Countywide : Huge Lotto Jackpot Draws Throngs

Jack Kleimeyer didn’t seem deterred by the 1-in-14-million odds against his winning today’s expected $60-million Lotto jackpot.

He bought one ticket.

“I could win as easy with one as 100 (tickets),” the 56-year-old Irvine man said. “I’m confident.”

It seems that a number of players were confident their picks would win the jackpot, which officials say could be a record if ticket sales continue at Tuesday’s pace.

Ed Meyers, 23, a clerk at Rolf’s Wines & Spirits in Irvine, said that by 2 p.m. Tuesday, the store had sold 5,720 tickets, more than double the number sold the same day last week.

“A lot of these people will tell you they’re playing to support the schools,” Meyers said. “I don’t believe it. It’s far from an altruistic society.”

At Rolf’s, a counter is set aside to sell lottery tickets, and they sold fast Tuesday as customers bought five, 10 or 20 tickets at a time.

“I’ve been playing since the lottery started,” said Robert Lambert, a maintenance technician at Pacific Bell. “I’m due, I’m due!”

Ticket sales for Sunday and Monday broke records, despite the holiday and storms that caused poor road conditions in parts of the state, said Joanne McNabb, a spokesman for the California Lottery. “There were a lot of sales early Sunday,” she said. “We figured they were golfers.”

Ticket sales Tuesday seemed destined for the record books as well. About 1 million tickets were sold from 5 to 8 a.m. Tuesday, McNabb said. By 2 p.m., 8 1/2 million tickets had been sold, well above the average Tuesday sales of 3 million.

Lotto tickets are $1 each. The deadline for buying tickets is 7:45 tonight at businesses throughout the state.

“When it gets big like this, it becomes a kind of social event,” McNabb said. “Everyone’s talking about it when you go out to dinner. . . . It’s sort of like the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards.” The previous biggest jackpot was $61.98 million, drawn Oct. 29, 1988.

Rosemary Webster, a systems analyst from El Toro, bought 10 tickets at Albertson’s on Campus Drive in Irvine, even though she didn’t think she’d win.

“If you don’t buy . . . then for sure you won’t win,” she said. “Somebody’s gotta win.”