DATE: Wednesday, March 19, 1997             TAG: 9703190518

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                      LENGTH:   34 lines

LOTS OF LOTTERY LUCK PAYS OFF AGAIN

The saga of the lucky lottery tickets continues.

Monday, Virginia Lottery officials discovered that a 7-Eleven clerk's mistake in printing out tickets for James H. Murphy of Newport News meant that six tickets, each winning $150,000, were in circulation. Murphy had one.

Tuesday, Newport News resident Bill Bauer added his chapter. He told lottery officials that he briefly had the other five tickets in his hand, but gave up four.

``He asked the clerk for 10 dollars' worth of Big Game tickets,'' said Ed Scarborough, a lottery spokesman. ``The clerk gave him the tickets and he started out the door.

``Then the clerk said, `Hey, wait, I just realized five of those tickets I gave you are mistake tickets. They all have the same number. You sure you want those?' ''

Bauer looked at the tickets, Scarborough said, and answered, `` `Well, I'll take one of them, they're supposed to be lucky.'

``And he handed the other four back.''

They were indeed lucky. Murphy's number, which he had long played, hit five of the six numbers drawn in the multistate Big Game. They missed the $34 million jackpot, but scored second prize, a flat amount of $150,000.

After taxes, the tickets Bauer gave up were worth $408,000. The one he kept brought him $102,000. Tuesday, he told lottery officials he was glad he had at least kept one of them. Bauer could not be reached for comment.

Murphy and Bauer are so far the only ticket holders to come forward. Lottery officials hope the remaining winners' stories are just as good. KEYWORDS: LOTTERIES VIRGINIA WINNERS

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