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CNN Live Saturday

Americans Line Up to Buy Powerball Tickets

Aired August 25, 2001 - 16:00   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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: With a dollar and a dream, Americans around the country are lining up today to buy lottery tickets as the Powerball jackpot climbs toward $280 million. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia participate in the Powerball lottery, and CNN's Kathleen Koch is in Washington right now at one of the sites selling tickets, and she joins us now. Kathleen, hi.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brian. Well, they are dreaming the impossible dream here at another of Washington, D.C.'s lottery hot spots, Rodman's Food and Drugs, and they have been swamped literally since early this morning. When they opened their doors at 8:00, there were already people lined up outside.

That is primarily because this particular establishment is just a stone's throw away from the border with Maryland, which is not one of the 21 states that is participating in the multi-state Powerball lottery. Now they say that nationwide ticket sales are the second highest in Powerball history, as is the jackpot tonight, that $280 million. That is just short of the record Powerball jackpot that was set back in 1998 by a group of machinists in Ohio who incidentally also had to drive across state lanes into Indiana in order to buy their winning ticket.

And here with me to talk about how sales are going right here in the nation's capital is Bob Hainey, who is the spokesman for the D.C. lottery. What do you see now, Bob?

BOB HAINEY, D.C. LOTTERY: Well, today we have done about $1.5 million worth of business so far. And that's because it's a weekend during...

KOCH: You actually did better yesterday, right? And the day before?

HAINEY: Right. With all the workers in town, we did about $3.2 million in Powerball alone. And right now for the total three-day count, we're running close to $7 million. So, we should be over $7 million tonight in sales by the time of the drawing.

KOCH: Now, how does that compare to what you normally do in this city?

HAINEY: Oh, that's more than 10-fold. I mean, normally, you know, Powerball we might sell anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000 a day. You know, we are running into millions now. So, it's astronomical. Let's just put it that way.

KOCH: Now, what does this mean to the city of Washington, D.C., which gets I guess half of the ticket purchases here?

HAINEY: What this means -- this bump comes right at the -- near the end of the fiscal year, which is September 30, so the D.C. lottery generally gives the city about $69 million, $70 million on an average here.

We should see a nice tidy little sum, a nice tidy bump at the end of the year, maybe five million. Maybe less, maybe more, but it should be some type of a bump that goes to the city, and our money goes into the general fund, and that's for, you know, everything -- public safety, police, fire, schools, roads, the whole works.

KOCH: Bob, what about the concerns on the part of some that lotteries are essentially a form of gambling and that they can become addictive and really hurt those who can least afford to spend their money on something like this?

HAINEY: That's why we tell people to play responsibly. Please, we do not want anything but discretionary dollars. You would not take any of your serious money and buy a movie ticket. We want the movie ticket money. Please play responsibly.

We ask people to remember, this is a game, it's a fun investment. It's not a financial investment. And we want to keep the fun in it. Just buy one ticket. That's all it takes, is one set of numbers, to win.

KOCH: And that's what we're hearing from a lot of ticker buyers today. Bob Hainey, with the D.C. lottery, thank you very much.

And we are also being told by lottery officials -- even if you don't have that winning ticket tonight at 10:59, don't throw away your tickets, because some 12 percent of Powerball prizes go unclaimed nationwide, especially at times like this when you have a lot of novices playing who don't understand the winning combinations.

And second price, actually, if you match five numbers, is a very tidy $100,000. Back to you.

NELSON: Kathleen, we're seven hours or so before the drawing at 11:00 Eastern time tonight. How many people have you got behind you? Have the numbers been picking up as the day has gone on?

KOCH: They have been picking up. We have a line now out the door, there is also a line inside that you can't see. So, as the drawing approaches, that time of 10:59 tonight, we expect to see a line extending down the street and around the block. It won't be surprising at all.

NELSON: Thanks. CNN's Kathleen Koch in Washington on the Powerball watch.

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