According to a report yesterday in The State newspaper, WSPA will cover the Upstate market with WCBD broadcasting in Charleston, WPDE in Florence-Myrtle Beach and WLTX covering Columbia.

The stations have agreed to broadcast the drawing live from Main Street in Columbia. The drawings take place just before the 7 o'clock hour. You could also see a "lottery minute" on the air when you press the 7 on your remote. There will be bubba or bubbette jumping up and down for joy. With a little bit of luck, we may even get to hear some stories of how the money is being spent to make our schools better.

While it may start out as a minute the presence of the lottery will start spilling into the programming of the station. They will be running "responsible gambling" spots and offer bonus advertising spots. There will also be some financial gain from the deal.

Canít wait to see the big billboards start popping up all over the place telling us how much we can win when we get the lotto-itch. Hey, just "go ahead and scratch."