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California to Join Mega Millions Lottery

CALIFORNIA – As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle: "…As soon as this summer, California will join 11 other states in the Mega Millions lottery. The new game will be in addition to the current SuperLotto Plus that hands out smaller jackpots twice a week.

"The move, one of the biggest changes to the state lottery since it started nearly 20 years ago, is designed to boost stagnant sales and to bring in more than $100 million in additional revenue for schools, said Chon Gutierrez, interim director of the California Lottery. Lottery sales have hovered around $3 billion for the past four years, and California ranks fifth in the nation in lottery sales.

"…The California Lottery Commission voted 3-0 Tuesday to join Mega Millions rather than the Powerball, a competing multistate lottery. Both the multistate games are similar to lotto, in which a player tries to match six winning numbers.

"While the commission, all Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees, would have to approve the rules of the game, Gutierrez and Mega Millions acted Tuesday as if their agreement was a done deal. The idea of California joining a multistate lottery was recommended last summer by Schwarzenegger's California Performance Review team, which studied ways to optimize government operations.

"…The largest Mega Millions payout ever was $363 million; California's largest was $193 million…"

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