Tag Archives: lotteries
N Carolina to Add Mega Millions
North Carolina to Add Mega Millions
In the recent past most states offered lottery players either Powerball or Mega Millions. Many states are starting to offer players both mega jackpot lotteries in an attempt to boost lottery ticket sales and add more revenues to strapped state treasuries. Recently Tennessee agreed to offer its lottery players both lotteries and now North Carolina will offer players both Powerball and Mega Millions.
North Carolina’s lottery commission recently voted to add the multi state Mega Millions lottery to North Carolina’s lottery menu. The Mega Millions lottery is expected to be available for North Carolina lottery players by January 2010. The addition of Mega Millions will give players four chances to win every week during two weekly drawings. Mega Millions jackpots routinely top $100 million dollars. Despite astronomical odds both Powerball and mega Millions attract millions of players on a regular basis. Powerball odds stand at 1 in 195,249,054 and Mega Millions odds are 1 in 175,711,536.
States that offer lotteries usually offer only one of the multi state games. Both Virginia and Georgia are expected to offer both games in the future. Many see the addition of both lotteries in many states as a move towards a national lottery which could be offered as early as fall 2010. North Carolina Lottery Executive Director Tom Shaheen, who is also president of the association of Powerball states, expects a significant increase in ticket sales. An 18 to 25% increase in ticket sales is predicted which could mean $38 million to $52 million more lottery dollars.
Dipak Desai, manager of the Ballantyne BP on Ballantyne Commons Parkway which is one of the biggest Charlotte area Powerball ticket sellers stated, “In a bad economy like this, people are trying to look for every bit of luck they can find.” The addition of Mega Millions could actually create a few new jobs in North Carolina. Cathy Oreshack, a clerk at the BP station located at Spring Forest Road in Raleigh said, “Both of them are going to have huge jackpots two days a week, and that’s going to require more manpower in the store.”
If states want to get serious about increasing lottery generated revenue they may want to consider allowing the sale of online lottery tickets. Allowing players to buy online lottery tickets would boost sales and be a big convenience for players. Ideally players could buy online lottery tickets from a home computer or mobile device. Adding 21st century technology would easily benefit state lotteries and help states to close budget gaps.
All About Lottery Scams
All About Lottery Scams
What You Need To Know About Lottery Scams
With the success of lotteries around the world has come a swarm of lottery scams. Most lottery scams consist of the same basic components. First, they get your name and e-mail address, home address, or phone number. Second, they write you a scam e-mail or letter pretending to be a bank, a lawyer, or a company. After you contact the scammers, they try to get your personal information and then may steal your identity. After they do this, they could use your credit cards, take out loans in your name, commit crimes under your name, and even get jobs using your name. Don’t fall into this trap! Only play official lotteries run by governments and don’t give out your personal information
Some Examples of Lottery Scams
There have been huge lottery scams in the UK, Spain, and almost everywhere. For example, in 2004 a lottery scam was enacted in Tennessee and other US States. This scam affected several US residents and costs residents thousands of dollars. There were lottery scam victims in New Mexico lottery, Tennessee lottery and Mississippi lottery. Basically the scam sent out fake letters to potential victims calling their organization the ‘Universal Lotto Promotions. They told the individuals that they had won $50,000 but they have to pay what they call a clearance fee to get their prize and that the fee would be deducted from the prize. After individuals paid the fee they received a counterfeit check and realized they had been scammed.
How To Identify a Lottery Scam
If you receive a letter saying you’ve won the lottery and you want to know if it’s a scam, here are some things to consider. You know the letter is a scam if you did not buy a lottery ticket, you do not live in the lottery country, you did not register your name or information before you were allowed to buy a ticket on an online lottery web site, or you never heard of the lottery name. There are also statements that can help to identify a letter as a scam such as, ‘All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 30,000 names from Australia, New Zealand, America…’, ‘Due to the mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice…’, ‘This lottery was promoted and sponsored by …Ted Turner, Jesse Jackson, Bill Gates, etc.’
-An important note. No legitimate lottery web site exists without legitimate rules posted which can be verified on official state websites.
Buying Lottery Tickets
Since most states do not allow the sale of online lottery tickets you will have to purchase lotto tickets at the nearest lottery retailer. European lotteries have allowed players to buy lottery tickets online for years and the move has been highly successful. Players in Europe can log in to a lotto website and make an online lottery purchase from the privacy and comfort of their own home. Most lottery experts believe that the sale of online lottery tickets is an idea whose time has come.