A Lotto Hoopla : Legal Version of the ‘Numbers Game’ Will Kick Off Tuesday

You’ve probably spotted one of the billboards by now. They show a bunch of white, numbered balls bouncing around on a purple background, with a slogan--something like “Coming soon. A new angle on fun.”

You may have seen some of the television ads, too. They feature athletes such as O.J. Simpson, Magic Johnson and Pedro Guerrero, gamboling happily while an upbeat voice urges you to “Say hello to Lotto.”

On Tuesday, on Broxton Avenue in Westwood Village, the UCLA band will play, Lottery Director Mark Michalko will throw a switch and some notable will place a bet as the California Lottery kicks off its Lotto games--legalized versions of the old street “numbers game” that--in the long run--promise to be even more successful than the lottery’s record-breaking “instant” games.

Similar, simultaneous ceremonies will be held in a dozen other cities throughout the state, including at Mission Valley Center in San Diego, Union Square in San Francisco and on the Capitol steps in Sacramento.

Californians have spent more than $2 billion on the instant games scratch-off tickets since they went on sale Oct. 3, 1985. In terms of sales, that makes the California Lottery the biggest in the United States and--after the Spanish and French national lotteries--the third largest in the world.

But despite payoffs as high as $14 million, public enthusiasm for California’s instant games has been waning, and sales here--as in other states with lotteries--have slackened considerably as the novelty has worn off.

Michalko--again drawing on the experience of other states--predicts that Lotto, which could offer jackpots as high as $100 million, will reverse the decline. He sees eventual combined annual game sales here of $3 billion or more, comfortably topping Spain’s current record of about $2.3 billion.

Aside from the jackpots, which already have topped $41 million in New York, Lotto’s biggest appeal is that it offers players an “active” role, permitting them to choose the numbers--often anniversary dates or other favorites--that could turn out to be winners. In the “passive” instant games, players are stuck with whatever number and symbol combinations are pre-printed on the tickets.

While instant tickets can be purchased at any of 20,000 retail outlets throughout California, Lotto will be limited to the 5,000 outlets displaying a “Lotto 6/49” sign. Each of these 5,000 (there will be more, later) has been equipped with a “Green Machine”--a countertop computer terminal manufactured by the GTECH Corp. of Providence, R.I.

To place Lotto bets, most players will use “play slips”--computer-sensitive cards printed with five “game boards,” each of which contains a block of numbered boxes. The player will mark six numbers from the 49 in a game box, paying the clerk $1 for each game board that is filled out.

The clerk can either enter the numbers by inserting the slip into the Green Machine or by punching the numbers in manually. In either case, the numbers selected and assorted data indicating the date and place of purchase will be recorded at the lottery’s computer centers in Whittier and Sacramento, each of which can process more than 400,000 transactions per minute.

Must Have a Ticket

The Green Machine will then spit out a “ticket,” which is actually a receipt printed with the numbers selected, a security code and the date of the drawing to determine the winner of that week’s game. Purchasers are advised to sign their tickets immediately and keep them, since a winner will have to present a ticket to claim his prize.

Every Saturday evening at 7:58 and 28 seconds--five minutes after the Green Machines have stopped accepting bets for the week--a lottery official at a television studio will activate a $57,000 juggling device containing 49 consecutively numbered balls.

After an appropriately awesome meshing of gears and whirling of paddles, the device will deposit seven of the balls in a clear plastic slot. The first six will represent the winning jackpot combination. The seventh will be a “bonus” number.

The first drawing will be in Beverly Hills next Saturday in a televised show starring comic Flip Wilson. Subsequent drawings will be in Sacramento, without the hoopla attached to the first selection.

Various Prize Levels

The jackpot will go to the person or persons who correctly pick all of the first six numbers, with lesser prizes going to those who pick any five plus the bonus number, any five, any four or any three.

As in the instant games, half the money collected from Lotto sales will go into the prize pool, with the rest going to the state’s school systems and to cover the costs of administering the lottery system.

The prize pool will be divided according to a fixed ratio, with 40% reserved for those who pick six out of six; 21.3% for those who pick five of six, plus the bonus number; 11% for five out of six, 10% for four out of six and 17.65% for three out of six.

Except for the three-out-of-six winners, who will always get $5, the size of the individual payoffs will depend on how many have played the weekly game and how many winners there are to split the money in each prize category. In addition, the jackpot can grow if there is a “rollover.”

‘Rollover’ to Riches

A rollover occurs if no one wins one of the prize categories in a given week. When that happens, all the prize money in that category for that week is carried forward, or “rolled over” to the next week’s jackpot.

Experience in other states has shown that jackpots are frequently rolled over for several weeks, eventually resulting in jackpot payoffs of gargantuan proportions. Experts say that because Californians are expected to push sales back up to levels unmatched in North America--and possibly the world--jackpots here should reach new records.

To claim a prize, players will submit their winning tickets to Lotto 6/49 retailers.

Those receiving $5 to $99 will be paid by the retailers. To receive $100 or more, players must fill out a claim form supplied by the retailer and then present it to a lottery office, either in person or by mail. Winners of $700,000 or more will receive their prize money from the state controller’s office in annual payments over a 20-year period.

The odds of picking all six numbers are about 1 in 14 million; any five and the bonus number, 1 in about 2.3 million; any five, about 1 in 55,000, any four, about 1 in 1,000, and any three, about 1 in 56.

PLAYING LOTTO Players use “play slips”--IBM-type cards printed with five “gme boards,” each containing numbered boxes.

For $1 a game, the the player marks six numbers from the 49 in a board.

A clerk enters the numbers into a “green Machine,” which issues a “ticket”--a receipt with the selected numbers, a security code and the date.

Winners are chosen Saturdays at 8 p.m.