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N.J. Lottery to add Powerball?
New Jersey Lottery: N.J. Lottery to add Powerball?
Could be first state to offer both Mega Millions and Powerball
New Jersey could become the first to participate in two multi-state lotteries.
Two state officials who have been briefed on the budget Gov. Jon S. Corzine will present to the Legislature on Tuesday say it includes a proposal that New Jersey become the 31st state to offer Powerball.
The officials say the game could generate $10 million a year.
New Jersey's other lottery games, including the multi-state Mega Millions, generate about $860 million a year for education, senior programs and institutions.
The lotteries are New Jersey's fourth-largest revenue producers behind taxes on income, sales and businesses.
Lottery sales were off nearly 2 percent in January but still generated $66 million for the month.
States traditionally pick one multi-state game or the other. The groups that operate Powerball and Mega Millions normally do not approve a state's membership in the game if it participates in the other game.
MUSL, the company that operates Powerball, may be enticed to accept the offer based on New Jersey's large player base and long history of lottery success.
Thanks for LckyLary for the tip.
Lottery Post Staff
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28 comments. Last comment 8 months ago by .
United States Member #61779 May 17, 2008 147 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 12:27 am - IP Logged |
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Todd-
What do u think? Im guessing Jersey cant wait to get its greedy hands on powerball $$$. But Im definately down!!!!
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Chief Bottle Washer New Jersey United States Member #1 May 31, 2000 17050 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 12:38 am - IP Logged |
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Todd-
What do u think? Im guessing Jersey cant wait to get its greedy hands on powerball $$$. But Im definately down!!!! Heck, I think it would be great - can't wait to get my hands on it too! 
May go down as the first good achievement of our governor. 
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Idaho United States Member #56982 November 21, 2007 3220 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 1:00 am - IP Logged |
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That would be kind of cool, but I always thought that to two games would never want to be in the same state at the same time. "No one remembers the person who almost climbed the mountain, only the person who eventually gets to the top."
ThatScaryChick
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United States Member #54859 August 17, 2007 257 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 1:41 am - IP Logged |
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Atlantic Mine, Michigan United States Member #417 June 23, 2002 1593 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 8:35 am - IP Logged |
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The article said it would raise $10 million. Is that per month? I mean that would be a very low estimate for a year...especially how well NJ sells Mega Millions. If this does happen I can definetly see a merger of the two games on the horizon.
Brad
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Stroudsburg, PA United States Member #1860 July 11, 2003 2598 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 8:41 am - IP Logged |
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This would be huge. But how would the Mega Millions consortium react to this? Me thinks they might be peeved. Peeved enough to give New Jersey Das Boot.
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Chief Bottle Washer New Jersey United States Member #1 May 31, 2000 17050 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 8:54 am - IP Logged |
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The article said it would raise $10 million. Is that per month? I mean that would be a very low estimate for a year...especially how well NJ sells Mega Millions. If this does happen I can definetly see a merger of the two games on the horizon.
Brad I'm sure that $10 million number is a net number to the government's bottom line, not gross proceeds for the game.
I don't see a merger at all. From a revenue perspective there is no benefit to merging, and in fact would probably produce less revenue than having two separate games in one state.
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Chief Bottle Washer New Jersey United States Member #1 May 31, 2000 17050 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 8:56 am - IP Logged |
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This would be huge. But how would the Mega Millions consortium react to this? Me thinks they might be peeved. Peeved enough to give New Jersey Das Boot. I'm not so sure. It may actually have the opposite effect, with more states wanting to join both. On the flip-side I'm sure there are some Powerball states that would love to add Mega Millions.
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NC United States Member #11965 February 23, 2005 1039 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 9:21 am - IP Logged |
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Wow! Talk about confusing.. ..I don't think I could handle the pressure. lol however, it would save me a drive to Virginia Be kind to a stranger because you never know when you are talking to an angel.
KZM
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Gurnee, Illinois United States Member #50189 February 12, 2007 348 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 11:16 am - IP Logged |
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This would be huge. But how would the Mega Millions consortium react to this? Me thinks they might be peeved. Peeved enough to give New Jersey Das Boot. Naw, only the folks at Powerball have hard feelings over the Big Game (Mega Millions) as if you read in the Powerball History sheet, it says, "The Georgia Lottery Corporation stops selling the Powerball game and joins some other lottery game...that some other lottery game being Mega Millions! Heck, GA only offered Powerball for a little over a year before jumping to the Big Game. I guess the PB folks are perhaps hoping NJ will do to Mega Millions what GA did to Powerball...which would be a dumb move on NJ's part as NJ has had quite a few jackpot winners as of late. Personally, I would hate for NJ to join Powerball as I would really hate for their penchant for winning the jackpot to carry over to Powerball. Forget the formulas...you only win when you're lucky! I'm one lucky mofo...NOW give me MONEY!
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TheBuddhaPimp High Point, NC United States Member #53598 June 24, 2007 4550 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 11:18 am - IP Logged |
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it should save me a drive to virginia also...
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Englewood, Colorado United States Member #19425 July 25, 2005 51 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 11:46 am - IP Logged |
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For lottery fanatics this would be heaven. They can play 4 days a week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
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Northern California United States Member #20270 August 9, 2005 144 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 12:10 pm - IP Logged |
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Todd is from Jersey? What exit? :)
For a very mature, geographically compact, with lots of "border fuzziness" (lots of people from Jersey commute to NYC, Philly and towns in other states I don't even know about) lottery, I can see them looking at having both games.
There is an investment for ad/promo for the lottery, and for the lottery vendor in programming, playslips, updating training materials, etc. But unless they do a big ad campaign, that investment is pretty limited.
Will PB cannibalize MM? Yes
How much? Hard to say. Other states have seen a "hit" of 40% - but I don't think that will apply to a "daily numbers heavy", Eastern state like NJ.
How much will incremental sales be? Ahhhh - that is the kicker. To the extent that combined sales are even a little bit higher incrementally, the Lottery wins. When PB gets a big JP, they will generate even more $$$ on the margin.
While this would have been considered "heresy" just a few short years ago, I'm actually pretty warm to the idea.
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United States Member #26687 November 16, 2005 162 Posts Offline |
| Posted: March 10, 2009, 1:16 pm - IP Logged |
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Seems like a bad idea. It's bad enough being behind someone who NEVER plays the lotto but wants a ticket for the big jackpot. I can only imagine being behind someone who doesn't know the difference btw Powerball and Mega Millions! It's bad enough when the clerk is trying to explain QP's to a person or how they have to fill out a playslip but to Multi-State games?? It would be awful for someone who wasn't aware of the difference to buy a Powerball ticket instead of a MM and miss a Jackpot!! Imagine having the right numbers but on the wrong Game! I think MM's will drop New Jersey if they adopt Powerball...........
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