The Nation - News from Sept. 1, 1988

Ticket sales 36% ahead of last week’s record pace prompted Florida Lottery Secretary Rebecca Paul to raise the Lotto jackpot to $52 million--the largest prize ever in a state lottery game. Paul said sales of the $1 Lotto tickets stood at $8.9 million for the week. Sales for the day reached 36% more than what they were last Wednesday. The $52-million prize eclipses the previous $51.4-million record for a state-operated lottery jackpot set in June in California. The biggest prize awarded so far in Florida’s weekly Lotto game, which began the first week in May, was a $26-million jackpot won Aug. 6.