Powerball in California: First day brings in record $3.1 million

If first-day sales are any indication, California’s bet on Powerball is paying off.

Tickets for the multistate game -- sold in the Golden State for the first time Monday -- generated a record-setting $3.1 million in its first 24 hours, with about 700,000 players participating, California Lottery spokesman Russ Lopez said Tuesday. About $1 million of that was made by noon.

And sales are continuing to climb, Lopez said. The latest cumulative count from Tuesday placed the total close to $4 million.

“We knew that Powerball was going to be healthy. We knew we were going to make some good healthy sales,� Lopez said. “This really kind of blew us away.�

The sales shattered the previous first-day record set by Florida, which debuted Powerball in 2009, Lopez said. Sales topped $1.5 million that day, according to the Florida Lottery.

Powerball marks a further effort by California lottery to go beyond Scratchers to larger games with much higher jackpots. Last year, the state lottery got a taste of possibilities when its Mega Millions multistate game grew to a $656-million prize. That game alone added $300 million in sales for the lottery over two months, resulting in a 27% increase in total revenues for the year.

Powerball is even bigger than Mega Millions, with a starting jackpot that is more than three times as large. The games are similar — requiring players to match up to six numbers — and the odds of hitting the jackpot in each of the games are almost exactly the same: 1 in about 175 million.

On Monday, scores of players flocked to local liquor stores and 7-Elevens to buy tickets. In Hawthorne, Bluebird Liquor began selling tickets at 7 a.m., employee Eduardo Duran said. By noon, about 8,000 had been purchased.

“As far as business, you can see it’s good,� Duran said, gesturing to a line that snaked out the door.

John Apodaca, 62, of Hawthorne was part of that line. The veteran said that after he returned from Vietnam, a woman read his palm and said he would be a rich man — so he goes to the Bluebird Liquor store every day at the same time and plays the same numbers. He’s there so often that an employee welcomed him with a salute.

Apodaca has played Powerball before — in New York, while visiting his daughter. The game’s arrival in California was all he needed to feel a little extra luck Monday.

“The Powerball came to me,� he said. “I didn’t go to the Powerball this time.�

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