Byline: BRUCE A. SCRUTON Staff writer
Those seeking a chance at winning $90 million, the second-largest lottery prize in state history, have until 11 o'clock tonight to get in on the Millennium Millions drawing.
State lottery officials said Friday they believed the jackpot would probably remain at $90 million and not bump up to the $100 million level of the first Millennium Millions drawing last New Year's Eve.
``Sales are pouring in,'' said lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman. ``We're doing about a half-million (sales) per hour and figure that to rise'' in the hours leading up to the drawing, set for 11:27 p.m. tonight
Lottery officials were trying to clear up confusion Friday about this drawing date. Because last year's Millennium Millions drawing was on New Year's Eve, some people, even retailers, believed the drawing again will be in December, according to Lottery Director Margaret R. DeFrancisco.
``But the simple truth is we purposely changed the date of the drawing based on requests and other input we received from players and retailers, who told us they thought there were too many other distractions at that time of the year -- with or without the dawn of a new millennium,'' she said.
Last December's jackpot of $100 million, won by a single ticket, was the largest in the state's history. Today's $90 million jackpot ties for second with a 1991 ``Super Lotto.''
Unlike the regular Lotto, players select five numbers from a field of 50, and one ``Millennium'' number from a field of 25. The jackpot will be won by a ticket that has all six numbers.
But there are also seven other prize levels. In the first Millennium drawing, lottery officials said there were nearly 720,000 prize winners.
If there is no winning ticket tonight, tickets will go on sale again and another drawing will be made on Nov. 4.
Officials said there is a 1-in-47 chance of winning a prize, and a 1-in-53 million chance of winning the jackpot.
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