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Michigan Lottery adds big-ticket Powerball to game choices

Mike Wilkinson and Charles E. Ramirez / Detroit News

Michigan lottery fans are getting another chance to win big money with the introduction Sunday of Powerball, a change approved with an eye on adding to the state's coffers.

Powerball is a 41-state lottery drawn on Wednesdays and Saturdays -- minimum jackpot is $20 million -- and it joins the Mega Millions jackpot as a multistate lottery in Michigan.

Mega Millions is drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays and has a minimum jackpot of $12 million. Tickets can be bought in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Although many regular players were unaware of the new offering Sunday, some said they'll give it a shot.

Cedric Crawford, 49, had come down from Flint to gamble at the casinos and was heading home when he stopped by a carry-out on Gratiot on the east side of Detroit. He was playing his regular daily numbers when he decided to play Powerball.

Crawford said he won't have to choose between Powerball and Mega Millions: "I'll play all four (days). More chances to win."

The next Powerball drawing offers a $107 million jackpot -- or a "cash value" option of $52.5 million, the amount you would receive, before taxes, if you opted for a lump sum payment.

George Kano, the manager of Joseph's Keg & Wine Liquor Store on 9 Mile between Gratiot Avenue and Kelly Road in Eastpointe, said his patrons seem to like the new game.

"(The jackpot) starts with a lot of money," the 62-year-old from Warren said. "It's a lot better than a lot of the other games."

Kano said he sold about six tickets for the new game by 2 p.m. Sunday.

"People don't know about it yet," he said. "They don't know how to play."

Still, he said, most of the sales he made were to people who heard about the new game on the radio.

In fiscal year 2009, lottery proceeds contributed $724.5 million to Michigan schools. But the Rev. Jim Holley, senior pastor at Little Rock Baptist Church in Detroit, said the addition of Powerball is a net loss for the state. He said the state should focus on adding jobs, not lottery games.

"It just seems enough is enough," he said. "It just gives people false hope."

Holley has been critical of the state's casinos and the lottery for years. "It's almost like the state has given up. It's just like they're going after the easy money."