Powerball might be here by early next year

Staff and news service reports • Published October 13, 2009

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The Washington State Lottery hopes to start selling tickets for the multistate Powerball drawing sometime next year - a turnaround from less than five months ago, when Powerball officials said they were blackballing the game in Washington because Mega Millions is played here.

Washington is one of 12 states that sell tickets for the Mega Millions lottery. The consortium behind Mega Millions and the association that runs Powerball have agreed in principle to cross-sell tickets for both games in all U.S. lottery jurisdictions � 45 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.

The Washington Legislature in April passed a bill to allow the state to sell tickets for Powerball, but in May the 30-state consortium that runs the game voted not to sell tickets in any states that are part of the rival Mega Millions.

Officials have said the state is not interested in joining the consortium that runs Powerball, just in licensing the tickets for the game.

Idaho and Oregon have been selling Powerball tickets, and Washington state officials said this year that they did not want to miss out on revenue from tickets sold in neighboring states.

The state initially estimated $11.5 million in revenue over the next two years from the introduction of Powerball.

The state was told in June to not expect any funds from Powerball this year. Now, details are being worked out and no firm date has been set for implementing the new agreement. However, Washington Lottery officials say they hope it can start in early 2010.