Beginning Sunday, lottery players will have another chance to purchase tickets for large jackpot drawings each week.

The North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) announced this week that on Sunday it will launch Mega Millions, a multi-state, multi-million dollar jackpot game. Tickets will go on sale on Sunday, with the first drawing taking place on Tuesday.

Barry Smith works at Country Cupboard in Mount Airy, one of the 6,100 locations which will be selling the Mega Millions tickets. He said, “It seems like a lot of people don’t know about (Mega Millions).”

Employees at Zip Food Store in Mount Airy said a lottery representative came by the store on Wednesday. Representatives plan to come back to the store on Tuesday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to set up a display and talk to people about the new game. Employees said the Mega Millions tickets should have been coming in to their store Thursday, but they can’t sell them until Sunday.

Mega Millions drawings will be held each Tuesday and Friday night. Powerball drawings will still take place on Wednesday and Saturday nights, so now people have the option to enter four drawings per week.

Smith with Country Cupboard said, “It should definitely bring in more revenue to the state.”

He said scratch tickets and Powerball tickets were popular items in the area. Smith said when jackpots get high, then many people who don’t regularly buy lottery tickets will come in to purchase them.

A group of Mount Airy co-workers recently won $200,000 while playing the Powerball game. They purchased the winning ticket at Zip Food Store in early January.

Like Powerball, Mega Millions tickets can be purchased for $1 or $2. The Mega Millions jackpot starts at $12 million and continues to grow. According to a press release issued by the NCEL, Mega Millions holds the record for the largest annuity-based prize awarded. In March 2007, $390 million was awarded as the result of a drawing. The largest Powerball jackpot awarded, $365 million, took place in February 2006.

The NCEL has had two Powerball jackpot winners since the game began in North Carolina. Jackie Alston of Halifax won $74.5 million in November 2006, and Jeff Wilson of Kings Mountain won $88.1 million in June 2009.

According to an NCEL press release, “100% of the North Carolina Education Lottery net proceeds are used for pre-kindergarten programs for at risk youth, reduction of class size in early grades, school construction and need-based college scholarships.”

For more information about the NCEL, visit www.nc-educationlottery.org.

Contact Meghann Evans at mevans@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.