More time to buy a chance for $1 million

If you're holding a "Cash Splash Millionaire Raffle" ticket, you're probably feeling lucky right about now.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, about 201,000 raffle tickets of the total 500,000 had been sold. That means your odds of winning one of the three $1 million prizes are looking pretty good.

But before you rush out to buy that Hummer, take a deep breath. The lottery has given itself another couple of weeks to sell more tickets - and reduce your odds.

Buried deep on the lottery's website and in the small advertising print is a little caveat: "The actual drawing date is subject to change at the sole discretion of N.C. Education Lottery."

So the Cash Splash drawing was postponed from Wednesday to Sept. 20.

A lottery spokesman surmised that the double-digit ticket cost was hurting sales.

"In this economy, the $20 ticket may be too high to ask," spokesman Van Denton said.

Indeed, customers come into Taz's convenience store on Wilmington Street in downtown Raleigh intrigued about the raffle, which brags that it gives players the best odds to win $1 million because of the limited number of tickets offered.

"But when they find out it's $20, they buy something else," said Gigi Zarka, who runs the store's lottery sales.

Of the more than 1,000 lottery tickets that Taz's sold Wednesday, including scratch off and Powerball, only four were the Cash Splash tickets, she said.

This is the lottery's third raffle - the first sold out, but the second didn't, Denton said.

The lottery won't extend the raffle date again, Denton said. Sales will end at midnight Sept. 19, and the raffle will be held at 4:30 p.m. the next day.

Winners who land the $1 million prizes get a bonus because the lottery will pay the initial taxes on the prize. In addition to the top prizes, eight people will win $50,000; 30 people will win $5,000; and 560 people will win $500. Winners of the lesser prizes are responsible for the taxes.

Of course, this article letting everyone know of the low sales will probably spur some sales and hurt current ticket holders' chances. Sorry about that.