Fla. Jackpot at $90 Million

Florida’s weekly Lotto jackpot was raised to $90 million today as sales continued at a pace that could send the game past the $100-million mark before Saturday night’s drawing.

Last Saturday there were no winning tickets in a $50-million lottery.

For the jackpot to reach $100 million, lottery officials calculate, the state will have to sell $98 million in tickets this week. The record is $56 million in sales in one week.

The national record for a lottery prize is $115 million, which was awarded in Pennsylvania to 14 ticket-holders, some of them individuals and some groups.

But the U.S. record for the largest single lottery prize goes to Sheelah Ryan of Winter Springs, Fla., who won a Lotto jackpot of $55.1 million in 1988.