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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Shaheen said the nation's lottery directors have agreed to extending the games. Each must now get approval from the various governing boards. In North Carolina, the Lottery Commission would have to approve adding Mega Millions. The commission next meets in December.
Shaheen said that it's impossible to predict how much sales might grow. Officials had hoped to see a 9 or 10 percent increase when they added a second daily Pick 3 drawing. Instead, the game has sustained a 40 percent increase.
Adding Mega Millions would prevent players from running up to Virginia to spend their dollars on that game and would enable players who live too far from the border to play the game as well.
"I think we will see an increase in sales overall, which is our goal," Shaheen said.
If the commission approves the game, it would be at least April before tickets go on sale, Shaheen said.
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