The Big Game could get even bigger if Ohio legislators have their way and join the multistate lottery with jackpots exceeding $200 million.

        That could mean big money for local lottery retailers and their customers, who were already seeing dollar signs after the state announced its intentions Monday.

        “It's about time,” said Devin Campbell, 34, of Walnut Hills, who was buying Super Lotto Plus tickets Monday at Fountain Square News downtown. “What we got now is nickel-and-dime stuff compared to Powerball and the other big lotteries. I'd probably buy at least one lotto ticket every day for a shot at that kind of money.”

        The Powerball game that Mr. Campbell referred to and its bigger cash prizes have been a drag on lottery revenues in Ohio for the past five years. Ohio doesn't offer a comparable game, so many Ohio residents drive to Kentucky to play Powerball, especially when the jackpots are high.

        That not only hurts the lottery business, it can take a toll on a retailer's primary business as well, said Fountain News owner Ashok Patel, who also sells drinks, snacks and more than 5,000 magazine titles at his store at Fifth and Walnut streets.

        “Whenever people go someplace else to play the lottery, we lose business inside the store, too,” Mr. Patel said. The Big Game “certainly would lead to a pick up in business because everybody wants to win more millions for their dollar.”

        Fountain News was the No. 3 seller of lottery tickets in Ohio in 2000, generating more than $1.6 million in lottery revenues. Mr. Patel believes that number would increase dramatically if the state adopts the Big Game.

        Ohio would join Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia in offering the Big Game, with jackpots starting at $5 million. New York also recently applied to join the Big Game.

        Tickets cost $1 per play. Players pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers: five different numbers from one to 50, and one number from one to 36. The jackpot grows until someone wins.

        Irvin Deese, who owns the Avondale Novelty Shop on Reading Road, said he probably wouldn't be able to sell Big Game tickets fast enough to keep up with the demand.

        “Everybody that comes through here says they wish we had something like (the Big Game),” Mr. Deese said. “You can see how many people go across the river to play Powerball. If we had that it would only increase revenues.”

        Lynn Walker, who lives near the novelty shop, said she'd be one of the first in line.

        “Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to win a million dollars playing Super Lotto. It would change my life,” said the 29-year-old registered nurse. “But when you start talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, your're talking about hundreds of millions of more reasons to spend that dollar on a ticket.”

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