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Lottery referendum may define legacy of Memphis senator. Now that a Tennessee state lottery is on the ballot in November, it's generally expected to pass — but that won't happen until a devoted core of lottery opponents launches an aggressive bid to try to convince voters that it's bad public policy, even corrupt, according to a copy of the opponents' strategic plans leaked to the media this month.Daydream About This: Lottery Prizes Are Taxed. Lottery players often fantasize about what they would do if they hit the jackpot, and the $331 million prize in last week's Big Game drawing fueled those fantasies. But few daydreamers stop to think about the tax ramifications of sudden wealth.S.C. lottery sales pull in $213 million in 14 weeks. The original estimate for lottery sales was $192 million - in 25 weeks.Winner Catches Bargain Flight to Collect $150,000 Big Game Prize. The fourth of Maryland's seven second-tier Big Game winners caught a bargain Southwest Airlines flight from New York to pick up his prize money Friday."Just The Right Amount" for $150,000 Winner. The third of Tuesday night's seven Big Game $150,000 winners in Maryland broke the news of his victory to his wife this way: "Hon, you almost didn’t have to go to work today.""Best Buy" Employee Wins $150,000 In Big Game. When Kelly Moler spent $10 on Big Game tickets prior to Tuesday night's dramatic drawing, the last thing in the world she expected was to win $150,000.Northern Virginians claim $150,000 Big Game prizes. Three winning tickets each worth $150,000 all were sold in Northern Virginia. Two separate groups of co-workers purchased two of the tickets and will share their prizes.In the Big Game, Virginia is for losers. So far, The Big Game hasn't treated Virginia players very kindly. Last week, Virginia got shut out. Again. The best plan to win The Big Game might be to hop in your car, drive to Illinois and buy a ticket.Lottery Player Claims £1.9M Just Before Deadline. National Lottery organiser Camelot was today due to validate the ticket of a potential jackpot winner who came forward to claim a prize of almost £2 million just two days before the deadline expired.
Saturday, April 20, 2002
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There was no jackpot winner in the Friday drawing, but 4 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $150,000 prize: 1 in Georgia, 1 in Illinois, 1 in Maryland, and 1 in Virginia. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Winning Combinations page.
Friday, April 19, 2002
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NJ Big Game winner validates ticket. The owner of the second of three winning Big Game tickets returned Wednesday night to the modest highway convenience store in Hillside where the ticket was bought on Saturday and began the process of claiming the jackpot, the largest single payoff in the 32-year history of the New Jersey Lottery Commission. The winner, thought to be a man, had the ticket validated at the store, the 1-2-3 Food Mart, in the same computer that produced the ticket, lottery officials said. The winner then left with a lottery claim form, apparently without saying anything to anyone. The store owners said they had no idea who bought the winning ticket.
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Don't forget to check back with us tonight at 11:00 PM Eastern Time for the live $5 million Big Game drawing results!NJ Lottery reveals where winning ticket was sold. According to Carole Hedinger, Acting Executive Director of the New Jersey Lottery, the retailer location is the Gulf Gas/123 Food Market at 440 Route 22 East in Hillside, NJ. The ticket was purchased on April 13, and was a Quick Pick selection. The winner selected the cash value of the jackpot, which is $58,938,742, less the 27% federal withholding tax. There is no New Jersey state tax on Big Game winnings. Had the winner opted for annuity, the winner would have received $110,333,333, payable in 26 annual installments.'I'd be happy with a million'. By the end of an hourlong session, the air in the conference room where Big Game winner Erika Greene met with Georgia Lottery Corp. officials Wednesday morning had taken on the bluish hue of a pool hall. Greene smoked cigarettes, another woman smoked cigarettes, and the boyfriend Greene met a year ago at a motorcycle rally smoked cigarettes. No one else was smoking, but nobody seemed to care.What to do with $58.9 million. Here's some financial advice -- as if she needed it -- for Big Game winner Erika Greene.Lottery envy. Quick: What did you think when Erika Greene, age 20, won $58.9 million in the Big Game lottery? The reaction will say a lot about who you are.Lottery official sends a strong warning to those who aim to defraud elderly. The top official for the Texas Lottery was in town Wednesday with stern words for those who use the lottery fraudulently to dupe elderly Texans.Arizona Senate backs public vote on gambling. The Senate voted 18-11 Wednesday to ask voters to decide whether to continue the 21-year-old Arizona Lottery past its scheduled termination on Jan. 1, 2004.Florida Man Waits Two Months to Claim Estimated $23 Million Lotto Jackpot. After nearly two months of gathering financial advice, a Hallandale man claimed the estimated $23 million jackpot today from the February 27, 2002 Florida Lotto drawing.
Thursday, April 18, 2002
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Rundown of stories about the Big Game drawing and winners:
Big Game Drawing Yields Three Winners. WRAL
Ga. Woman Claims Piece of Big Game. Associated Press
First-time player is Big Game winner. CNN
Jackpot seekers rich in theories. Boston Globe
Big Game players feed jackpot dreams. SunSpot News
3 tickets share $331 million jackpot. USA Today
20-year-old first timer nets £76m lottery win. Ananova
Lottery winner planning an early, early retirement. KATU
Lawrenceville Woman Wins Share of $331 Million Big Game Jackpot. Georgia Lottery Corporation
Two lottery winners in the same street. A Lothian street has been dubbed the luckiest in Scotland after two residents won a fortune on the National Lottery.N.C. legislators face tough choices in lottery debate. North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black says legislators will have to create a lottery game this year or face a choice between further tax hikes and deep cuts in education.Woman wins $52,000 in S.C. lottery. Erica Sherald of Georgetown, South Carolina became the first winner in the S.C. Education Lottery's new instant ticket game, Weekly Bonus.Charges in lottery theft case dismissed; probe to continue. Charges against three people accused of taking more than $140,000 in Ohio Lottery tickets from a Sidney gas station have been dismissed in Shelby County Common Pleas Court.Lottery's big winner beats odds -- twice. If you were playing the odds, former lottery winners are the last people you'd ply for advice about managing your Big Game windfall. But in the two years since he and another winner from Illinois split a $363 million jackpot -- still the record at press time -- Larry Ross has avoided the mistakes that lead so many lottery winners to bankruptcy, substance abuse and even suicide.
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
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Three Jackpot Winners! There were 3 jackpot winners in the Tuesday drawing: 1 in New Jersey, 1 in Georgia, and 1 in Illinois. The winners will equally share the $325 million jackpot prize. More details to follow after the winners come forward to claim their prizes.
Also, 77 lucky players won the second-tier prize of $150,000 by matching the first 5 numbers, for a total of $11.5 million. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Winning Combinations page.
The second-tier ($150,000) prizes by state: 26 in New Jersey, 13 in Georgia, 12 in Illinois, 3 in Massachusetts, 7 in Maryland, 12 in Michigan, and 4 in Virginia.
Tuesday, April 16, 2002
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BigGameLottery.com is fourth-most requested site on Lycos. BigGameLottery.com became the fourth-most requested site on the Lycos search engine this week, jumping from #45 last week. You can see the Lycos Top 50 Sites here, and you can see our #1 ranked position for all Big Game searches.
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Don't forget, the $325 million Big Game drawing is tonight at 11:00 PM Eastern Time, and this is the only web site that will bring you the results live as they're drawn!Lotto players snap up tickets in anticipation of $325 million Big Game drawing. The long odds didn't deter Glenn Gosselin in his quest for a $325 million lottery jackpot that is the second largest in U.S. history. "If you don't have a ticket, your odds drop to zero," reasoned Gosselin, who bought a ticket at Neighborhood Food Store in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the Big Game line wound from the cash register to the door.Hopes and dreams. The promise of a huge lottery payoff made thousands of people reach into their pockets in the past few days for a chance to get rich really rich.Big Game draws 'em in all over. They were flying in from as far as Japan for a shot at the $325 million up for grabs tonight in the Big Game lottery. "All it takes is a yen and a dream."Lottery Winners Pick Up Prize Money. A group of 45 co-workers will have something in common for the rest of their lives. They all struck it rich, winning Ohio's Super Lotto Plus jackpot of $75 million on Saturday.Pennsylvania Group Crosses the Maryland Line for $150,000 Big Game Prize. Twelve workers from Food Lion Distribution Center and General Electric in Greencastle, Pennsylvania made their way from their home state to the Lottery Claims Center in Maryland to cash in their winning $150,000 Big Game ticket from the April 5th drawing.$150,000 Big Game ticket holder almost threw away ticket. Charlotte "Char" Boggs of Corunna, Michigan is glad she didn't throw away a winning Big Game ticket worth $150,000 that had been lying on her kitchen counter since February.
Monday, April 15, 2002
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Fifty Hoover workers share Ohio $75 million jackpot. About 50 Hoover Co. employees have the state record $75 million winning lottery ticket, a spokeswoman for the vacuum manufacturer said on Sunday. More:
50 co-workers share record lottery jackpot
Lotto fever subsides after 13 drawings
One winning ticket in record Ohio Lottery jackpot
S.C. Lottery To Award $100,000 Prize. One person will receive $100,000 from the South Carolina Education Lottery on Monday, awarded in the Carolina Riches scratch-off game.Senator, pastor debate lottery. The debate on the Tennessee lottery referendum started a few minutes late, but it proved to be immediately lively. Sunday afternoon's Public Issues forum pitted pro-lottery state Sen. Steve Cohen against anti-lottery Rev. Bill Bouknight, Christ United Methodist Church's senior minister.Lottery players dream big for next drawing. Three members of the Ray family walked out of a 7-Eleven in New Carrollton yesterday with two tickets and high hopes for tomorrow's Big Game drawing. Sandra Ray, her son Darnell Ray and his daughter Kieara dreamed of the opportunities $300 million would provide.Group Splits $150,000 Big Game Win. Twenty-three people from the Random House Distribution Center in Westminster, MD formed a pool to join forces in quest of the Big Game jackpot, and won $150,000 in their second try.
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$325 Million! The Big Game jackpot continues to climb as the result of the torrid pace of ticket sales.
Saturday, April 13, 2002
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Big Game Jackpot Breaks Through to $300 Million It was just two years ago that the Big Game set the record for the largest jackpot ever in North America, at $363 million. Now the Big Game is on track to possibly break its own record. With no jackpot winner in last night's $220 million drawing, the jackpot grows to an amazing $300 million.
Although there was no jackpot winner in the Friday drawing, 44 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $150,000 prize: 9 in New Jersey, 6 in Georgia, 11 in Illinois, 5 in Massachusetts, 3 in Maryland, 8 in Michigan, and 2 in Virginia. For the complete rundown of winners by prize category, see the Winning Combinations page.
Friday, April 12, 2002
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Lottery Technicians: The dream repair team. As thousands cling to dreams of millions, Hamilton Henderson hopes right along with them. But his hopes don't center around winning today's Big Game drawing and the right that goes along with it to march in Monday morning and tell the boss to take a X%##**!! leap. Instead, while you're deciding whether your numbers selection should include the atomic mass of carbon plus your pants size, Henderson will be hoping to get through the day without too much chaos.
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In NJ, Big Game tickets go at 3,000 a minute. New Jersey Lottery officials said Friday's Big Game jackpot has soared to $220 million with increased lottery interest and ticket sales. In New Jersey alone, retailers were selling 3,000 Big Game tickets a minute yesterday, according to New Jersey Lottery's Linda Melone, deputy director of marketing and sales.Fame easier than Big Game fortune. The $220 million jackpot in tonight's Big Game Lottery drawing has fueled players' dreams of striking it rich, but they actually have a much better chance of making it big. With odds of winning 1 in 76 million, a player would have a much better shot at recording a platinum-selling album (1 in 480) or starring in a movie (1 in 385,000). But favorable odds aren't why people stand in line to buy tickets or meticulously pencil in their lucky numbers — it's the giddy prospect of gaudy consumerism, of walking in to work and quitting on the spot.
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Don't forget, the $220 million Big Game drawing is tonight at 11:00 PM Eastern Time, and this is the only web site that will bring you the results live as they're drawn!
Thursday, April 11, 2002
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$220 Million! The hottest ticket in town is the Big Game. In fact, so many people have been playing since Tuesday night's drawing that today Big Game forecasters updated the estimated jackpot to $220 million. The advertised jackpot amount is an estimate of how much money will be in the jackpot prize pool by Friday night's drawing. The jackpot amount is constantly changing, because it is based on the number of tickets sold. So by raising the estimated jackpot, forecasters are saying that Big Game sales are extremely strong.
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Recent stories about the new "Mega Millions" game:
New York joins "Mega-Jackpot" lottery Democrat and Chronicle
Mega lottery rolls in May Patriot Ledger
New York joins up for 'mega jackpot lottery' game Buffalo Business Journal
New 'Mega' Lottery Game Coming in May WJLA
The Big Game Gets Bigger With Addition of Two States Michigan Lottery
S.C. Senate, House members ponder lottery funds. Local colleges are waiting to see how they will be affected by the state education lottery as South Carolina lawmakers hash out a final spending plan.UK National Lottery splashes out £82m on rebrand. The National Lottery is to spend an unprecedented £82m on marketing this year - almost enough to renovate the Royal Festival Hall twice over - and part of the spending spree is a new logo that is barely distinguishable from the old one.Minnesota State Lottery: New game's appeal rides on better odds and smaller pot. The first drawing for the $1 million Hot Lotto jackpot took place last night as the Minnesota State Lottery launches a new game that's essentially a low-end version of Powerball.Big Game lottery winners come forward. The case of the missing lottery winner has been solved. For two months, rumors have flown through the village of Henry County, IL about the identity of $23 million ticket's owner. And when no one quickly claimed the ticket that was purchased Feb. 5 from the local drug store, employees and patrons of the Green Park Pharmacy, as well as the public, started guessing. They can stop guessing now.Little Opposition To More N.Y. Casinos. If gambling isn't good medicine for economically troubled towns and states, then nobody bothered to tell the industry executives who gathered in Albany Tuesday to extol the virtues of more Indian casinos in New York state.Maryland couple claims $150,000 Big Game prize. George Hildebrandt and his wife Emma watched the Tuesday drawing in disbelief, as their first five numbers perfectly matched the drawn white balls, and they had captured $150,000.
