Lottery to Dangle $2-Million Prizes in Opening Game

The California State Lottery Commission adopted a prize structure Wednesday that will award as much as $33.3 million in jackpots to winning lottery players over the first four months of the game, including individual payoffs as large as $2 million and $3 million.

As many as 16 new millionaires could be created in California in the first game of the lottery, which is set to get under way by the end of September or the first of October.

Before potential lottery players start deciding how to spend their winnings, they should consider the odds. Chon Gutierrez, deputy director of the lottery, told reporters at Wednesday’s meeting that the odds of becoming one of the $2-million winners in the first game would be 1 in 25 million.

To become a millionaire through the lottery, a player must first win $100 in an instant “scratch-off” game. Only $100 winners will be eligible for the larger awards. The “scratch-off” tickets will cost $1 each and 400,080,000 will be sold. Of those, 100,000 will be $100 winners.

160 to Be Drawn

The $100 winners will be directed to mail their tickets to the state lottery office, where they will be placed in a huge drum from which 160 tickets will be drawn. Those 160 people will get a chance to spin a giant wheel with 100 slots, each designating a prize from $10,000 to $2 million. Ten of the slots will be worth $2 million. Lottery officials said that, statistically, 16 people could be expected to win the $2-million awards.

The elaborate jackpot structure is designed to provide several chances for lottery players to win million-dollar prizes, rather than offering one big prize that “rolls over” each week if there is no winner.

The first game will end when all 400,080,000 tickets are sold, which is expected to take six to eight weeks. For the second game, 300 million tickets, also at $1 each, are expected to be sold over a similar period.

Jackpots Increase

Adhering to a policy adopted Wednesday to increase the size of the jackpot with each game, the second game will feature five slots offering spinners a chance at $3 million and another five slots offering $1-million payoffs. Statistically, there should be six $3-million winners and six $1-million winners during game No. 2.

All million-dollar prizes will be awarded as annuities over a 20-year period.

The jackpot awards, which may be made during brief nighttime television spots, will be in addition to the instant prizes awarded to players win when they scratch off their lottery tickets. That prize structure will offer awards ranging from $2 and $5 to $5,000 and $10,000.

Instant Game Payoffs

In addition to the $33.3 million in jackpot awards, a total of $181.5 million will be awarded to some 45 million instant game winners in game No. 1 and another $136.1 million to approximately 33.7 million winners in game No. 2.

The state’s lottery law requires that at least 34% of the lottery’s gross revenues go to education.

In other business Wednesday, the commission:

-Awarded an advertising contract worth between $15 million and $20 million to the Los Angeles office of Needham Harper Worldwide Inc., a New York-based firm.

-Awarded a ticket distribution contract worth between $5 million and $7 million to Purolator Inc., which will deliver tickets to all except seven remote counties. Distribution to those counties--Alpine, Del Norte, Inyo, Mono, Siskiyou, Lassen and Modoc--will be handled by lottery service representatives.

-Adopted a staff recommendation to ban the use of video lottery gaming machines for the California lottery.

-Approved a recommendation to use player-activated terminals for a least part of the computerized “on-line” games, set to begin sometime next year.

Lottery officials have set Monday as the deadline for applications from retailers who wish to sell instant tickets during game No. 1. Applications received after Monday will be processed for later games. The lottery expects to have about 26,000 applications on hand by the end of the week, from which 20,000 will be selected to begin selling tickets this fall, according to lottery director M. Mark Michalko.