and Cigars. Wary police kept order, making sure no one crashed the line.

Frank Capaci got up at the crack of dawn as usual Friday to mow the golf course near his Illinois home, despite the fact he was suddenly rich enough to buy the entire club and more than a dozen like it. Capaci, 67, and his wife, Shirley, had won the $195-million Powerball prize, the richest jackpot in world history. After cutting the greens, he set out with his wife for Wisconsin in their 1990 Grand Am to get their ticket validated at a lottery office.

California Lottery sales were the fifth-highest among the 38 states with lotteries in fiscal1996. About half the state's lottery proceeds are used to pay prizewinners, with 34% dedicated to public education. About $30.7 million in prize money went unclaimed in the year. California Lottery sales since the early 1990s, where lottery proceeds go, and how California's 12-year-old lottery ranks against other state lotteries. (BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC) California Lottery Sales. ..

The 20-state "Powerball" lottery is offering bigger bucks in an attempt to relieve "jackpot fatigue." The operators of the lottery are finding it takes bigger and bigger jackpots to get occasional players to buy a ticket. So to counter a drop in ticket sales, they are raising the minimum jackpot from $5 million to $10 million.

The State Department announced Thursday that 10,000 extra visas will be issued on a random basis in both 1990 and 1991 to immigrants from 162 countries. Citizens of the Soviet Union, Poland and several other countries whose refugee quotas are filled will be eligible for the lottery, officials said. The application period will be from March 1 through March 31. The visas will not be issued on a first-come, first-served basis, as they were in a similar lottery in 1986.

The 20-state "Powerball" lottery is offering bigger bucks in an attempt to relieve "jackpot fatigue." The operators of the lottery are finding it takes bigger and bigger jackpots to get occasional players to buy a ticket. So to counter a drop in ticket sales, they are raising the minimum jackpot from $5 million to $10 million.