Kentucky Lottery installing self-service machines

Oct 21, 2011, 8:32 am (19 comments)

Kentucky Lottery

State prepares for upcoming Powerball changes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A one-dollar Powerball ticket will soon be a thing of the past. Changes are coming to the Kentucky Lottery.

After the first of the year a Powerball ticket will cost $2 instead of $1. "There are some changes coming to the Powerball game in January," says lottery spokesman Chip Polston, "where Powerball is going to become a $2 game that we really hope is going to spur those larger jackpots that players really like to play."

That is just one of the changes at the lottery to try to increase sales. Another change customers may have already noticed are new blue vending machines in retail stores across the state. 400 new machines are in place with perhaps 200 more to come.

The new machines are state of the art and allow players to purchase online gaming tickets as well as scratch-offs. Powerball, Mega Millions, Pick 3, Pick 4, for example, can be purchased straight from these machines," says Polston. "You don't have to wait in line at the retail counter anymore. You can come in and get your tickets and be on your way."

Charlie Bell, a regular lottery player, is a fan of the new machines. "They keep from holding you up in a long line," he says. "You can go up and play your numbers, so I think they are really convenient and I like them."

The lottery hopes the new machines will increase sales, which were down slightly last fiscal year from the previous year, but are up again the first two months of this fiscal year. "Our overall sales so far for the year are a little higher than where we were last year," says Polston, "but we are lower than our budget and where we want to be at this point in the year."

Polston says for the first time the lottery has its new vending machines in one of the so-called big box stores where more potential customers can be found. Adds Polston, "They have so much to take care of, they cannot take care of lottery sales at their stores, so we launched just a couple of weeks ago a program with K-Mart in Kentucky where its going to have 29 of these machines all across the state."

Polston says the lottery hopes to get the new machines in other big box stores like Wal-Mart. He point out the machines do not dispense winnings. Winners will still have to go the store counter to collect their prizes.

In June the lottery paid the state a dividend of more than $212 million, money that goes to college scholarships and grants.

WDRB

Comments

CLETU$

No more long lines at the counter.Now there will be long lines at the lottery machine.

Stack47

"He point out the machines do not dispense winnings. Winners will still have to go the store counter to collect their prizes."

The machines have that warning right above the ticket scanner, but people will still scan their tickets and complain when they get credits to buy more tickets and not the cash. I've only seen these machines in stores with regular terminals and they are being used by scratch-off players. A gas station put tables near their machine so players won't be scratching at the store counter.

The Kentucky Lottery has done many things that benefit the players like paying $600 to $1 on their Pick-3 game (live ball drawings) and providing cashing agents in almost every county where players can cash tickets up to $5000 in a few minutes.

joshuacloak's avatarjoshuacloak

i just hope dumbass's that cant under stand how to use a touch sceen worth beep, and stand their forever............ don't get in our way

other wise i love these things. tech great, the people who use it thro, my god i can unload so much hate towards them.

that easy to fix, just have more then 1 machine per store.       

, but that's a issue of money  and how cheap they can be while sure making max profits"sales" thro for lottery and retailers.

it fix it self somewhat as all older beeps die off over the years and more people born with  tech under their hands sense birth take over pop ratio.

but it never fix it self

 

their like this coke drinking machine, you can mix and make so many diff drinks, but people just stand their forever..........................................................

to many options for their little minds,   what really makes me mad, is people stand in Line, texting,talking on phone,  and only when its "their turn" do they then spend the time to think what they want

o god forbid while they was in line, they could of thinked what they wanted, noooooooooooooooooooooooo sir.

 


CLETU$

Quote: Originally posted by joshuacloak on Oct 21, 2011

i just hope dumbass's that cant under stand how to use a touch sceen worth beep, and stand their forever............ don't get in our way

other wise i love these things. tech great, the people who use it thro, my god i can unload so much hate towards them.

that easy to fix, just have more then 1 machine per store.       

, but that's a issue of money  and how cheap they can be while sure making max profits"sales" thro for lottery and retailers.

it fix it self somewhat as all older beeps die off over the years and more people born with  tech under their hands sense birth take over pop ratio.

but it never fix it self

 

their like this coke drinking machine, you can mix and make so many diff drinks, but people just stand their forever..........................................................

to many options for their little minds,   what really makes me mad, is people stand in Line, texting,talking on phone,  and only when its "their turn" do they then spend the time to think what they want

o god forbid while they was in line, they could of thinked what they wanted, noooooooooooooooooooooooo sir.

 


You need to go back to school and learn to spell and how to put together a sentence so that it makes some kind of sense.

ELUCKYDREAM*

Quote: Originally posted by CLETU$ on Oct 21, 2011

You need to go back to school and learn to spell and how to put together a sentence so that it makes some kind of sense.

YOU ARE TOO FUNNY!!!  I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING!!

ELUCKYDREAM*

I wish Ga would get machines because I wouldn't have to deal with clerks that don't want to process  lottery slips and being noseyand  asking you  questions.  You know some people still like to call out numbers and don't complete the pay slips.  I hate these people in line.  They would have to learn to use the machines if they want to play.

NoShame's avatarNoShame

I would love to have these machines in Indiana.  I have to deal with some really annoying clerks at various locations and most of them have a hard time with my slips and their computer's failure to read them even when I fill them out right.  Numerous times I'm told I have to fill a new slip cause the machine couldn't read my numbers.  These new machines would be a great benefit to me and would make me feel more comfortable without buying as many tickets as I want.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

I would love any kind of machine in TN that would allow you to completely bypass the moron clerks.

Especially a machine that cashes in your winning tickets without making some lame attempt to shortchange you or "forget" to give you your exchange tickets or free tickets like the clerks routinely do.

But that'll never happen.

earthdragon72

We have them in Florida, but only in supermarkets, I hate them cause the machines tend to get stuck, and you cannot get your money back. I like getting them from an actual person!!!

Hurray!

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by earthdragon72 on Oct 24, 2011

We have them in Florida, but only in supermarkets, I hate them cause the machines tend to get stuck, and you cannot get your money back. I like getting them from an actual person!!!

Hurray!

Still, I would rather have a machine rip me off due to a malfunction than a sleazy lottery clerk who tries to do it as a matter of routine.

CLETU$

I don't like machines because they take jobs away from real people that need them.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by CLETU$ on Oct 24, 2011

I don't like machines because they take jobs away from real people that need them.

Good point, but occasionally some of those people need to be in jail and they aren't.

I prefer machines because I've had too many instances of clerks trying to rip me off.

They've never gotten away with it but it's the principle.

And that fact convinces me that they do get away with it with people who trust them to check their tickets and/or who otherwise aren't paying close attention to what the clerk is doing.

Now a lot of people will say, "Well, if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be playing" but that's not what the reality is. A lot of lower IQ people play the lottery and a lot of overly trusting people play too. That's just the way it is and they should not be taken advantage of for those reasons.

Each state should have an aggressive, pro-active cadre of individuals whose sole purpose is to find and catch these crooks inflagrante delicto and have them brought up on charges.

But they don't.

CLETU$

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Oct 24, 2011

Good point, but occasionally some of those people need to be in jail and they aren't.

I prefer machines because I've had too many instances of clerks trying to rip me off.

They've never gotten away with it but it's the principle.

And that fact convinces me that they do get away with it with people who trust them to check their tickets and/or who otherwise aren't paying close attention to what the clerk is doing.

Now a lot of people will say, "Well, if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be playing" but that's not what the reality is. A lot of lower IQ people play the lottery and a lot of overly trusting people play too. That's just the way it is and they should not be taken advantage of for those reasons.

Each state should have an aggressive, pro-active cadre of individuals whose sole purpose is to find and catch these crooks inflagrante delicto and have them brought up on charges.

But they don't.

I agree that there are some crooked clerks out there but I believe that MOST people are honest and that you just hear about the crooked clerks more often than you hear about the honest clerks.I still think that machines are a poor substitute for a real person.Just my opinion.

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

i work at an atlantic city casino, engineering div.

just today i noticed they installed a vending mach. w/ scratchers.

years ago we had a regular lottery terminal, it was in the bowling alley.

when the bowling was taken out so was the lottery.

i miss that it was so convient to get my tickets at work.

Subscribe to this news story