N.H. Lottery To Sell $20 Scratch Tickets

May 12, 2005, 12:42 pm (12 comments)

New Hampshire Lottery

New Hampshire scratch lottery ticket buyers soon will have a new choice and price range of games to play.

The House on Wednesday approved a new $20 lottery ticket. The higher-priced scratch tickets will offer larger prizes and are expected to add about $5 million to state revenues during the next two years. They've already been approved by the Senate and have the support of the governor.

Rick Wisler, executive director of the Sweepstakes Commission, said the $20 scratch tickets likely will be offered to the public the first week in November, in time for holiday shoppers.

The $5 million in projected income is new money for budget writers in the Senate, who are trying to fill several gaps in the 2006-2007 budget.

Plaistow Rep. Norm Major, who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, said the lottery needs to introduce new games periodically or interest -- and income for the state -- will decline.

Opposition came from Walpole Rep. John Pratt who argued low-income families don't need to spend more money on lottery tickets.

"I think what we're really going to do is create the opportunity for many people at the margins to just double the loss," he said. The state already sells $10 lottery tickets.

East Hampstead Rep. Kevin Camm, a member of Ways and Means, said the committee heard no opposition to the higher-priced scratch tickets from churches, welfare officers or others.

Manchester Rep. Steve Vaillancourt opposed the higher-priced tickets, arguing it will lead the state to phase out the $1 tickets.

Following the debate, the House vote was 196-154 in favor of the new scratch tickets.

The Sweepstakes Commission first proposed offering the $20 tickets, which would provide payoffs of up to $250,000. Gov. John Lynch included the extra revenue in his budget, but the House excluded the source of income from its spending plan.

AP

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LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

i wonder if they'll do this in tennessee soon....

Tnplayer805's avatarTnplayer805

I don't see it for TN for a while even if then.  GA has never had a $20 ticket and FL doesn't have one either.  IL, another state where Rebecca has helped just started a $20 not too long ago.  I don't think I would play a $20 ticket.  It kills me to lose $10 playing a $10 ticket.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

yeah i barely ever play the ten dollar anyway...

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

like jumbo bucks though........

tg636

Is there anyone besides me who thinks it is too painful to lose $20 in one shot? NH must be full of rich people.

BabyJC's avatarBabyJC

I recently moved to NH from MA and think the NH scratch tickets are lousy!  I only buy scratch tickets from MA because they are much better than NH's (style-wise, prize-wise, etc.).  I also find it funny that the article said that the $20 NH ticket will have large prizes, but does not say what they consider to be a large prize!  On the $10 MA Poker ticket, you can win $10 million.  I don't think any scratch ticket should be over $10.  NH should be ashamed for being so greedy!

CASH Only

JC:

The $10m Mass prize is annuity-only.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

if its annuity only what would that come to a year if you win?

tg636

MA has 20 year annuities, so $10 mil would be $500,000 a year.

>The higher-priced scratch tickets will offer larger prizes and are expected to add about $5 million to state revenues during the next two years.

Yes, by people shifting their $20 to a single $20 ticket instead of $20 worth of other tickets. I doubt many lottery players have an extra $20 they want to spend in addition to what they already spend.

CASH Only

If NH doesn't have annuity-only scratches, NH is better than MA for scratch tickets.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

you got that right.....

CASH Only

Maybe NH is too small for annuity-only scratch prizes.

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