Lotto Jackpot Reaches Record $67 Million

Californians’ frenzied buying of up to 1,250 lotto tickets a second pushed the jackpot to a state record of $67 million, virtually assuring there was at least one winner in Wednesday night’s drawing, lottery officials said.

But authorities will not know for sure until about 6 a.m. today whether anybody beat odds of 1 in 14 million by picking these numbers: 44, 27, 34, 12, 21, 41, and the bonus number, 6.

It will be later in the day before they can say where the winning Lotto 6/49 tickets were purchased. And the announcement of who won depends on when winners come forward for verification.

With sales as much as 35 times normal for the dream windfall that will pay off at about $2.5 million annually after taxes for 20 years, officials said they believe more people watched the televised drawing than tuned in to the Super Bowl last month.

The prize pools were $9.03 million for players picking five of six numbers plus the bonus number; $4.6 million for picking five of six and $4.2 million for picking four of six. Players picking three of six will win $5, officials said.

Odds grew to 98 in 100 Wednesday that at least one gambler among the horde snatching up tickets would win the big prize.

“It’s extremely likely that there will be a winner because most of the (14 million) possible combinations of numbers have been picked,” state lottery spokeswoman Joanne McNabb said.

“There are only two chances in 100 that there will not be a winner.”

The odds were substantial, but not calculated precisely, that there would be more than one winning person, McNabb added. Sometimes the winning tickets are held by groups, so the riches from this jackpot may be spread to dozens of people.

Lottery Director Chon Gutierrez said the top prize exceeds California’s record jackpot of $61.98 million on Oct. 29, 1988.

There were three winning tickets for the October, 1988, record jackpot--two of which were held by groups. The jackpot ranks fourth in the nation, trailing a record $115-million lottery prize in Pennsylvania last year.

Asked how sales were running at the Ramona Village convenience market in Chino, assistant manager Adria Singleton said: “Like crazy.”

“We’re running around chasing our tails here,” Singleton said, laughing. “In a matter of two hours I probably did over $800 to $1,000 in sales on lottery tickets alone.”

The store might normally take in $400 to $500 in total sales during the same period, she said.

“People are buying them up hundreds at a time,” she added. “We even have our own little pool going here at the store just in case.”

McNabb, the lottery spokeswoman, said the pace of sales had hit a state record of $4.5 million per hour at one point, compared to a normal hourly sales pace of about $125,000. That figures to about 1,250 tickets per second, roughly 35 times normal.