Lotto Craze Puts Prize at $40.7 Million

A torrent of ticket-buying that swelled the California Lotto jackpot to $40.7 million ended Saturday just before 8 p.m. when lottery officials announced the six winning numbers--11, 12, 16, 31, 34, 37 and a bonus number of 17.

Although it will not be known until today whether there was a winner--or winners--among the hordes of ticket buyers who flooded Lotto 6/49 retailers throughout the state, the prospect of riches was enough to propel a steady stream of gamblers to plunk down their money from San Diego north to the Oregon border in the days before the drawing.

On Saturday, the lines at some retailers were 40 deep. But most of the players seemed happy to wait, genuinely optimistic that they could buck the long-shot odds against them.

“I could really use the money,” said Rhoda Neal, 28, who rushed to buy six tickets before the Saturday night deadline of 7:45. “My $6 investment will give me as much of a chance as anyone else, right?”

Sales were so rushed in anticipation of the drawing that lottery officials extended playing time an hour Friday night, the first time that had been done since last October’s record $61.9-million jackpot.

This jackpot--the state’s third largest--reached such dizzying proportions because nobody picked the six winning numbers in three previous jackpots, and each was added to the Saturday total. When a jackpot worth $22.3 million went unclaimed after Wednesday’s drawing, this latest episode of lottery fever was virtually assured.

“We’re going crazy down here,” Christine Bazzi, manager of Ray’s Liquor Center in San Diego, said before the drawing. “There are at least 40 people in line, all the way out the door.” One group of buyers, she said, pooled their money to buy $1,500 in tickets.

At George’s Liquors in Chinatown, the daily average of 9,000 tickets already had been topped by noon.

“It’s doing real well, very busy,” proprietor George Lee said during the buying rush. But sadly, he added, the customers, for the most part, had only one purchase in mind.

“Just lotto tickets, nothing else,” Lee lamented.

Although other Lotto 6/49 outlets were less crowded at times, the hopefuls who visited them were no less single-minded.

“I walked up and bought four quick picks,” said one player at a South Pasadena liquor store. “I figured somebody has a chance to win. It might as well be me.”

“I’m on my knees . . . praying,” said another, who bought his “usual two” at a grocery store in Highland Park. “I want to buy some skis. And this is the only way I can afford them. They’re $410. If I win, then I’d buy the condo to go with it.”

For all the players, the moment of truth came when a mechanical juggling device in Sacramento spit out six of its 49 Ping-Pong balls, each one identified by a number.

All those who picked five numbers plus the bonus number will share a prize pool of $4.94 million; five of six will divide $2.54 million; four of six will share $2.31 million. Three of six pays $5. LOTTERY RESULTS JAN. 21 Saturday’s Winning Numbers: 11-12-16-31-34-37 Lotto Jackpot $40.7 million Bonus Number 17 Recorded Information 976-4275 (English) 976-5275 (Spanish)