WEST POINT, Ga. — Loretta Williams lives in Alabama however drove to Georgia to buy a lotto ticket for a possibility at winning the $1.5 billion Powerball prize.
She was one of lotsof Alabama ticket-buyers flooding throughout state lines Thursday. The third-largest lotterygame reward in U.S. history has individuals around the nation clamoring for a possibility to win. But in some of the 5 states without a lotterygame, jealous spectators are crossing state lines or sendingout ticket cash throughout them to buddies and household, hoping to get in on the action.
“I think it’s absurd that we have to drive to get a lotto ticket,” Williams, 67, stated.
Five states — Utah, Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska and Alabama — do not have a lotto. A mix of factors have kept them away, consistingof objections from conservatives, issues about the effect on low-income households or a desire not to contend with existing videogaming operations.
“I’m quite sure the individuals of Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia value all of our contributions to their roadways, bridges, education system and numerous other things they invest that cash on,” stated Democratic lawmaker Chris England, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Several times weekly, England hears from constituents asking when Alabama will authorize a lotto: “Especially when individuals appearance on TELEVISION and see it’s $1.5 billion dollars.”
In 1999, Alabama voted down a lotto referendum under a mix of opposition from churches and out-of-state gaming interests. Lottery propositions have giventhat stagnated in its legislature, the problem now linked with dispute over electronic gaming.
In Georgia, a signboard along Interstate 85 beckons vehicledrivers to stop at a gas station billing itself as the ”#1 LOTTERY STORE” — 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the Alabama-Georgia line. Alabama carsandtruck tags surpassed Georgia ones in the parking lot at times and a line for ticket purchases extended throughout the shop.
Similarly, anyperson in Utah desiring a lotto ticket should drive to Idaho or Wyoming, the 2 closest states to the Salt Lake City city location, where alotof