Longtime Director of N.H. Lottery to retire
Will oversee addition of Mega Millions game before moving on
The longtime head of the New Hampshire state lottery is retiring after more than three decades with the agency.
Executive Director Rick Wisler, 52, denied he is being forced out but said he has decided to pursue a second career after 34 years in state government.
Wisler has run the lottery since 1994.
He began working part time at the agency right out of high school.
We have accomplished a great deal. It's a good time f ...
Nov 11, 2009, 4:09 pm - - Lottery News forum
N.H. man wins lottery jackpot twice in four years
Bob Jaracz always considered himself a lucky guy.
The Navy war veteran survived a jet fighter crash in Korea, was a POW who escaped his captors, and made it home to the U.S. to marry his true love and raise three boys.
Now Bob and Diane Jaracz should consider themselves really lucky. The Nashua couple are the first New Hampshire residents to win a lottery grand prize twice.
Whenever I cash my tickets, they say, 'Here comes Mister Lucky,' says Jaracz. He and his wife won Tri-State Megab ...
Nov 8, 2009, 9:42 am - - Lottery News forum
N.H. man turns lottery losses into 1,500 wins
He might be the New Hampshire Lottery's winningest loser.
William Rudd, a 64-year-old retiree from Salem, has collected more than 1,500 prizes including food, gift certificates and other goodies under the state lottery's Replay program, which gives losing lottery tickets a second chance to win.
Rudd, who retired five years ago from his job in a warehouse, says his friends and family now know him as the lottery guy, because he spends so much time collecting losing tickets and entering the i ...
Oct 24, 2009, 9:57 pm - - Lottery News forum
New Hampshire crushes lottery winners with new 10% tax
Two $1M winners rush to get prizes before taxes skyrocket
Will higher taxes have the wrong effect and reduce revenue to the state?
The day before a massive 10 percent state tax on lottery prizes went into effect in the Granite State, two winners claimed separate $1 million jackpots something never before witnessed by a 20-year veteran of the lottery.
Milford High School teacher John Kasparek, 42, of Brookline, took a lump sum cash payment of $650,000 before taxes after a NH Millionaire' ...
Jul 1, 2009, 8:11 pm - - Lottery News forum
N.H. Lottery lottery for $1 million winner
New Hampshire Lottery officials are about to pull a scratch ticket from stores, even though one of the $1 million prizes is still unaccounted for.
Officials said 93 percent of the NH Millionaire's Club scratch tickets have been sold, but one of two $1 million winners hasn't been turned in.
Somewhere out there is a scratch ticket worth $1 million, said Rick Wisler, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery. There's no more inventory in the warehouse. So either the winner is among the ...
Jun 2, 2009, 7:21 am - - Lottery News forum
New Hampshire Lottery celebrates 45th anniversary
Trailblazing N.H. had first-in-nation lottery
A tragic mistake. A scandalous experiment in state financing. The shame of New Hampshire.
Opponents of expanded gambling argue that it would hurt the state's image and cause more problems than it would solve. But the quotes above aren't from the current legislative debate; they're from newspaper editorials written in 1964, when New Hampshire launched the nation's first legal state-run lottery.
As the state considers allowing video slot mac ...
Mar 18, 2009, 9:16 pm - - Lottery News forum
N.H. hopes to begin selling lottery tickets at Wal-Mart
New Hampshire is looking to Wal-Mart as a possible way to help boost its lottery revenue.
Lottery Director Rick Wisler said lottery machines in Wal-Mart stores could boost sales.
Wal-Mart has resisted requests around the country to sell lottery products. But next year, Arkansas, where Wal-Mart is based, is starting its own lottery, and that has lottery officials everywhere thinking the development might encourage the retailer to change its mind.
Gov. John Lynch last week called on the l ...
Nov 26, 2008, 8:21 am - - Lottery News forum
Is the lottery shortchanging schools?
According to the North American Assoc. of State and Provincial Lotteries, 42 states and the District of Columbia run lotteries, and more than half claim the games boost funding for education. But CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian found that lotteries aren't exactly providing a windfall for schools.
If you listen to state lottery ads, we're supposed to believe that all the numbers are supposedly adding up to more and more money for education.
Lotteries help, but n ...
Sep 19, 2007, 12:38 pm - - Lottery News forum
Vermont Lottery announces largest Megabucks jackpot in 14 years
The Megabucks prize for Wednesday's draw has surpassed recent record levels, with a current (annuitized) jackpot of $8,900.000. The last time the Megabucks jackpot exceeded $8.9 million was 14 years ago in July of 1993.
Between December 2006 and January 2007, Vermont had three Megabucks winners in a row, winning jackpots of $500,000, $950,000 and $4.5 million. To date, there have been 75 winning Megabucks jackpot tickets sold in Vermont since the game began in 1985.
The highest jackpot t ...
Jul 30, 2007, 8:08 am - - Lottery News forum
N.H. Lottery gets approval for $30 scratch tickets
Is the buzz that comes from buying a $20 scratch ticket starting to wear off?
Don't worry; you will soon be able to press a vending machine button and buy a nation-leading $30 ticket if the state lottery commission has its way.
The state Senate overruled its presiding officer and advanced a bill intended to give the Lottery Commission the freedom to decide when the top ticket of $20 has run its course.
Texas and Connecticut are the only state lotteries in the nation selling a $30 scr ...
Feb 24, 2006, 9:45 am - - Lottery News forum
