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The introduction in Pennsylvania of the multi-state game with huge jackpots starting next August is expected to boost sagging revenues for the state lottery and Powerball, officials say.

"Clearly, it'll provide you a higher jackpot than you've had in the past," said Nancy Bulla, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Lottery. "It will reflect an increase in revenues."

That would be good news for the Pennsylvania Lottery and the senior citizen programs it supports. Sally Danyluk, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Lottery, said that Powerball is expected to net about $35 million a year for such programs -- taking into account losses from existing games.

Without adding Powerball or making other changes, the lottery could have a projected $93 million deficit in 2003-04. Although Powerball is expected to generate some much-needed revenue, state officials have said they still have to do more to raise money for the programs the Lottery supports.

But Powerball needs Pennsylvania and its 12 million people just as much as the state needs the game.

Powerball sales of $1 billion in fiscal year 2000 declined 27 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Powerball Quarterly Sales Report, a trade publication. During the same period, per capita sales declined in all 21 Powerball states, ranging from 66.4 percent in Delaware to 8 percent in Iowa.

West Virginia is among 21 states, all smaller than Pennsylvania, that offer the game. Pennsylvania officials announced on Tuesday the state will join Powerball. Winning numbers are drawn twice a week, with a minimum $10 million prize.

With only 1.8 million people, West Virginia rarely offered a $1 million prize with its previous jackpot game. As a result, sales plummeted, and the state began offering Powerball.

Bulla said Powerball sales average about $450,000 a drawing in West Virginia. When the jackpot exceeded $295 million in 1998 and last August, sales soared to $15 million for one drawing.

"It eliminated our previous lotto game," Bulla said. "Who cares whether it had a negative impact on our previous lotto game. We have benefitted from the replacement."

The Missouri Lottery also considered eliminating its in-state jackpot game. But, at the request of consumers, lottery officials decided against it.

Over the past decade, Powerball has increased net sales from 60 percent to 220 percent over what Missouri could have generated without the national game, said Adam Hall, marketing manager for the Missouri Lottery.

New Hampshire averages $30 million a year in Powerball sales.

"With a population just over 1 million people, that's pretty good sales," said Rick Wisler, executive director of the New Hampshire Sweepstakes Commission.

Last fiscal year, Powerball represented $100.5 million of $548.3 million in total revenues for Indiana, said Nancy Dorsa, deputy director of the Hoosier Lottery.

"It's a major part of our strategy," she said.

In New Hampshire, the launch of Powerball reduced sales of its Tri-State Megabucks game by 5 percent or $12,000 a week. But that compares to the addition of $500,000 a week in Powerball revenues, Wisler said.

But Rep. David Levdansky, an Allegheny County Democrat, said the loss of people who play other games will in the end reduce some extra income from Powerball.

"Maybe I used to drop $3 or $4 on the lottery," he said. "I'll still spend $3 or $4, but I'll spend $1 of that on Powerball. There will be substituting."

But lottery officials in other states say that Powerball may help rather than hurt sales of other games.

"It's kind of an all-boats-rising situation," Dorsa said. "When the press is publicizing a mega-jackpot, sales for all of our games will generally see a lift because there's greater awareness of the lottery."

Some state officials contend that Powerball's Midas-like jackpots attract out-of-staters and residents who don't normally play the lottery.

Hall, for example, estimates that the $295 million jackpots in 1998 and last August increased sales of other Missouri games by $1 million in both years.

South of Pittsburgh, Hancock County, W.Va, normally sells $180,000 worth of Powerball tickets a month. But for the $295 million jackpot in 1998, it sold nearly $3.8 million in tickets for one drawing, Bulla said.

She doesn't mind Pennsylvania's entry into Powerball. Wisler predicted that Pennsylvania will attract large numbers of New Yorkers buying Powerball tickets.

"The players are going to have a blast with it," he said.

Brad Bumsted contributed to this report.

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