Jackpot-Building Changes in State SuperLotto Adopted

Seeking to attract more gamblers, the state Lottery Commission has approved changes to SuperLotto that will make it significantly tougher to win the game’s top prize.

In adopting the changes Friday, the three-member commission paved the way for SuperLotto to more closely resemble Powerball, the popular multistate game known for its enormous jackpots and additional prizes at lower levels.

“It’s a major step forward for the lottery,” said David Rosenberg, chairman of the commission.

The SuperLotto Plus game will be available beginning in June. Under the new rules, players will choose five numbers from 1 to 47 and one “MEGA” number from a field of 1 to 27.

Adding the second field of numbers will build bigger jackpots--the kind that have historically boosted SuperLotto sales--by making it more difficult to win the big prize.

The odds of winning the jackpot will skyrocket from the current 1 in 18 million to 1 in 41 million.

Players can also expect the number of prize levels to increase from four to nine, the starting jackpot to rise from $4 million to $7 million, and the number of all types of winners to triple.

Lottery officials hope the revisions will reverse SuperLotto’s slumping sales, which have dropped 12.6% over the past four years. Sales of SuperLotto are expected to hit $975 million this year, compared to $1.1 billion in 1995-96.

Lowell King, owner of King’s Select Market in Live Oak, Calif., said the SuperLotto face lift is overdue.

“People feel we need more prize money,” King said during Friday’s meeting. “They’re kind of bored with [the game].”

Before Friday’s meeting, lottery officials received 13 letters, more than half of which opposed the changes. Of 33 phone calls to the agency on the matter, 12 were negative.

A Palm Desert resident wrote: “If the new proposal is passed, the odds of winning will be astronomical . . . and will cause many longtime buyers to opt out, including me.”