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CNN Live Today

Lotto Players Snapping Up Big Game Tickets Today

Aired April 16, 2002 - 11:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the lines are long, and so are the odds. Lotto players are snapping up Big Game tickets today. They are hoping for a piece of an estimated $325 million jackpot. Right now, we are looking at live pictures, which you can tell, since the camera was moving around like that. But that was Augusta, Georgia, a pretty lucky place for Tiger Woods earlier this weekend.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Did he buy a ticket while he was there?

KAGAN: I don't think he needs a ticket. I don't he needs a ticket. But this is the second largest lottery prize in U.S. history. Keep a little perspective here. There's a better chance that earth will be hit by a meteorite than a particular set of numbers popping up for tonight's drawing.

It has not kept a lot of people from dreaming. The Big Game is played in seven states, including Georgia. And Rebecca Paul is president of the Georgia Lottery Council.

REBECCA PAUL, PRESIDENT, GEORGIA LOTTERY COMMISSION: How are you?

KAGAN: Doing good. I bet you're a busy lady -- exciting times for you.

PAUL: We are, but I think Tiger Woods may be the only person that $225 million wouldn't change his life.

KAGAN: You were telling Leon and me some numbers in terms of -- not the numbers that are going to win, but the numbers of the kind of tickets -- the numbers of tickets that are being sold. People are going crazy with this stuff.

PAUL: Well, in Georgia alone, we will do 1.5 million an hour at peak tonight. We expect to sell well over 150 million tickets in the seven states combined since Friday night's drawing.

HARRIS: Is that a record?

PAUL: Well, close. The record jackpot was $363 million a couple of years ago, and this one, we expect to be right at or slightly above $325 million.

HARRIS: Tell me what the number of tickets being sold per hour, and that many tickets being sold in -- what -- a three, four day period.

PAUL: It's close.

HARRIS: It's close.

PAUL: It's real close to the 363 jackpot. And with that many ticket being sold, of course the real winners are the programs that we fund in the various states...

KAGAN: So here in Georgia...

PAUL: ... of scholarships...

KAGAN: .. education.

PAUL: Yes.

KAGAN: A lot of kids going to school on that. And you are selling dreams too. I mean, really when somebody goes and puts their dollar down, but you do encourage people to play responsibly.

PAUL: Sure. It only takes one ticket to win, and if you are first-time player, don't forget there are nine different ways to win. Friday night alone over $20 million was awarded to over four million people; 44 people won 150,000. So don't throw your tickets out if you don't win 352 million.

HARRIS: Well, instead, how do you win if you don't win all of the numbers.

PAUL: Well, if you get just the first five, you win 150,000.

KAGAN: OK.

PAUL: And then if you get four plus one, or four, or three plus one. So don't throw your ticket out if you don't win at all.

HARRIS: Got you, got you.

PAUL: So you have thrown out $150,000 and you never knew it.

HARRIS: No.

KAGAN: Trust me. He has never thrown out $150,000.

HARRIS: You think I'd be here?

KAGAN: That has not happened. What about, on a serious note the critique that the lottery is really a tax on the poor. That the people who really play are the people who can't afford to play.

PAUL: Well, what happens when you get jackpot this big is virtually everyone plays. Almost anyone, $225 million is worth standing in line for. So jackpots of this size bring in the...

(CROSSTALK) KAGAN: Yes, we play.

PAUL: So it brings in everybody when you get jackpots this big.

KAGAN: Yes. Because we don't usually play.

HARRIS: No. No, we don't.

KAGAN: So our morning group went ahead and did play, we should say that.

HARRIS: No, we don't.

PAUL: Wouldn't it be a good press conference if somebody over here won?

KAGAN: Oh, we have already decided who is getting our first interviews (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HARRIS: We'll see whether (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

KAGAN: We have our media plan all set. Now, incredibly this could get even bigger, because the game is getting bigger. It's spreading to New York state and to Ohio.

PAUL: Ohio.

KAGAN: In a week?

PAUL: May 15.

KAGAN: May 15.

PAUL: Tickets will go on sale in New York and Ohio. And then in September, Washington state is going to join us. So the Big Game is getting even bigger.

HARRIS: So if...

PAUL: And if it rolls tonight, it will be even bigger.

HARRIS: That was the question. If it rolls tonight -- and now, do the other states, they get folded in as well with the next (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

KAGAN: We have to roll for two more weeks though.

PAUL: We will have to roll as April rolls out.

KAGAN: Yes. But let's just say, could you start your mega- millions game with like $1 billion jackpot?

PAUL: Well, if rolls tonight, we probably would start somewhere near 400 million, so...

KAGAN: That's crazy. PAUL: ...there is...

HARRIS: 400 million?

PAUL: Six more drawings between now and the time that New York and Ohio will join us. So there's a 90 percent chance of a winner tonight.

HARRIS: Well, I was going to ask you about that. The chances of actually having a winner, do they increase or do they stay the same?

PAUL: The odds of an individual winning remain the same. The odds of 1 in 76 million regardless of what the jackpot is, because there are that many combinations. The odds of someone choosing the winning ticket grows as more people play.

HARRIS: OK.

KAGAN: And we're looking at -- a lot of people are hoping that that -- once again, that's a live picture from Augusta, Georgia. Do quick picks win more than when people pick their own individual numbers?

PAUL: It pretty much depends on how people play. When 30 percent of the plays are quick picks, 30 percent of your winners will be. If 70 percent of the plays are quick picks, 70 percent of your winners will be. And when you get a jackpot this big, we have a much higher percentage of quick pick play than we do our regular player week in and week out who plays their birthdays or their anniversaries.

HARRIS: The last big one, was that a winner who picked their own numbers? Do you remember or was that a quick pick?

PAUL: I think it was a quick pick in Michigan. I don't remember in Illinois.

HARRIS: Yes.

KAGAN: I have one final question.

PAUL: Sure.

KAGAN: When our morning news crew wins with these tickets...

PAUL: Yes.

KAGAN: ... do you think we should have a news conference here at CNN? Or should we come down to lottery headquarters?

PAUL: Well, it's right across the park. We ought to do it in the middle.

KAGAN: We could do it in Centennial Park.

HARRIS: OK. One more, I've got to ask her about to play responsibly... PAUL: Yes.

HARRIS: ... does that mean not playing drunk? What does that mean? Have you seen that?

KAGAN: Don't play drunk.

HARRIS: Well, you usually hear that on the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I mean, is this play responsibly. What do you mean by that?

PAUL: It only takes one ticket to win. Don't bet the ranch on it.

HARRIS: OK.

KAGAN: Very good. Well, good luck getting through all the lottery frenzy.

PAUL: Good.

KAGAN: Rebecca Paul...

PAUL: Good luck to you guys.

KAGAN: .... who joins us...

HARRIS: Thank you.

KAGAN: Yes, we'll take it.

HARRIS: Hey, good luck to you.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. Great. We'll see you when we win.

HARRIS: See you down the road. Yes, exactly, we'll see you tomorrow morning hopefully.

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