Lotto Ticket Sales Prove Brisk as Jackpot of $30 Million Seen

Retailers reported brisk Lotto 6/49 ticket sales Monday as state officials predicted a jackpot of more than $30 million--the second-largest in California history--at the upcoming drawing on Wednesday night.

The top prize is big because there have been no jackpot winners during the last three drawings. Each time there is no jackpot winner, the top prize money is “rolled over,” or added to the next twice-weekly jackpot. And big jackpots tend to attract more players, adding further to the prize money, which is based primarily on the number of tickets sold.

Last June 4, after four roll-overs, California’s Lotto game paid a jackpot of $51.2 million, the biggest lottery prize in U.S. history.

“This time, we rolled over $20 million on Saturday night, and based on previous sales in similar situations, we should do at least $10 million more by Wednesday night,” said Bob Taylor, a spokesman for the lottery in Sacramento.

“We did about $900,000 on Sunday, while the average for a Sunday is only about $500,000,” Taylor said. “And the sales today are pretty brisk for a Monday.”

Area merchants contacted by The Times reported increased sales Monday, although some appeared to be doing better than others.

While Kazo Suzuki, owner of Color Corner Liquors in Lakewood, said that business was “fair, a little more than regular,” George Stavros, manager of the Hot ‘N’ Tot restaurant in Lomita, said sales were “up a lot, almost three times as much as usual.”

Lotto 6/49 is a computerized game in which players use countertop terminals operated by sales personnel--most of them in liquor stores and convenience shops--to select six numbers between 1 and 49. Winning combinations are picked in televised drawings on Wednesday and Saturday nights.