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“Most everyone has a favorite number. It may be your birthday, your wedding anniversary, the first three digits of your social security number or your license plate. Lottery players will be looking for those lucky numbers starting Monday, May 22, when the Virginia Lottery launches the state’s first on-line game,” said Paula Otto, the Virginia Lottery’s information director.
More than 1,200 lottery terminals will be switched on for the first • time at 6:00 a.m. that day at lottery retailers across the state, including Hillsdale Grocery in Rappahannock County.
From those terminals, Virginians will be able to choose their own three-digit number, from 000 to 999. Tickets for the Pick 3 game will be on sale from 6 a.m. until midnight seven days a week.
Players can choose to play two ways. With an “Exact Order” play, three numbers are chosen to be drawn in that exact order. For example, if a player chooses 345 in exact order, the number drawn that evening must be 3-4-5, in that order, for the player to win. A $1 exact order play pays $500. The chances of winning with an Exact Order play are 1 in 1,000.
Players who like more chances to win can choose to play “Any Order. ” A player who chooses 345 in Any Order would win if the number 3-4-5 were drawn in any combination. A $1 any order play pays $80. The chances of winning with an Any Order play are 1 in 167.
“Pick 3 is a totally new type of game - one that gives players a lot more choices,” according to Lottery Director Ken Thorson. It offers Virginia lottery players a chance to pick their own number, to choose their own odds and the amount of money they wish to play.”
To kick off the Pick 3 games, the Lottery is holding noon-time celebrations in four cities - Roanoke, Richmond, Arlington and Norfolk. The “Play Your Hunch at Lunch” celebration will include Pick 3 ticket sales, a Virginia Lottery trivia game with prizes and musical entertainment. Players who purchase Pick 3 tickets will have a chance to win with their three-digit number both at the kickoff celebration and that evening when the daily number is drawn on television at 7:59 p.m.
Each evening, Monday through Saturday, the daily Pick 3 number will be determined. The live drawing show will be broadcast at 7:59 p.m. on Virginia’s ten public television stations. Players will also be able to learn the winning Pick 3 number from lottery retailers and from a toll-free player hotline, 1-800-243LUCK.
Although Virginia has enjoyed great success with its instant ticket sales, lottery officials note that it is hard to predict Pick 3 sales.
“Most states find that on-line ticket sales start off more slowly than instant ticket sales,” according to Mr. Thorson. “It is hard to predict how many ‘Pick 3’ tickets will be sold on the first day. However, as we introduce this new generation of games, we are hoping for the same state-wide enthusiasm we saw in
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