By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — State lottery officials are hoping the launch of Powerball ticket sales on Halloween night will be more treat than trick.
Retailers can start selling Powerball tickets at 10:15 p.m. Saturday. A kickoff party in Little Rock’s River Market District will include a countdown and a ball drop similar to the annual New Year’s Eve ball drop in New York’s Times Square.
Meanwhile, officials confirmed today that a second person has won a $100,000 prize from a scratch-off ticket.
Alex Kimbrell of Humphrey collected his prize today on a $5 Cash Bonanza ticket he bought in Stuttgart, lottery treasurer Jim Parrish said. Kimbrell told lottery officials he plans to buy a house and help pay for his wife’s medical expenses with the winnings.
The first $100,000 prize was won earlier this month by Joe Pierce of Van Buren, who checked into jail within hours of collecting his winnings to begin serving a sentence for loitering and indecent exposure. The state’s lottery law prohibits incarcerated people from collecting lottery prizes, but lottery officials said Pierce could keep his winnings because was not incarcerated at the time he received the prize.
Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue said today he expected a smooth start to Powerball ticket sales.
“We passed our security test by the Multi-State Lottery Association, and all the acceptance testing we’ve done in terms of the game itself was fine,” he said. “We feel like we’re poised to have a very good launch.”
Arkansas is the 31st state to join Powerball. Tickets are $1, though for another $1 players can choose the Power Play option for a chance to multiply non-jackpot winnings by 2-5 times.
Passailaigue said he is not allowed to play the lottery, but “if I did play the Powerball game, I’d definitely buy the multiplier.” For an extra $1, Power Play can turn a $200,000 prize into $1 million, he said.
Players can pick their numbers or have numbers randomly chosen for them. Winning the jackpot requires matching numbers to five white balls in any order plus a red Powerball, but other matches can win smaller prizes.
The jackpot starts at $20 million and grows as long as no one claims it. On Friday, the jackpot was $53 million.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 195 million. The odds of winning anything at all are 1 in 35.
Drawings are held at 9:59 p.m. CST every Wednesday and Saturday in Orlando, Fla. The first drawing in which Arkansas players will be eligible to win will be Wednesday.
Passailaigue said Little Rock-based KARK-TV has agreed to broadcast the drawings in Arkansas, and he hopes to line up other stations later.
Other news media likely will report the winning numbers, which can also be found on Powerball’s Web site, Passailaigue said.
Lottery officials have estimated the lottery will generate $400 million in gross proceeds in its first year, about $58 million of that in Powerball sales. The lottery is expected to net about $100 million for college scholarships.
Four states neighboring Arkansas already sell Powerball tickets, and Texas sells tickets for the multi-state game Mega Millions. Passailaigue said he expects Powerball’s arrival in Arkansas to help retain dollars now being spent by Arkansans in other states.
“I don’t know of any reason people would go across the state line to play the same game,” he said.
Oklahoma lottery officials have estimated their sales will drop $12 million a year because of Arkansas’ lottery.
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On the Net:
www.powerball.com
www.myarkansaslottery.com
