Lottery Spins Tale of Fantastic Riches for 2 . . .

The largest lottery jackpot in North American history will be split by two Northern California players whose luck of the draw won each of them a cool $25.6 million in the Lotto 6/49 game, state Lottery officials said Sunday.

Identities of the winners were not expected to be learned until today, when state offices open and the prizes can be claimed in person, said lottery spokesman John Schade. The winners will each be entitled to receive a little more than $1 million a year for 20 years after taxes, he said.

A total of 60.8 million $1 Lotto tickets were sold preceding the Saturday evening drawing for the numbers that could claim the record $51.2 million jackpot.

Same General Area

The two winning tickets containing all six numbers were purchased at a supermarket in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento, and in Fairfield, about 35 miles southwest of the capital.

Schade said both of the winners used a “Quick Pick” feature, in which the player lets the Lotto machine randomly choose the numbers. In addition, he said, a majority of the 22 players who won $295,038 each for picking five of the six numbers and the bonus number also used the feature.

Another 784 players picked five numbers without the bonus and will receive $4,265 each and 47,388 players who picked four numbers can collect $64 a ticket, Schade said.

The winning numbers were 48, 42, 9, 14, 19, and 31. The bonus number was 37.

Before Saturday, the lottery jackpot had not been won since May 18. Four drawings passed without a winner and the jackpot steadily built. Publicity about the prospect of a huge prize generated a record 33 million lottery ticket sales on Saturday alone, Schade said, sending the jackpot past the predicted $50-million mark.

Schade said sales peaked just before the 7:58 p.m. drawing, when computers were registering about 200,000 ticket sales a minute. About $4 million was wagered between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., he said.

The previous largest jackpot ever offered by a state-sponsored contest was the $46 million split between two players Oct. 14, 1987, in Pennsylvania’s Super 7 lottery.

Saturday’s California jackpot was more than double the $25.4 million awarded Oct. 26, 1987, which had been the largest in the Lotto 6/49. That jackpot was shared by a Long Beach longshoreman and a retiree in Carmichael.

The latest win puts Carmichael back in the lottery spotlight.

Dennis Hobbs, grocery manager at the Bel Air Supermarket, where one of the winning tickets was purchased, said the player-operated Lotto machine had been installed only about six weeks ago.

“We had people lined up all day” Saturday, Hobbs said.

The other winning ticket was purchased at Travis Liquor in Fairfield, near Travis Air Force Base. Joann Thomas, who owns the store with her husband, Thomas, said the Lotto machines were so popular that she worked 11 hours a day since Tuesday to meet the demand.

“I can’t believe it. It’s fantastic,” she said of the Lotto win in her store.

While Thomas said she and her husband bought about 100 Lotto tickets themselves in anticipation of the big drawing, they had no regrets. Schade explained that, as a retailer whose Lotto machine produced the winning ticket, the merchants are entitled to 0.5% of the winning ticket--about $125,000.

Boost in Interest

The record jackpot comes as a welcome boost in interest for state lottery officials.

Last week’s Lotto sales topped $86 million, compared to the weekly average of $23.8 million, Schade said. By law, more than a third of the proceeds must be earmarked for public schools, about half for prizes and about 16% for administration.

He said lottery officials believe Saturday’s record jackpot may have introduced a new wave of first-time players to the game who will continue to buy tickets and keep sales high.

Lotto information box in Part II, Page 2.