Six Numbers

Chris Thomas, former WBAL-TV sports anchor known for his humorous, irreverent style, died from cancer yesterday in Tampa, Fla. He was 55. Thomas, whose real name was Christian Thomas Olrick, left Baltimore 15 1/2 years ago for a Tampa television station. He most recently was host of a sports talk show on radio station WDAE in Tampa. "He was hilarious, pure and simple," Channel 2 sportscaster Keith Mills said. "You see guys today trying to be clever on ESPN, and sometimes they fail. Chris was just naturally funny."

Contract appears nearPORT OF BALTIMORENegotiations resumed yesterday afternoon between representatives of Local 953 of the International Longshoremen's Association and waterfront employers in the port of Baltimore.Early this morning, the talks were continuing, but Richard P. Hughes, the leader of the ILA clerks, said he expected to reach an agreement today. "If I didn't, we wouldn't be here," he said.A meeting of the local's membership had been set for 7 a.m. today. Local 953 is the only one of five dockworkers' locals in the port that has not yet reached a tentative agreement with management on a new contract.

The large pink neon sign outside Piper's Wine & Spirit Barn in Carroll County, about two miles south of the Maryland-Pennsylvania line, showed Lotto Fever had even infected the Yankees.The two-directional sign screamed: "Lotto $20 million.""It's been nuts," said Ray Cook, one of the liquor store's lottery machine operators, of the crowds drawn to the record Maryland Lotto jackpot. "We had a man come in this morning and buy $100 worth."Cook estimated that since the jackpot swelled to $11 million Aug. 3 up to 20,000 people have played the twice-weekly Lotto at Piper's in Manchester.

That gasp you heard from the direction of Carroll County shortly after 5 a.m. today quite possibly came from Maryland's newest multimillionaire.One winning ticket was sold in the state's $18 million Lotto jackpot drawing last night -- the third largest in the game's 11-year history -- at a Carroll County convenience store.Shortly after 5 a.m., the principal of New Windsor Middle School glanced sleepily over a cup of coffee at his morning paper, and, he said, found that the numbers on his ticket matched those drawn last night -- 11, 26, 30, 32, 41, 48.A bit later Jeffrey Kimble already had checked in at the 7-Eleven store in the 2800 block New Windsor Road where be bought the ticket and continued on to his school, stunning his early-arriving colleagues with the statement: "I've won the lottery.

Richard A. Murray seemed at ease today after winning an $8.5 million jackpot in the Maryland Lotto."Everybody asked, 'How can you be so calm?' " the 69-year-old Hancock resident said. "I'm calm," his wife, 79-year-old Marianne, said.Maybe the big payoff hadn't sunk in. Maybe it's because, as the couple said, they've worked hard and lived a full, good life. The jackpot is like gravy, they said.One of their two sons, Hagerstown resident Michael Murray, said, "They deserve it. . . . But they already have a good life."

Maryland Day Daily........898...........Pick 4...........8786 Night Daily.....030............Pick 4..........2621 Lotto, Apr. 17..............01 05 12 23 34 45 Cash in Hand, Apr. 18............09 12 13 18 20 23 28 Bonus Match Five, Apr. 18............12 13 28 30 38/35 Lotto:There was no winning ticket for Wednesday's $2.2 million Lotto jackpot. 52 tickets matched five of six numbers, winning $1,500; 692 matched four numbers, winning $40. Tomorrow's jackpot will be worth an estimated $2.4 million.

As if their lives couldn't get any fuller, Ira and Kelli Gilbert, winners of Saturday's $7.5 million Lotto jackpot, are expecting their second child today."

The Maryland Lottery Agency sold more tickets than ever last fiscal year and generated record revenues for the state, lottery officials reported yesterday. Lottery sales from July 1, 1999, to June 30, 2000, increased by $93 million from the previous year, to $1.17 billion. That figure broke the previous $1.1 billion ticket sales record set in the mid-1990s. The lottery also paid more than $657 million on winning tickets - up from $580 million the previous year - and produced $401 million in revenues for the state.

Forget the technicolored ties, plaid shirts and other gifts a man may receive on his birthday, particularly when, after 65 years, he has just about everything he needs.What more could Lester C. Martin want now that he has won -- only days before his 65th birthday -- an $11.7 million Maryland Lotto jackpot?"Not a thing," Mr. Martin said yesterday with a smile of contentment, as he and his family presented the sole winning ticket from the Saturday drawing. The happy ceremony occurred at the State Lottery Agency headquarters at Reisterstown Road Plaza.

If Harford County custodian Almerta Williams had a better pair of glasses, she might not have won $2 million from the Powerball lottery this week. Williams thought she had chosen numbers that matched the birthdays of relatives, but thanks to an old pair of reading glasses, she picked one number incorrectly, lottery officials said Wednesday. The error proved fortuitous - the numbers she picked made her a second-place winner in this week's drawing, which featured a $587.5 million jackpot.