$50 MILLION AND GROWING: ILLINOIS LOOTO PLAYERS SEE BIG BUCKS

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Look for Illinois Lotto ticket sales to soar here this week.

The Illinois State Lottery Lotto jackpot rolled over for the seventh straight time Saturday night, boosting the prize for Wednesday's drawing to an estimated $50 million.

"We had both machines going here Friday and Saturday, when the jackpot was at $40 million," said a spokesman from the Purple Crackle Club, where Lotto jackpot tickets are available. "We were pretty crowded."

The spokesman added that thousands of tickets were sold the final two days before drawings for the jackpot Saturday night.

"We can expect more of the same early this week," the spokesman. "Especially during the noon hour, and after 3 or 4 p.m. each day through Wednesday."

"It could be even higher than $50 million," said the spokesman. "The jackpot is estimated, based on the carryover amount and expectations of sales."

Seventy percent of the funds from Lotto tickets are placed in the jackpot.

"Lottery fever could push the prize higher before the Wednesday drawing," said the spokesman from the Purple Crackle. "There are a lot of people out there who won't play the lottery unless it gets big. It's big now."

Once the Lotto hits $30 to $35 million, people start forming small, or large, groups, and send a representative to pick up hundreds of tickets, noted the spokesman.

"This started happening last week, when the pot was estimated at $40 million. We'll be seeing a lot more of these this week."

Ticket sales have been up throughout the state.

"You have a big pot, you get the big players," said a lottery spokesman from Rex Liquor Store at Cairo. "We have customers who won't play until the pot gets into the big millions."

The big sales started last Thursday at Rex Liquor, and continued to increase through Saturday.

"We had a few sales here Sunday," added the spokesman. "But, it won't get real busy until (Monday) afternoon. From then to the drawing time Wednesday, we'll see a lot of traffic."

Illinois Lottery Director Desiree Rogers told reporters Sunday that tickets were selling in Illinois at a pace of about 1.1 million an hour Saturday.

"If we reach that pace Tuesday or Wednesday again, the prize could soar much larger than the $50 million estimate by the time the drawing takes place," she said.

The Lotto jackpot is paid over 20 years. A single winner of a $50 million prize would receive $2.5 million a year.

There have already been two individual winners of $42 million each in the Illinois Lotto.

But, the largest Illinois jackpot on record was $69.9 million, shared by four winners nearly two years ago.

More than 450 people were close in Saturday's Lotto. There were 452 tickets with five of the six numbers. Each of these ticket holders will receive $2,059.50.

Another 24,770 players had four winning numbers - good for $75 each.

The Saturday numbers for March 16 were 4-13-24-25-43- 50.