WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | State budget depending on big win with Powerball

State budget depending on big win with Powerball

(Columbia) Oct. 1, 2002 - The signs are up and in five days Powerball will power up in South Carolina.

At Al's Carwash in West Columbia, those who like the lottery, such as Louis, say they've been waiting for this, "The money, to win that big money, don't have to work no more." Lottie says it would help out South Carolina as well, "I think it could be good because the state needs the money."

There are still many things stores and people in South Carolina don't know about Powerball. Prizes start at $3, but of course, most folks are thinking about the jackpot. The odds of winning that are 1 in 120 million.

Rick Lamar says the odds don't make him happy to see Powerball, "They don't have any chance, very few chances to win." He thinks too many people will gamble too often and lose money on a long shot.

Powerball recently made the odds of winning the jackpot tougher, from one in 80 million to one in 120 million. Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue says it may be harder to win, but this way people will see more of the big $100 million jackpots they want, "I think this is just the trend in the industry."

USC freshman Ashley Glenn doesn't think about the lottery very much, but the Spartanburg native thinks a lot about the LIFE Scholarship it provides, "It's very important, I probably wouldn't be here without it."

Millions in lottery dollars from colleges to kindergarten are already promised away.

Lawmakers spent $172 million lottery dollars in the budget. The state's regular lottery games will bring in $140 million at the current rate. Add the $22 million Powerball is expected to bring and you can see there's a gap.

The gap grows when you add in the fact that increased tuition is pushing scholarship costs up.

Powerball must bring in some $41 million to keep South Carolina on target.

Passailaigue says Powerball could be huge, "I'll just say this, don't sell the staff of the lottery short."

One reason is because in the southeast, South Carolina is almost by itself and can draw buyers from many states. The problem is no one really knows what Powerball will do or, for that matter, if current lottery sales will stay flat.

Your odds of winning any cash prize in powerball is one in 36.

By Lisa Goddard
Updated 6:34pm by BrettWitt