In a commercial airing now, Lottery director Tom Shaheen cautions against buying too many lottery tickets.

The law that created a state lottery includes some requirements that lottery officials try to curb problem gambling. The ad fits in that strategy.

The ad features Shaheen sitting in a diner. While he explains that lottery tickets can be fun, Shaheen begins dumping a bottle of hot sauce on his sandwich. Shaheen encourages anyone with a gambling problem to call the helpline at 877-718-5543.

"Because like anything in life, a little moderation can make all the difference," Shaheen says, looking glumly at his over hot-sauced sandwich.

The lottery cut the spot some time ago at a cost of $38,390, said lottery spokeswoman Pam Walker. The ad typically makes an appearance when the Powerball jackpot hits the $150 million mark. It's running now during prime time during the nationally observed Problem Gambling Awareness Week.

The estimated cost to run the ad this week is $148,000, Walker said.

Sometime this weekend, lottery sales for 2008 will hit $1 billion.

It's a milestone for the two-year-old lottery. Officials promised those kind of sales figures from day one, but this is the first year in which the lottery has broken the billion barrier.

Ticket sales are calculated at the end of the day and Thursday closed with $995,787,389, said Pam Walker, a spokeswoman for the state lottery. Friday sales may not break $4 million, but it is all but certain to happen sometime Saturday or Sunday, she said.

Sales have perked up since the governor and legislature agreed to let the lottery pay out more in prize money. Turns out, people don't want to buy lottery tickets unless they think they can win.

"We really have seen an increase," said John McArthur, chairman of the N.C. Lottery Commission.

McArthur said high gas prices have muted sales somewhat.

The lottery budgeted for $957 million in sales for fiscal 2008, which ends June 30.

Pam Medlin Whitaker of Greensboro has been appointed to the N.C. Lottery Commission.

Gov. Mike Easley picked Whitaker, president of Key Resources, a Greensboro-based temp agency, to replace Linda Carlisle, a former Greensboro banker and office supply company owner.

Carlisle finished her term and choose not to seek another, said Pam Walker, a spokeswoman for the state lottery.

Whitaker is a member of the UNC at Greensboro Board of Visitors, the Greensboro College Board of Trustees, and the Preservation Greensboro Executive Board, according to a news release. Whitaker received the Greensboro Small Business Person of the Year in 2000, the Women in Business Award for Triad North Carolina in 2000, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blue Chip Award in 2001. She attended Southern Guilford High School and UNC at Greensboro.