Wednesday, March 31, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.
FARGO, N.D. -- North Dakota joined the Powerball lottery last week, when dozens packed a grocery store here to be among the first to buy a ticket.
Rep. Andy Maragos, R-Minot, who led the drive to change the North Dakota Constitution and allow the lottery, bought the first ticket, calling it an honor to do so.
"I think this effort is really an example of what can be done when citizens are moved to action," Maragos said.
Lottery sales statewide got under way at 390 locations around the state on Thursday. Within seven hours, more than $111,000 worth of tickets had been sold.
Powerball players choose six two-digit numbers. They may pick their own numbers or have a computer choose for them. The Powerball game has Wednesday and Saturday night drawings. The odds of winning a recent jackpot were 1 in 120 million.
"It's a form of entertainment, so I would encourage people to exercise moderation," Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. "Go ahead and spend a buck or two and dream about what you might do."
Gambling opponents, who unsuccessfully campaigned against a lottery initiative that voters approved in November 2002, were not celebrating. The lottery represents an escalation of gambling outside bars and casinos, former Gov. Arthur Link said.
"I'm very offended that the places we go to for our daily needs ... that they have gone into offering their customers these kinds of questionable purchases," Link said. "It's a sad day for North Dakota."
Among the first group of players to buy a ticket at the Southgate Hornbacher's grocery store in Fargo was Trudy Cruz, a school bus driver who lives in nearby Georgetown, Minn.
"I probably only play about three times a year, but I thought today would be a good day to buy a ticket," Cruz said. "It's about time that they brought it to North Dakota."
Stenehjem said Chuck Keller, the state's lottery director, put in the equivalent of a year's worth of overtime to get the game started.
"It was a Herculean effort by the staff," Stenehjem said.
Keller's daughter, Sabrina Keller-Shell Track, bought a ticket Thursday to celebrate the lottery's beginning.
State rules bar immediate family members of lottery employees from buying tickets, if they are still living in the employee's home. However, Keller's daughter is married and not living at home, so she was not affected by the family rule.
"We're glad to have our dad back," she said. "He would go to work at 6 a.m. and he wouldn't come home until midnight, but he's so proud of this lottery.
"I think people are excited that this money is coming back to our state," she said.
For the first ticket, Maragos chose numbers representing his birthday, the year 2004 and the month that voters approved the lottery.
He donated his ticket to the State Historical Society of North Dakota. If it's a winner, the money should go to North Dakota's general fund, Maragos said.
In Bismarck, Victor Gustin, who was celebrating his 70th birthday, bought the city's first ticket, sold at a Dan's SuperMarket on the city's north side.
Gustin chose his own numbers, splitting his birth year into two lottery numbers and including "the lucky number seven."
He listened as the store clerk, Gerry Jahner, explained the game's "PowerPlay" option, in which players pay extra for their tickets in exchange for a higher payoff for winning numbers. The option does not apply to the grand prize.
"I've never bought a ticket before," Gustin said. "I've played bingo once in a while at bingo parties, or something like that. That's all. It's the only (gambling) I've ever done.
"There was never any (lottery tickets) around here, and I didn't go out of state that much."
Gustin's wife, Charlotte, had written a letter to Stenehjem, asking that her husband be given the distinction of buying the first Bismarck ticket. Stenehjem's wife, Beth Bakke Stenehjem, read part of the letter aloud during a ceremony to mark the lottery's debut.
"In my opinion, he's paid his dues. He's just a common man who deserves a treat, and a chance to buy a ticket on his birthday," Charlotte Gustin's letter read.
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