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CNN Live At Daybreak

Powerball Jackpot Reaches $200 Million

Aired August 22, 2001 - 07:10   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: The lines go around the block, the wait can be for hours, but that doesn't keep people from 21 states and the District of Columbia from taking a shot at tonight's $200 million Powerball jackpot.

Chuck Strutt is the executive director of the Multi-State Lottery, and he joins us now from Des Moines, Iowa.

Good morning, Mr. Strutt. Thanks for being here.

CHUCK STRUTT, MULTI-STATE LOTTERY: Good morning.

MCEDWARDS: So how close is this jackpot getting to the all-time record?

STRUTT: Well, it's going to be the second largest Powerball jackpot -- third largest in the world ever.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, the record was -- what -- $295.7 million?

STRUTT: That was our Powerball jackpot. Yes.

MCEDWARDS: That was in 1998. OK.

How much longer do people have to buy their tickets today?

STRUTT: I think it varies a little bit on each day, but generally one to two hours before the draw sales will be cut off tonight. So 8:00, 9:00.

MCEDWARDS: And how many have been sold so far?

STRUTT: I am sorry?

MCEDWARDS: How many tickets have been sold so far?

STRUTT: You know, we really don't know that. The Powerball is a state lottery game, and it's sold on a state computer system. So we learn about sales the next day. But we expect about $130 million in sales by draw time tonight.

MCEDWARDS: OK. Now, we were looking at some news -- a wire copy here about some stolen tickets; 15,000 stolen from a safe at a liquor store in Richmond, Indiana. What are you going to do about that? STRUTT: Well, that's going to be determined by Indiana law. In Indiana, a retailer cannot own tickets, so we'll have to -- the Indiana Lottery has decided that they will not honor those tickets, so...

MCEDWARDS: And explain how that's done. I understand there is a system whereby the numbers on these tickets are traceable, right?

STRUTT: Certainly lottery systems record everything about a ticket -- time of purchase, where purchased and the play numbers.

MCEDWARDS: So if it's a stolen ticket, people are going to know it's a stolen ticket, I guess is the bottom line.

STRUTT: Yes.

MCEDWARDS: Can you show us how the draw is done? I understand you can do that there.

STRUTT: Well, let me start the machine so that we do -- Powerball is actually two lottery games in one. We do have white -- five white balls we pick out of this first drum, and then one red ball we pick out of this drum. So a total of six balls, but are the two different balls.

MCEDWARDS: All right. There's a good little demonstration of what's to come there. Mr. Strutt, thanks very much.

Tell us about the odds for tonight's draw.

STRUTT: Well, the odds for winning the jackpot are 1 in 80 million. The odds for matching any number are 1 in 35, though. A lot of people don't understand that this is a double game -- a big jackpot game and a cash game.

MCEDWARDS: Yes. And, I mean, the odds -- the other interesting figure I saw this morning was winning -- the odds of winning of a lottery twice in four months -- 17 trillion to 1, which sounds just absurd. But it actually happened, though, didn't it, Mr. Strutt -- a New Jersey woman won twice in four months?

STRUTT: Sure. People have done those kinds of things. You have to be careful how you ask that statistical question. Once you have won a jackpot, your odds of winning a jackpot, again, are just the same -- like flipping a coin twice, you know.

MCEDWARDS: So it's just coincidence that she, and then I guess, seven other people have actually won twice in a four-month period? I find that astonishing.

STRUTT: Lucky people.

MCEDWARDS: Lucky people, I guess. As you say, the odds don't change no matter how many tickets you buy or no matter how many times you play.

Are you, as a lottery official, allowed to participate?

STRUTT: No, I am not at all.

MCEDWARDS: What's the strangest system you have ever heard for choosing numbers? You must have heard some great stories.

STRUTT: Well, we had one winner, who had a dream, and her cat told her her numbers. And she won the jackpot, so that works for her.

MCEDWARDS: All right. Thanks very much, Chuck Strutt -- appreciate it.

STRUTT: Goodbye.

MCEDWARDS: All right.

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