NH Lottery Fever Brings Back ‘Tri State Mega’ Memories

It was a Saturday night in September of 1985 and every fiber of my being was focused on the wood paneled TV screen, in hopes my family would match the 6 lucky numbers that were guaranteed to bring us fame and fortune.

At least, that's how I remember it!

For years before that night, Massachusetts had their own million dollar lottery game and every once in a while, one of my adult family members would pick up a ticket for us to 'split' if we won.

But that wasn't nearly as much fun as the idea of having a custom made ticket with all the family birthdays lined up, week after week. And the idea of having to possibly pay the Massachusetts tax on any potential big winner was also a distasteful concept.

My Mother bought a subscription style ticket that was good for a year, which in my 12 year old brain, seemed like an infinite amount of time insuring that one day we'd hit the big one!

It's funny I can still remember those original numbers like they're printed in front of me 8-11-14-23-28-30.

As I recall, WMUR-TV's Steve Thomas was all decked out in a tuxedo (he's also a magician, so he probably had several, now that I think about it) and the fact that a NH Broadcaster was hosting this game simultaneously, for all three states, was so cool!

Would you believe the first ball that dropped, was an 11 (!) (?) I literally jumped out of my chair.

It was beginner's luck for sure because we hit another two numbers resulting in a free ticket win!

The $500,000 prize seems like couch cushion change compared to today's near billion dollar hauls. But for me, it was way more exciting!

It's so fun to go back in one's mind and relive these 'major events', because a lot of what you remember, usually didn't happen.