ONE MORE QUESTION: U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx has introduced a bill that would requires U.S. Census takers to try to find out how many illegal immigrants are in the U.S. We're guessing some answers to that question might just not be truthful.

BILLIONS AND BILLIONS: The state lottery director wants to add another national super jackpot game to complement Powerball. The move would be the first step toward creating a near-nationwide big jackpot game that would appeal to those who think the Powerball odds are too fair.

BIG SPENDER: State Sen. R.C. Soles Jr., a Columbus County Democrat, spent the second most of any competitive candidate — more than $830,000 — to win his Senate seat last year. That was BEFORE he shot someone. No telling what the figure might be next time.

IN OTHER NEWS: Margaret Harper, who ran twice for lieutenant governor and was a pioneer among female political figures in North Carolina, died at 92. The Triangle region buys 40 percent of all lottery tickets sold in the state. The Attorney General won't appeal Superintendent June Atkinson's right to run the state school system.

Powerball and Mega Millions are similar lottery games that include several states. Here's a comparison.

THE GAME: In Powerball, players try to match six digits. Five white balls are drawn from a pool of balls, numbered one through 59. The sixth number, the Powerball is drawn from a pool of red balls numbered 1 through 39.

In Mega Millions, players choose five numbers from 1 through 56 and the sixth number from a separate pot of yellow "Mega" balls numbered 1 through 46.

THE PRIZES: In both games, jackpots are determined by ticket sales. Powerball has a minimum jackpot of $20 million, the value of a 30-year annuity purchased by the cash in the jackpot pool. Powerball awards much smaller cash prizes for matching various combinations of numbers. The lowest win is $3 for hitting the Powerball only.

The Mega Millions jackpot is also based on ticket sales and the value of a 26-year annuity. The lowest win in Mega Millions is $2 for hitting the yellow ball.

THE ODDS: The odds if hitting the Powerball jackpot are one in 195,249,054. The odds of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot are one in 175,711,53. To put that in perspective, of all the millions of Powerball tickets sold in the nation in a year, only about 13 hit the jackpot.

Adding a second, big jackpot lottery game to North Carolina would mean more players and more tickets sold, said lottery executive director Tom Shaheen.

Powerball sales spike when jackpots hit the hundreds of millions. Adding a second multi-state game, the Mega Millions, would likely mean that there's always one game with a big jackpot, Shaheen said. The current Mega Millions jackpot is $200 million and the Powerball jackpot is $30 million.

"The research is pretty clear that players have an interest in playing both games," Shaheen told Dome. "Whatever jackpot is bigger is the one they're going to run to."

The downside is that with more players playing each game, jackpots will hit more often, reducing the mega-huge jackpots that get so all the news media attention and spur sales.

Making Powerball and Mega Millions available in multiple states would also be a first step toward a national lottery game that is available in all 44 states with a lottery. That game would likely feature a $5 ticket and frequent huge jackpots.

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Is Mega Millions coming to a convenience store near you?

N.C. Education Lottery officials said today that lottery groups nationally are considering the potential of all U.S. lottery jurisdictions selling both Mega Millions and Powerball tickets.

On Oct. 7, Mega Millions and the Multi-State Lottery Association agreed in principle to begin the process for implementation as early as 2010, and to work toward the development of a national lottery game, with a possible launch date of fall 2010.

Players would be able to play for big jackpots more days of the week if the deal is done. Powerball drawings are held on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Mega Millions drawings are held on Tuesday and Friday nights.

The state lottery first joined Powerball in 2006 and has sold $793 million in Powerball tickets. North Carolina has had two Powerball jackpot winners.