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A slumping economy might have cut into some holiday travel plans, but those who recently saved a few dollars over the short term by not taking a trip to grandma’s, have just been given another reason to make a run for the border ... of Florida, that is.

Floridians and visitors to the Sunshine State can now play the multi-state lottery game, POWERBALL. Tickets went on sale there Sunday morning at more than 13,000 Florida Lottery retailers statewide. The next drawing will take place today at 8:59 p.m. (CST).

The game will be broadcast from its new home, Sound Stage 19 at Universal Studios Resort in Orlando, and can be seen locally on WJTC (UTV44). Because of that, Florida’s Lotto, Mega Money and Fantasy 5 games will now air at 10:15 p.m.

The drawing will also be available on the Lottery’s Web site, www.flalottery.com, following the live drawing. POWERBALL winning numbers will be posted on the site, and players will be able to register to receive winning numbers via e-mail or text messaging.

“The Florida Lottery is proud to bring POWERBALL to Florida,” Florida Lottery Secretary Leo DiBenigno stated in a press release. “By offering Florida residents and visitors the ability to purchase POWERBALL tickets in the state, players get the chance to win mega-jackpot prizes while we continue to increase the revenue generated for the enhancement of public education.”

POWERBALL jackpots start at $20 million, currently the largest starting jackpot in the world. The game offers lottery players nine ways to win twice per week. And, with Power Play, players may multiply their non-jackpot winnings by two, three, four or five times. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game are one in 35.11.

Amanda Marquardt, public affairs specialist with the Florida Lottery, said Monday that odds of winning the main POWERBALL game are around one in 195,249,054, however. By comparison, the odds of winning the Florida Lottery’s big Lotto jackpot are around one in 22,957,480, she said.

Playing is similar to Lotto play, Marquardt said.

POWERBALL players must pick five numbers from one through 59 in the upper play area of the ticket, or mark the Quick Pick box and let the terminal randomly select some or all of your numbers. Players then choose a Powerball number from one to 39 in the lower play area, or mark Quick Pick to have the machine make random selections.

Cutoff time to play POWERBALL today and Saturday is 9 p.m. The cutoff time for Florida’s Lotto game is now 9:40.

The initial jackpot for POWERBALL is $20 million, according to Marquardt, while the Florida Lottery’s Lotto game begins at $3 million. Monday afternoon, the jackpots stood at $105 million and $31 million, respectively.

The Florida Lottery announced the decision to join the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) and add POWERBALL to its portfolio of games in July 2008. POWERBALL sales in Florida are expected to raise millions of additional dollars for education.

“We have given more than $19 billion to education since 1988,” Marquardt said. “We have seen a big jump in sales since Sunday.”

Florida voters, by a two-to-one margin, approved a constitutional amendment in 1986 authorizing the state to operate a lottery for the purpose of generating significant additional moneys for education. Today, more than $4 billion in lottery products are sold there each year.

For more information about the Florida Lottery and POWERBALL, visit www.flalottery.com.

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