Lottery fever is sizzling across the Magnolia State. And Mississippi Gulf Coast counties are conveniently located right at the epicenter as people spend millions of dollars on the games of chance.
In recent months, lottery games boomed in Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties. But even more action is coming in the new decade as Mississippi became the latest state in 2020 where people can buy Powerball and Mega Millions tickets.
Feeling lucky today? Just drive to a nearby convenience store or gas station in the Sip & take a chance. Yes, there are lots of people who win nothing. But other scratch off winners in Mississippi have raked in as much as $100,000 in cool cash.
Sen. Phil Moran of Hancock County is super excited to make history as the first Mississippian to buy  Mega Millions and Powerball tickets and take a chance to win even bigger cash prizes. That happened on Thursday January 30 at a Mississippi convenience store. The Mississippi lawmaker from the Gulf Coast stood first in line. Moran is far from the last in the state to try. For years, many Mississippi would just drive across the Mississippi River Bridge near Vicksburg and purchase tickets right off I-20 in Louisiana.
It took Mississippi decades to get a lottery launched. After many years of rejecting a lottery, the Mississippi Legislature approved it in a special session at the Capitol in August 2018. Gov. Phil Bryant signed it into law and the rest is history. Well, not quite. Because the new lotto in Mississippi is making news daily.