Almost a million reasons to play Rainbow 6

ARCADIA, Calif. – Friday’s 10-race program at Santa Anita begins with a carryover of $992,979 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, with interest expected to heighten dramatically for Sunday’s closing day of the meeting, which has a mandatory payout.

The carryover portion is paid only if there is one winning ticket, which has yet to occur through last Sunday, the 19th day of the 22-day meeting. Sunday’s Rainbow pick six paid $31,431. There were six winning tickets from a pool of $353,039.

There is no consolation for the Rainbow 6 to ticket holders with five winners, with 70 percent of the net pool devoted to ticket holders with six winners and 30 percent carried over if there is more than one ticket with six winners. Those terms have left some players waiting for Sunday, when the entire pool will be distributed to tickets with six winners.

A seven-figure carryover into Sunday could produce a pool of new money in excess of $6 million, track officials said.