Sunday was a historic day for the lottery, not just here in Arkansas, but across the country. For the first time ever states are allowed to have two multi-state jackpot games instead of just one. Arkansas already had Powerball but Sunday Mega Millions added to the mix.
Brett McCormack played Mega Millions when he lived in California but never here until Sunday. He said, "Somebody wins, right?"
Sunday, Arkansas and several other states that just had Powerball before started offering Mega Millions tickets. And some Mega Millions states went to Powerball too. They cost $1 each and you can add a Megaplier option for a dollar more to increase your winnings, very similar to Powerball's Powerplay option.
Lottery director Ernie Passailaigue says there's a demand for multiple games like this. "These lottery games appeal to people, they don't play any lottery games besides the jackpot games."
Passailaigue says the winter weather is getting things off to a slow start for Mega Milions but he expect things to pick up. For starters your chances of winning at Mega Millions are a little better than Powerball. Tickets went on sale at 12 a.m. and Passailaigue expects to have some solid sales numbers later on this week.
The lottery generated $170 million since it began in late September. But he says no matter how many Mega Millions tickets are sold it's good for the people of Arkansas. "That just means more money to the educational trust fund and more money to scholarships," Passailaigue said.
Tuesday and Friday are the Mega Millions draw dates. The jackpot for Tuesday is $12 million since someone won the jackpot in Texas just last week. Incidentally it's $107 million for Powerball.
