2000 4th Quarter Press Releases: Artic

10.20.2000
LOTTO FEVER FACTS - JACKPOT FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2000 NOW $85 MILLION

• The jackpot for Saturday, October 21, 2000 is $85 million and is the largest lottery jackpot in the United States this week (even larger than the multi-state lotteries like Powerball and The Big Game).
• With at least 34% of all Lottery sales going to education, the sales from this jackpot (and its 8 rolls) will generate over $48 million for public education.
• The retailer who sells the winning ticket wins too. The retailer receives a jackpot bonus equal to 1/2 of 1% of the prize amount. A single winning ticket would yield $425,000 for the retailer.
• This jackpot is the 5th largest jackpot in California Lottery history and has been rolling since September 23.
• For an $85 million jackpot, annual payments would begin at $2.1 million and will graduate to $4.3 million by the 26th year (before taxes).
  • If the winner chose the cash option, the winner would receive a lump sum of roughly half the jackpot amount or about $42 million (which is the amount the Lottery invests in U.S. Treasury Bonds to pay the prize over time).
• The fiscal year that ended June 30, 2000 was the best year of the decade for the Lottery:
  • Sales were $2.59 billion
  • Education contribution was $948 million
  • Scratchers sales at $1.19 billion were highest since the first year of the Lottery, when there were no other games
  • Most ever paid to Lottery retailers: $179 million in total retailer compensation
  • Share of sales devoted to game and operating costs were lowest in 10 years: 13.2% of sales
• Since SuperLotto Plus began on June 4, 2000:
  • there have been over 18 million winners (with the old SuperLotto game, there would have been only 7 million winners)
  • there have been over 18,000 winners of $100 or more
  • there have been 229 winners of second prize, averaging $24,000 (16 times bigger than the average 5 of 6 SuperLotto prize)
  • the highest second prize to date was $63,436.
• Jackpot and Winner History
  • The largest California jackpot ever was $118.8 million on April 17, 1991, split by ten winning tickets and shared by a total of 54 winners. This jackpot holds the record for the largest single-state Lottery jackpot.
  • The second largest California jackpot was $104 million on April 8, 1998, split by 3 winning tickets and shared by a total of 24 winners.
  • The biggest individual prizewinner in California Lottery history was Juanita Colla of San Francisco, who won $88 million on August 16, 2000.
• SuperLotto Plus tickets are sold at more than 18,000 retail locations statewide.
• Odds of winning the SuperLotto Plus jackpot are 1 in 41 million. Overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 23.
• Since the Lottery began in 1985 there have been 1,591 winners who have won a prize of a million dollars or more.

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