Jackpot

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A Sandy Spring, Md., man landed a record jackpot at the Charles Town Races Monday night when he won $239,893 on a video lottery machine at the thoroughbred track. Al Napolitano won the jackpot on a progressive video lottery machine, where a percentage of each credit played on the machine goes into a shared jackpot. About 2 percent of every 75 cent credit played on the machines goes into the jackpot, and there are 16 progressive video lottery games, said Ted Schieffer, director of gaming operations at the track.

BALTIMORE - More and more Maryland Lotto winners are choosing to cash out, or collect a discounted lump sum cash settlement of their winnings instead of continuing to receive annuity checks. Lester Martin, 74, of Waynesboro, Pa., and his two sons hit the Lotto jackpot nine years ago. On Friday, Martin picked up his final check and talked to Maryland State Lottery officials about how his life has changed after winning. His sons, David Martin, 48, and Carroll Martin, 51, have decided to continue receiving annuity checks.

Bud Fauld buys scratch-off lottery tickets, but he has no interest in winning the Big Game's $150 million lottery prize. "What would a person do with that much money, anyhow," said Fauld, 68, of Hagerstown. cont. from front page But you can bet hundreds, if not thousands, of other area residents will plunk down $1 per ticket for a shot at tonight's $150 million Big Game Jackpot. Long lines begin to form any time the jackpot gets over $100 million, area lottery agents said.

BUNKER HILL, W.Va. - During a rare lull in the rush to buy tickets for Saturday night's estimated $150 million Powerball drawing, Brenda Ryan chatted Saturday afternoon with a customer at Apple Country Market on U.S. 11, just a few miles from Virginia. She asked the man, who had requested six Powerball chances printed on separate tickets, what he would do if he won the jackpot. "I really don't know what I'd do with that kind of money," the man replied. Ryan has a good idea what she'll do if one of her five tickets is a winner.

BERKELEY COUNTY - With a $100 million top prize tonight, Powerball players in West Virginia and elsewhere are hoping the Leap Year will also be a jump-for-joy year. cont. from news page West Virginia is one of 20 states that participate in Powerball, a multistate lottery in which the jackpot can reach nine figures. The District of Columbia is also included. The jackpot for tonight's drawing is $100 million, if the winner takes the money in 25 annual payments. If the winner wants a lump-sum payment, he or she will get $51.2 million before taxes are taken out. The federal tax is 28 percent and the West Virginia state tax is 6.5 percent, according to Nancy Bulla, the public relations and drawing manager for the West Virginia Lottery.

Rebecca Fuller of Smithsburg knows her chances of winning the Big Game lottery jackpot are slim. But even a slim chance of taking home $110 million is worth the price of a ticket, she said. [cont. from front page ] "You gotta play. Someone has to win and it might as well be me," she said. The odds on winning the Big Game jackpot are one in 76 million, according to a lottery spokesman. Fuller, who buys about 10 lottery tickets a week, stopped Monday evening at Wooden Keg Liquors on Jefferson Boulevard to get her ticket.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A new line of video lottery machines being introduced at Charles Town Races can offer hundreds of thousands of dollars in jackpots by pooling a certain amount of the money wagered on the games. [cont. from news page ] Referred to as "progressive" video lottery machines, track officials turned on the first 16 of 50 machines on April 13. By Saturday, the track had its first jackpot winner when Becky Wagner of Mt. Airy, Md., won a $3,088 jackpot, according to track officials.

The Maryland State Lottery's Big Game jackpot has climbed to $97 million, the highest lottery prize ever offered in Maryland. [cont. from front page ] The cash option for tonight's drawing would be $51.4 million. The pot grew from $93 million on Friday to $97 million after players failed to pick all six winning numbers. Lottery Director Buddy Roogow said sales over the weekend "more than doubled those of the same period last week. " Big Game players must match six numbers, five selected from a field of 50 and one chosen from a field of 36. Ticket sales for Big Game were brisk Monday at several local businesses.

MARLOWE, W.Va. - Jackpot fever was heating up again in the Tri-State area Friday as the potential prize in today's Powerball lottery drawing neared the $100 million mark. Larry Bard of St. Thomas, Pa., drove down Interstate 81 to the 7-Eleven in Marlowe, W.Va., to buy 20 tickets for himself, his wife, and his friends at work at Letterkenny Army Depot near Chambersburg, Pa. "The jackpot's starting to get up there," Bard said. The jackpot for today's drawing was estimated at $95 million on Friday.

by Kevin G. Gilbert / staff photographer see the enlargement Powerball players line up for record jackpot MARLOWE, W.Va. - Powerball lottery sales were reaching a frenzy Tuesday as ticket-buyers lined up for a chance at the world record $175 million jackpot up for grabs tonight. --cont. from front page-- A line formed early Tuesday and continued throughout the day at the Texaco Food Mart in Marlowe, at the northernmost exit off Interstate 81 in West Virginia.