Maryland Lottery

A single winning ticket for a record Powerball lottery jackpot worth $590.5 million was sold in Florida, organizers said late Saturday, but there was no word about who won. The winning numbers from Saturday night's drawing were: 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball number of 11. The odds of winning were put at one in 175 million. The winning ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, a suburb of Tampa, according to the Florida Lottery. The prize tempted many Marylanders to buy tickets for the lottery game before the 11 p.m. drawing.

The world is waiting Sunday to find out who bought the Powerball jackpot winning ticket at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla. Nobody had come forward by mid-morning.  It could take a few days before anybody claims the prize, but it's best to be skeptical of anything that comes out before lottery officials make a formal announcement. Remember the circus surrounding the Mega Millions jackpot winner sold in Maryland last year? It started in the middle of the night, just after it became clear that a hot ticket had been sold in Baltimore County.

The world is waiting Sunday to find out who bought the Powerball jackpot winning ticket at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla. Nobody had come forward by mid-morning.  It could take a few days before anybody claims the prize, but it's best to be skeptical of anything that comes out before lottery officials make a formal announcement. Remember the circus surrounding the Mega Millions jackpot winner sold in Maryland last year? It started in the middle of the night, just after it became clear that a hot ticket had been sold in Baltimore County.

A single winning ticket for a record Powerball lottery jackpot worth $590.5 million was sold in Florida, organizers said late Saturday, but there was no word about who won. The winning numbers from Saturday night's drawing were: 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball number of 11. The odds of winning were put at one in 175 million. The winning ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, a suburb of Tampa, according to the Florida Lottery. The prize tempted many Marylanders to buy tickets for the lottery game before the 11 p.m. drawing.

Two more bidders emerged Friday to compete against MGM National Harbor for the right to build a casino in Prince George's County. Penn National Gaming submitted a proposal to the state's gaming control agency for a $700-million Hollywood Casino Resort at its Rosecroft Raceway site. And Maryland Casino LLC, a subsidiary of Greenwood Racing Inc., bid to build an $800 million Parx Casino Hotel & Spa in Fort Washington. MGM National Harbor dropped off its own proposal — outlined in 13 boxes of materials — Thursday for an expected $800-million project.

Maryland lottery officials were inundated Monday with nonstop calls fueled by rumors about the identity of the Baltimore County shopper who will share in the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot. "Everyone says they know who the winner is," said lottery spokeswoman Carole Everett. "It's their cousin. It's a person who works at their doctor's office. It's the guy up the street who mows the lawn. We're not going to chase gossip. " Lottery officials say they've heard about 15 tall tales associated with the identity of the person who bought the winning ticket for Friday's drawing at a 7-Eleven in Milford Mill.

On June 24, 2011, a middle-aged Harford County woman drove to the Hollywood Casino in Perryville to give authorities permission to arrest her for trespassing if she ever set foot again in one of Maryland's casinos. Before she signed the paperwork she wanted one last taste and lost hundreds of dollars at slot machines. "I considered it my last hurrah. That I was going to gamble and then I was going to sign myself out," said the 50-year-old woman, before a recent Gamblers Anonymous meeting at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa.

Maryland sold one of the winning tickets for last night's record-breaking $640 million Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials said. The lucky ticket was purchased around 7:15 p.m. Friday at a 7-Eleven in Baltimore County in the 8000 block of Liberty Road in Milford Mill. The winner bought one ticket with randomly selected numbers just a few hours before sales ended. The jackpot is considered the single largest in world history, according to lottery officials. The Maryland winner will split the prize with winners in Kansas and Illinois, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Table games at Maryland Live Casino generated $8.4 million in revenue in their first month at the Anne Arundel County facility, on top of $38.2 million from its slot machines, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency reported Monday. While overall revenue at Maryland Live was up $1.95 million in April from March, revenue from slots fell about $6.45 million in April from the month before. By far the largest of Maryland's casinos, Maryland Live operates 4,217 slot machines and 122 table games.

Despite a sluggish economy that has many consumers pinching pennies, Marylanders are still willing to pony up a buck for a chance to win big. For the 15th consecutive year, the Maryland Lottery reported an increase in ticket sales, pumping more money than ever into the state treasury. Maryland sold $1.795 billion in lottery tickets during fiscal 2012 — $80.4 million more than the prior year, the state lottery agency announced Monday. The lottery contributed $556 million to the state's operations, 7 percent more than last year, and was the state's fourth-largest source of revenue, after sales, income and corporate taxes.

Two more bidders emerged Friday to compete against MGM National Harbor for the right to build a casino in Prince George's County. Penn National Gaming submitted a proposal to the state's gaming control agency for a $700-million Hollywood Casino Resort at its Rosecroft Raceway site. And Maryland Casino LLC, a subsidiary of Greenwood Racing Inc., bid to build an $800 million Parx Casino Hotel & Spa in Fort Washington. MGM National Harbor dropped off its own proposal — outlined in 13 boxes of materials — Thursday for an expected $800-million project.

In November, voters approved a major expansion of Maryland's gambling program on the promise that allowing table games and eventually building a sixth casino would ensure that the gambling dollars state residents spend would go toward funding education here and not in states like West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. This week, we got the first preliminary snapshot of how that bargain is working out, and it should give us some pause. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission reported its first set of figures since the Maryland Live Casino in Anne Arundel County added table games.

Table games at Maryland Live Casino generated $8.4 million in revenue in their first month at the Anne Arundel County facility, on top of $38.2 million from its slot machines, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency reported Monday. While overall revenue at Maryland Live was up $1.95 million in April from March, revenue from slots fell about $6.45 million in April from the month before. By far the largest of Maryland's casinos, Maryland Live operates 4,217 slot machines and 122 table games.

Revenue at Maryland's three casinos in March reached $58 million, with two that have been opened for at least a year seeing a decrease from a year earlier, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency reported Friday. Hollywood Casino Perryville in Cecil County generated $9.48 million for the month from slot machines and newly introduced gaming tables - a decrease of $4.24 million, or nearly 35 percent, from a year ago. The Casino at Ocean Downs in Worcester County reported revenue of $3.95 million - a decrease of $130,622, or 3.2 percent, from the year before.

A Mount Airy woman won a $26 million Mega Millions jackpot this week, state lottery officials announced, and the grandmother of two now plans to buy her first home - a beach house. Maryland Lottery officials said the 48-year-old woman wished to remain anonymous. She is the first to win a Mega Millions jackpot in nearly a year, since three Maryland public school employees split the $218.6 million portion of a record-breaking $656 million jackpot. According to the state lottery, the woman's fiancee jokingly told her as they went to bed Tuesday night that they would wake up millionaires.

Maryland's three casinos generated $45.2 million in revenue in December, with most of that from the state's largest and newest casino, Maryland Live — and at the expense of the state's oldest. Last month, Maryland Live took in $35.9 million, or a daily average of $244.15 per machine, according to figures released Monday by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. The Arundel Mills casino operates 4,750 slot machines and electronic table games. The Arundel Mills casino opened in June.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening has tapped one of his top State House aides to take over as director of the Maryland Lottery.Buddy Roogow, who has been a deputy chief of staff since Glendening took office last year, succeeds Lloyd W. Jones, who retired Tuesday because of poor health.Roogow, whose annual salary will be $95,889, takes over the agency only weeks after a new company took over operation of the state's $1 billion-a-year lottery business.Before joining state government in 1991, Roogow was chief administrative officer in Howard County under then-County Executive Elizabeth Bobo.

The Ravens are huddling with Maryland Lottery officials over placing the team's logo for the first time on scratch-off tickets. "We are in discussions," Ravens' spokesman Chad Steele confirmed Friday, just 48 hours after the National Football League decided to allow clubs to strike licensing deals with state-sponsored lotteries. Maryland Lottery officials declined comment Friday. Thursday, the New England Patriots reached an agreement with the Massachusetts State Lottery to put their logo on instant tickets next season.

The public fascination with who won the record $587.5 million Powerball jackpot turned to Maryland on Friday, as reports surfaced that a customer at an Upper Marlboro gas station claimed he had the coveted winning ticket. Negassi Ghebre, acting manager of the Marlboro Village Exxon, said he was manning the cash register when the man walked in Thursday afternoon to check lottery tickets he had bought. "We gave him the winning numbers, then he matched them," Ghebre said. "He realized that he's the winner.