N.D. Powerball marketing under way

Dale Wetzel

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004 | 9:09 a.m.

BISMARCK, N.D. -- More than 300 North Dakota merchants have been chosen to sell Powerball tickets when the state's new lottery begins March 25, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said.

Stenehjem last week also unveiled the logo the game will use, a state outline dominated by a large red ball and yellow sunburst. The words "North Dakota" have the same script style that is being used to promote tourism in the state.

North Dakota colleges were invited to draw logos for the game, and Stenehjem said the final product borrowed elements from several of the suggested designs. Students from six colleges drew proposed logos.

The lottery sales terminals themselves will be bright red. Stenehjem said he and other lottery officials wanted a distinctive color.

"This was like picking wallpaper and carpet samples," he said. "They came in with little swatches of different colors that you could pick."

When the lottery begins, North Dakota will have 319 sales outlets, including at least one in each of the state's 53 counties.

Cass and Grand Forks counties, which have been losing Powerball customers to neighboring Minnesota, will have the greatest number. Cass County, including Fargo and West Fargo, will have 72 sales locations, while Grand Forks County will have 36.

Chuck Keller, the state lottery director, said 319 retailers were chosen from a pool of 508 applicants.

Scientific Games International, which will supply lottery terminals, tickets and other supplies to North Dakota merchants, is installing equipment at the chosen retail locations.

Twenty-four states already sell tickets to Powerball, including Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana. The game has drawings on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

When the top prize grows to hundreds of millions of dollars, there is a corresponding increase in the number of questions about when the game will be available in North Dakota, Stenehjem said.

"There is an excitement about it, and that excitement builds," he said. "The excitement, I think, is even stronger in the eastern part of the state ... People who are already used to buying tickets (in Minnesota) want the convenience of buying their tickets here."