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CNN Live Saturday
Powerball Jackpot Reaches $125 Million
Aired December 14, 2002 - 18:22 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Holiday shopping is on the back burner today for millions of Americans whose number one priority is stocking up Powerball tickets. Ticket lines are long everywhere. Tonight's estimate jackpot is $125 million.
The drawing is at 10:59 p.m. Eastern in West Des Moines, Iowa. Be there or be square.
But the largest jackpot for any one state tonight is in Florida. CNN's Mark Potter is in Briar Country, Florida.
Mark, Florida, it sounds like it's set to break a record from 12 years ago.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. It looks like it might very well do that. And I can tell you that millions of Floridians are betting tonight that they're going to be the big winner, even though the odds of that are one in 23 million.
But with $100 million on the line with this jackpot, lots of people will be watching the drawing tonight at 11 p.m. And all of them, I can tell you, have big plans for that money.
We're here in Tamarac, Fla., just northwest of Fort Lauderdale at a news stand called News Plus. And somewhere back here are the owners, Vince and Grace Maiorino. Can you walk up here for a second?
VINCE MAIORINO: Sure, why not?
POTTER: How's business tonight?
V. MAIORINO: Business is fantastic tonight.
POTTER: Normally, you do a booming lottery business anyway, right?
V. MAIORINO: Yes, we do. On a normal week, we sell in excess of 15,000 tickets. However, this week we're going to at least double that and maybe a little bit more than that. And it's a great cause, because as everybody knows, it all goes for education.
POTTER: Now, Grace, I've got to ask you, do you play the lottery?
GRACE MAIORINO: Of course. Of course.
POTTER: And what are you going to do when you win? I'm thinking positive for you here.
G. MAIORINO: Well, if I win, my whole family's going to win. Everybody's going to win. I don't know yet, but everybody will win.
POTTER: And somebody else will be running this store?
G. MAIORINO: Oh, absolutely.
V. MAIORINO: Absolutely, you bet.
POTTER: Andy Mampeller, you step in here. You cannot play the lottery, because you are with the Florida lottery organization.
ANDY MAMPELLER, FLORIDA LOTTERY: I'm with the lottery, and unfortunately, I cannot play.
POTTER: Right. Now this may very well become a record, right?
MAMPELLER: We're very well on pace to exceed our highest jackpot of $1.6 million -- $106.5 million.
POTTER: And that was in 1990?
MAMPELLER: September 1990, yes.
POTTER: Now how many tickets are selling right now? It's an incredible number, I think.
MAMPELLER: Presently, we're doing about 45,000 tickets a minute, and that's pretty close to the record. And we should peak at about 60.
POTTER: Sixty a minute? Sixty-thousand?
MAMPELLER: Sixty-thousand.
POTTER: Incredible. Well, thank you very much for your time.
And I will tell you right now, Carol, that if there is one winner and that person takes the single buy-out, that's worth $54 million. If that person takes a 30-year payment, that's $3.3 or plus million a year. That is not bad money; that's certainly a nice holiday gift.
Back to you.
LIN: Not too shabby at all, Mark.
So have people told you about their strategies for picking numbers?
POTTER: I don't know. I think most people just take the quick pick. A lot of people talk about using their birthdays. They have all kind of complicated formulas I've heard about. But we'll see. I think most people win just off the quick pick, letting the machine do it.
LIN: Yes, luck of the draw. Actually, a lot of winners have actually won that way, so it might not be a bad strategy after all.
All right. Thanks so much, Mark. Good luck with your playing. You don't have to tell us. But please share the wealth.
POTTER: Yes, and I'm going to have big plans for my money.
LIN: You bet. You're going to go fishing, to be sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 14, 2002 - 18:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Holiday shopping is on the back burner today for millions of Americans whose number one priority is stocking up Powerball tickets. Ticket lines are long everywhere. Tonight's estimate jackpot is $125 million.
The drawing is at 10:59 p.m. Eastern in West Des Moines, Iowa. Be there or be square.
But the largest jackpot for any one state tonight is in Florida. CNN's Mark Potter is in Briar Country, Florida.
Mark, Florida, it sounds like it's set to break a record from 12 years ago.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. It looks like it might very well do that. And I can tell you that millions of Floridians are betting tonight that they're going to be the big winner, even though the odds of that are one in 23 million.
But with $100 million on the line with this jackpot, lots of people will be watching the drawing tonight at 11 p.m. And all of them, I can tell you, have big plans for that money.
We're here in Tamarac, Fla., just northwest of Fort Lauderdale at a news stand called News Plus. And somewhere back here are the owners, Vince and Grace Maiorino. Can you walk up here for a second?
VINCE MAIORINO: Sure, why not?
POTTER: How's business tonight?
V. MAIORINO: Business is fantastic tonight.
POTTER: Normally, you do a booming lottery business anyway, right?
V. MAIORINO: Yes, we do. On a normal week, we sell in excess of 15,000 tickets. However, this week we're going to at least double that and maybe a little bit more than that. And it's a great cause, because as everybody knows, it all goes for education.
POTTER: Now, Grace, I've got to ask you, do you play the lottery?
GRACE MAIORINO: Of course. Of course.
POTTER: And what are you going to do when you win? I'm thinking positive for you here.
G. MAIORINO: Well, if I win, my whole family's going to win. Everybody's going to win. I don't know yet, but everybody will win.
POTTER: And somebody else will be running this store?
G. MAIORINO: Oh, absolutely.
V. MAIORINO: Absolutely, you bet.
POTTER: Andy Mampeller, you step in here. You cannot play the lottery, because you are with the Florida lottery organization.
ANDY MAMPELLER, FLORIDA LOTTERY: I'm with the lottery, and unfortunately, I cannot play.
POTTER: Right. Now this may very well become a record, right?
MAMPELLER: We're very well on pace to exceed our highest jackpot of $1.6 million -- $106.5 million.
POTTER: And that was in 1990?
MAMPELLER: September 1990, yes.
POTTER: Now how many tickets are selling right now? It's an incredible number, I think.
MAMPELLER: Presently, we're doing about 45,000 tickets a minute, and that's pretty close to the record. And we should peak at about 60.
POTTER: Sixty a minute? Sixty-thousand?
MAMPELLER: Sixty-thousand.
POTTER: Incredible. Well, thank you very much for your time.
And I will tell you right now, Carol, that if there is one winner and that person takes the single buy-out, that's worth $54 million. If that person takes a 30-year payment, that's $3.3 or plus million a year. That is not bad money; that's certainly a nice holiday gift.
Back to you.
LIN: Not too shabby at all, Mark.
So have people told you about their strategies for picking numbers?
POTTER: I don't know. I think most people just take the quick pick. A lot of people talk about using their birthdays. They have all kind of complicated formulas I've heard about. But we'll see. I think most people win just off the quick pick, letting the machine do it.
LIN: Yes, luck of the draw. Actually, a lot of winners have actually won that way, so it might not be a bad strategy after all.
All right. Thanks so much, Mark. Good luck with your playing. You don't have to tell us. But please share the wealth.
POTTER: Yes, and I'm going to have big plans for my money.
LIN: You bet. You're going to go fishing, to be sure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
