Archived Lottery News for May, 2005

Monday, May 30, 2005

8:40 am - One Idaho lottery ticket wins $220.3 million Powerball jackpot.  Someone who bought a Powerball lottery ticket in Boise, Idaho over the weekend has won a $220.3 million jackpot, the 10th-largest jackpot ever awarded by the multistate lottery, officials said yesterday.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

	10:20 am - New Florida lottery law increases prizes.  Florida lottery players soon will rake in more dough when they win games such as Lotto, Mega Money and Fantasy 5, thanks to a bill signed into law Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush.
	7:50 am - Powerball Jackpot Winner!  There was one $215 million jackpot winner from Idaho in the Saturday, May 28, 2005 Powerball drawing.  More details to follow after the winner comes forward to claim their prize.
	Also, 30 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 3 from Colorado (1 with Power Play), 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Washington, D.C., 1 from Delaware, 1 from Iowa, 1 from Idaho, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Louisiana, 1 from Maine, 1 from Minnesota, 2 from Missouri, 1 from North Dakota, 1 from Nebraska, 2 from New Hampshire, 1 from New Mexico, 2 from Oregon, 4 from Pennsylvania, 3 from Rhode Island, 1 from Vermont and 1 from Wisconsin.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

9:43 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday Mega Millions drawing, but 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Illinois, 1 from Michigan and 1 from New Jersey.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

	3:40 pm - Technical problems delay sales and drawing of Powerball lottery game.  Mutliple technology problems yesterday caused problems with both the sales and drawing of the Powerball multi-state lottery game.
	2:40 pm - Anonymous Michigan winner claims $1 million jackpot.  The winner of a $1 million Michigan State Lottery Millionaire Casino ticket chose to remain anonymous.
	2:00 pm - Public to get say over UK Lottery cash.  The public could be set to get a say on where the remainder of the UK National Lottery's money goes in a new bill that could become law by the end of the year.
	1:00 pm - Grandmother calls in sick after $8.4 million lottery win.  Vera Blondeau from Manitoba, Canada phoned in sick to her cashier's job Tuesday so she could cash in her lottery ticket worth CA$8.4 million (US$6.6 million).
	12:40 pm - Clerk enters plea in Mass. lottery-ticket case.  A North Andover, Massachusetts convenience store clerk pleaded innocent Wednesday to cashing in a customer’s winning lottery ticket.
	10:25 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 6 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 2 from Maryland, 1 from New York, 2 from Texas and 1 from Virginia.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.
	2:10 am - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday Powerball drawing, but 16 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Arizona, 1 from Connecticut, 2 from Washington, D.C., 1 from Idaho, 1 from Oregon (1 with Power Play), 5 from Pennsylvania, 1 from South Carolina (1 with Power Play), 1 from Tennessee and 3 from Wisconsin.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

	8:20 pm - Tennessee Man Wins $314,693 Lotto 5 Jackpot.  A Greeneville, Tennessee man won the top prize of $314,693 in Friday night’s Tennessee Lottery Lotto 5 drawing.
	7:20 pm - Bill would reward Tenn. retailers for cashing lottery tickets.  Tennessee lottery retailers would also reap the benefit of a winning ticket under legislation that's moving through the General Assembly in its final days.
	6:40 pm - NY takes $5 million from lottery winners for child support, welfare.  New York lottery officials announced Tuesday that the state has taken nearly $5 million from thousands of lottery jackpots before they were released to winners and applied the money to owed child-support payments or to recover a portion of welfare given to winners over the last decade.
	10:00 am - UK Lottery to roll out 'Fast-Pay' card.  UK National Lottery operator Camelot is to launch a branded card that will enable shoppers to pay for lottery tickets at checkouts in thousands of retailers nationwide.

Monday, May 23, 2005

	9:40 pm - Lottery Cheats Ruin Players' Chances.  Your odds of winning the lottery has been hurt at times - sometimes by thieves stealing entire cases of lottery tickets and other times by the very people selling you the tickets.
	11:20 am - N.C. lottery supporters try to control expectations.  Lottery supporters in North Carolina want people to know that once a bill is crafted and signed into law, anxious lottery players won't be able to play the games in North Carolina until early 2006.
	11:00 am - UK Lottery Sales Rise.  UK National Lottery ticket sales rose more than £150 million (US$275 million) last year, thanks in part to soaring sales on the Internet and mobile phones.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

12:03 am - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday Powerball drawing, but 31 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 2 from Arizona, 2 from Colorado, 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Washington, D.C., 1 from Iowa, 1 from Idaho, 3 from Indiana, 1 from Kansas, 1 from Louisiana, 2 from Minnesota, 1 from Missouri, 1 from New Hampshire, 7 from Pennsylvania (5 with Power Play), 1 from Rhode Island, 3 from South Carolina (1 with Power Play), 1 from Vermont, 1 from Wisconsin and 1 from West Virginia.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

1:56 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday Mega Millions drawing, but 5 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 3 from Michigan, 1 from New York, and 1 from Texas.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Friday, May 20, 2005

	2:00 pm - Education at the center of N.C. lottery debate.  As the North Carolina Senate continues debate on a state lottery, education remains the central focus of contention and compromise.
	1:20 pm - Kansas Lottery Re-tools eScratch Game.  The Kansas Lottery reworked its year-old eScratch instant game after sales were found to be lackluster.
	12:40 pm - Birthdays Pay Off Big For Tampa Man.  A Florida handyman took a one-time lump sum payment of $342,244.50 after winning the May 13 drawing of Mega Money using birthdays to choose his numbers.
	11:40 am - Busy lottery winner finally takes a break and claims jackpot.  The man who called lottery officials last week and told them he was too busy working to collect his $56 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot finally showed up Thursday at the California Lottery's Santa Fe Springs district office, nearly two weeks after his win.
	11:00 am - Lottery scam victimizes Colorado woman.  A Colorado woman is wired $3,900 to scam artists, thinking that she was paying the taxes on a lottery prize.
	10:40 am - New Hamshire budget closely linked to lottery luck.  If someone won Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot, New Hampshire's tight state budget would be the big loser, according to the chairman of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.
	9:40 am - Ohio Lottery could be hurt by casinos.  Lottery sales and Bingo revenue fell in Ohio counties nearest out-of-state casinos, raising concerns about the economic impact of such casinos coming to Ohio, according to a newspaper analysis.
	9:00 am - Store owner accused of stealing lottery ticket.  Police in North Andover, Massachusetts are pressing charges against Patrick Simboli, alleging that he stole a customer's winning lottery ticket, worth $32,000 after taxes.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

12:48 am - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday Powerball drawing, but 7 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Iowa, 1 from Idaho, 1 from Minnesota, 1 from Nebraska, 2 from Pennsylvania and 1 from Tennessee.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

	10:00 am - UK Lottery winner 'saw it in tarot'.  A woman who won more than £5 million (US$9.2 million) playing UK Lotto says she saw her win predicted in a tarot reading.
	Theft of lottery tickets wins Michigan man trip to jail.  A Michigan man arrested in late May for the burglary of the Lake Nepessing Road Party Store and theft of lottery tickets has won a trip to prison.
	9:20 am - Illinois Lottery Ad Contract Under Scrutiny.  Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Wednesday she wants to know more about a $19 million advertising contract for the state lottery that was the subject of a critical audit earlier this month.
	1:51 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 4 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Massachusetts, 1 from Michigan, 1 from New Jersey and 1 from New York.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

	2:00 pm - Wyoming lottery being considered.  An interim legislative committee is considering a measure that would let voters have a say on whether Wyoming should join the Powerball lottery.
	1:40 pm - Oklahoma Lottery vies for Santa Fe headquarters.  The Oklahoma Lottery Commission may have found a home for an agency expected to employ more than 100 workers.
	1:00 pm - Nevada Democrats try to revive lottery plan.  Nevada Democrats are trying to breathe life into their state lottery proposal, an idea Senate Republicans say is dead for the 2005 session.
	12:20 pm - Iowa Lottery introduces electronic instant game card.  The world's first electronic version of a lottery instant-scratch game begins statewide sales this week in Iowa.

Monday, May 16, 2005

	11:20 am - New Oklahoma Lottery Director Welcomes Challenge.  New Oklahoma Lottery Director Jim Scroggins possesses a deep lottery industry skill set, but it was his personality as a 'heartland guy' that pushed him over the top of the other candidates, according to state lottery commissioners.
	10:20 am - One Florida Lotto Ticket Wins $3 million Jackpot.  One ticket matched all six Florida Lotto numbers to win a jackpot of $3 million, lottery officials said Sunday.
	10:00 am - Virginia Pick 4 Lottery Player Wins Big.  A Virginia woman's dream of winning the lottery came true to the tune of $90,200 — the result of multiple Pick 4 wins in one drawing.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

12:22 am - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday Powerball drawing, but 4 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Colorado, 1 from Indiana (1 with Power Play), 1 from Missouri and 1 from South Carolina (1 with Power Play).  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

1:52 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday Mega Millions drawing, but 8 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Georgia, 1 from Illinois, 2 from Michigan, 1 from New Jersey and 3 from New York.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Friday, May 13, 2005

	11:40 am - $100,000 lottery ticket claim goes to court.  An administrative law judge is considering the claim by two Indiana men that they are the rightful owners of a $100,000 lottery ticket that was tossed in the trash.
	10:40 am - California Lottery fixes major problem with Derby game.  A computer software glitch denied 650 players a chance to win the game's grand prize over six months. The glitch demonstrates one of the many problems that can happen with computerized lottery drawings.
	10:00 am - Illionois lottery winner arrested on gun charges.  A northwestern Illinois man who is a member of a group that says it holds a lottery ticket worth $35.7 million was arrested Thursday on federal gun trafficking and drug charges.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

	1:40 pm - Record PA Match 6 lottery winner flees media attention.  On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue announced that Crone had won $5.9 million in the largest Match 6 payoff to date in the game's 16-month history, but the winner is apparently not happy with all the attention the win has brought him.
	1:00 pm - N.H. Lottery To Sell $20 Scratch Tickets.  The New Hampshire House on Wednesday approved a new $20 lottery ticket, which will offer larger prizes and are expected to add about $5 million to state revenues during the next two years.
	12:00 pm - N.C. Senate considers social, legal expenses of starting lottery.  If North Carolina joins every other state on the East Coast and creates a lottery, the cost of policing it and offering help to problem gamblers could cost several million dollars a year, witnesses told a Senate committee on Wednesday.
	11:20 am - Wisconsin Lottery lost $212,000 in Super Bowl drawing.  The Wisconsin Lottery lost $212,000 after it pulled out of a special drawing offering tickets and travel to the 2004 Super Bowl.
	10:20 am - Wisconsin couple to be investigated for excessive lottery wins.  A state lawmaker has asked for an audit to determine how a Bonduel, Wisconsin couple won three dozen second-chance state lottery drawings since 2000.
	12:28 am - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday Powerball drawing, but 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Colorado (1 with Power Play), 1 from Kentucky and 1 from Pennsylvania.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

	4:00 pm - Winner of $56 Million CA Lottery Jackpot Too Busy To Claim Prize.  The lucky winner of a $56 million California SuperLOTTO Plus jackpot did not have the time to claim his ticket because he "had to work a double shift and would try to come back sometime later this week."
	2:20 pm - 'Classic' lottery game replacing Michigan Winfall.  When Classic Lotto 47 launches Sunday, nostalgic Michigan lottery players will get a new crack at an old favorite. But, against player preference, the Michigan Lottery will be conducting the drawings using a computer instead of a real lottery machine.
	11:40 am - Fortune cookie bet made Powerball lottery players rich.  On March 30, over a hundred Powerball lottery players won $100,000 playing numbers from inside fortune cookies, and all the cookies came from the same factory in Long Island City, Queens.
	9:06 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 2 from Georgia and 1 from Maryland.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

	10:00 pm - 2 Players Share $1.17 Million Tenn. Lotto 5 Jackpot.  Two tickets, worth $589,973 each, matched all five of the Tennessee Lotto 5 numbers in last night’s drawing.
	8:40 pm - Missouri Director hired to run Oklahoma Lottery.  James R. Scroggins, the executive director of the Missouri lottery for the last 13 years, was hired Tuesday to direct the startup of the Oklahoma lottery.
	12:40 pm - S.C. Lottery may learn lessons from Georgia.  Lottery officials in Georgia may be enjoying a sense of irony, as South Carolina is now undergoing the same uncomfortable feeling that they created for the Georgia Lottery when they started their new lottery in 2002.
	9:00 am - Embattled lottery pyramid scheme slammed by Australian court.  World Games Inc (WGI), a loosely-based international company that has been on the run from legal authorities around the world for several years, was found to be in violation of the 1974 Trade Practices Act by the Australia Full Federal Court for organizing an international online pyramid scheme.

Monday, May 9, 2005

	7:20 pm - Clash of the Lottery Titans: Scientific Games Suing Rival GTECH.  Lottery and betting equipment maker Scientific Games Corp. said Monday that its subsidiary Scientific Games Royalty Corp. is suing Gtech Holdings Corp., the world's largest operator of lottery systems, for patent infringement.
	11:00 am - Chinese man jailed for selling newborn to buy lottery tickets.  A father who sold his newborn son to raise money to buy lottery tickets was sentenced to 10 years in prison in China's latest baby-trafficking case, a newspaper reported Monday.
	10:20 am - Oklahoma closer to selecting new lottery director.  In about six months, a new Oklahoma state agency will have to be built from the ground up and thousands of retailers across the state will have to be trained and outfitted to sell lottery tickets.
	9:20 am - S.C. retailers fret over N.C. lottery.  South Carolina retailers could lose as much at $150 million yearly if North Carolina starts a lottery.
	9:00 am - N.C. Lottery passage threatens S.C. education programs.  The South Carolina lottery's impact can be felt throughout the education system, and the state faces several challenges if North Carolina gets into the lottery business.

Sunday, May 8, 2005

8:00 am - Lottery officials forsee $500 million Mega Millions jackpots.  California, the Golden State, will bring a lot of green to the Mega Millions Lottery jackpots when the state joins the multistate game next month. That's green as in greenbacks.

12:29 am - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday Powerball drawing, but 8 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Connecticut (1 with Power Play), 1 from Washington, D.C., 2 from Indiana (1 with Power Play), 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Maine (1 with Power Play), 1 from South Carolina and 1 from Tennessee.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Saturday, May 7, 2005

2:11 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Friday Mega Millions drawing, but 3 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Michigan, 1 from New Jersey and 1 from Virginia.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Friday, May 6, 2005

	12:20 pm - $10 Million Florida Lottery Jackpot Still Unclaimed.  If the owner of a Florida Lotto ticket worth $10 million doesn't claim the winnings by midnight on June 30, the ticket won't be worth a nickel.
	11:20 am - Tonight's Tenn. Lotto 5 Jackpot: $1 Million.  Excitement is building in Tennessee about the state's first million-dollar jackpot drawing.
	10:40 am - Texas legislature defeats Internet lottery bill.  An Internet search for "online gambling" netted 9 million hits Wednesday, but Texas House members nixed hopes that one of those might lead to the Texas Lottery.
	10:20 am - 'Prize closet' for Illinois Lottery employees discovered.  The Illinois Lottery solicited donations of MP3 players, airline ticket vouchers, video game systems and other goodies from radio and television stations it advertised with, then used the items to create a "prize closet" for lottery employees, a state audit revealed on Wednesday.

Thursday, May 5, 2005

2:44 pm - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Wednesday Powerball drawing, but 2 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Missouri and 1 from West Virginia.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

	11:40 am - Louisiana man claims $250,000 Lotto jackpot.  A man from Houma has claimed the $250,000 Louisiana Lotto jackpot from the April 27th drawing, Louisiana Lottery Corp. officials said on Tuesday.
	10:40 am - Penn. couple collect $10.16 million Powerball lottery jackpot.  A couple from Cranberry, Butler County, Pennsylvania received a check for $10.16 million from the state yesterday after winning the Powerball jackpot ticket drawn March 16.
	10:00 am - NY Court Of Appeals Rules Video Lottery Terminals Are Legal.  New York's highest court has given the go-ahead for video lottery terminals.
	9:20 am - New machines bog down Colorado Lottery.  The Colorado Lottery's switchover of computers has resulted in enormous problems, angry customers and long lines at checkout counters.
	2:16 am - Mega Millions: There was no jackpot winner in the Tuesday Mega Millions drawing, but 2 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $175,000 prize: 1 from Ohio and 1 from Texas.  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.

Monday, May 2, 2005

	11:00 am - UK Lottery jackpot winners jailed.  Two UK lottery jackpot millionaires were jailed for different crimes when they appeared at the same court Thursday.
	10:00 am - Michigan Lottery to pioneer ads on lottery tickets.  Michigan government officials are preparing to award a first-of-its-kind contract to sell advertising on lottery tickets, after denying a protest by an agency that includes a former state senator.
	9:20 am - $4 million lottery scratch ticket stolen from store.  A 17-year old Wareham, Massachusetts teenager has been arrested in connection with the theft of a Massachusetts Lottery Hold'Em Poker scratch card that would have been worth $4 million.
	8:40 am - Ohio Lottery Director Aims to Dispel Myths.  Ohio Lottery Director Rom Hayes drove two hours to a community meeting in order to dispel myths that the lottery was intended as a cure-all for the state's education system.
	8:00 am - Key figure in MN Lottery probe dead; suicide suspected.  A key figure in an ongoing criminal investigation over past contract practices of the Minnesota State Lottery has been found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, and gambling enforcement agents will attempt to determine whether his death is connected to the probe.

Sunday, May 1, 2005

12:52 am - Powerball: There was no jackpot winner in the Saturday Powerball drawing, but 8 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $100,000 prize: 1 from Connecticut, 2 from Iowa, 1 from Idaho, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Pennsylvania, 1 from South Carolina (1 with Power Play) and 1 from Tennessee (1 with Power Play).  For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Ways to Win page.