Powerball Quickly Becomes Hot Ticket In Florida

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Tbo.com
Published: January 06, 2009

» Comments | Post a Comment

Lottery officials say about 1.5 million Powerball tickets were sold the first day they went on sale in Florida.

Florida is the 30th state, along with the District of Columbia and the U.S Virgin Islands, to offer the game.

Counting only Sunday's sales of the $1 tickets, the game generated an estimated $606,892 for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. The next drawing for the multistate lottery is Wednesday for an estimated jackpot of $105 million. The odds of winning are 1 in 195 million.

Winning jackpots have averaged $38 million. In 2006, a winner claimed a record $365 million. Officials expect Florida's participation will make the jackpots even bigger.