Q&A with the CT Lottery CEO
The Hartford Business Journal recently conducted an interview of the Connecticut Lottery CEO.
Q: The lottery has a rich history in our country, dating back to the Revolutionary War when it was used to finance armaments. A legislator floated the idea of a super lottery for deficit reduction. Is there a lottery game out there that could generate $1 billion for the state in profit?
Currently, our revenues to the state exceed a quarter-billion dollars annually. It is unlikely that there exists ...
Apr 14, 2009, 9:36 am - - Lottery News forum
Reflecting bad times, some lotteries hit losing streak
State lotteries are down on their luck as players cut back on games of chance.
From California, where sales for the past year are down 5%, to Florida, where sales slipped 7%, fewer people are gambling on scratch-off tickets and numbers games.
The economy probably has affected lottery sales the way it's affected all discretionary spending, says David Gale of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
About half of Americans buy lottery tickets, according to a 2008 ...
Apr 14, 2009, 8:47 am - - Lottery News forum
Mass. Lottery proposes changes to Megabucks game
Game will get new name, longer odds, bigger jackpots
For devotees of Megabucks, the odds of winning may soon be getting longer under a proposal to update the 27-year-old jackpot game.
Though it will be harder to win the twice-weekly drawing, with odds falling from approximately 1 in 5 million to 1 in 13 million, there's an upside, says a lottery official. The game will be getting richer, meaning bigger jackpots.
A lot of the things that are going to change will be more user-friendly, s ...
Mar 30, 2009, 8:48 am - - Lottery News forum
Oklahoma Lottery bracing for loss of Arkansas dollars
Legislature refuses to consider bill increasing prizes
Oklahoma will be a big loser when Arkansas begins its lottery games, an official said.
The Oklahoma lottery is expected to lose as much as $12 million in sales during the first year Arkansas has its games, said Jim Scroggins, who is the executive director of Oklahoma's lottery.
We estimate, based on prizes claimed by Arkansas residents, that we will, Scroggins said.
That would result in a loss of $3.5 million to $4 million for e ...
Mar 30, 2009, 8:19 am - - Lottery News forum
Washington Lottery may add Powerball to lineup
Washington lottery players may soon be able to buy tickets for the Powerball multi-state game at their local grocery, deli or convenience store.
A proposal that will be heard before the Senate Ways and Means committee this afternoon would allow the Washington Lottery to link with other multi-state games without getting Legislative permission first.
Currently, the Mega Millions is the only multi-state game played in Washington.
This bill would allow the lottery to sell additional multi- ...
Mar 24, 2009, 8:33 am - - Lottery News forum
Lottery sales keep rising, but the recession keeps them in check
Anticipation may be high for tonight's drawing of the multi-state Mega Millions lottery, with a jackpot that has grown to $171 million, but the fallen economy has pinched the wallets of Georgia Lottery ticket buyers.
Muhammad Bonji of Gainesville used to spend $50, maybe $70, a week on tickets, recalling how I was making money back then.
He now spends $30 to $40 per week. Bonji had stopped at the Citgo station on E.E. Butler Parkway at College Avenue to pick up tickets and fuel up his pic ...
Feb 27, 2009, 8:54 am - - Lottery News forum
Custer rich with Powerball winners
They're starting to feel lucky in Custer, South Dakota.
With the second $200,000 Powerball winning ticket having been sold in the Southern Hills community in less than six months, Powerball business was brisk Monday at Lynn's Dakotamart.
We're selling a lot of tickets today, because I think they're all feeling hopeful, store bookkeeper Kathy Cundy said.
Cundy said she was feeling a bit hopeful herself, since she had in her purse a Powerball ticket purchased prior to Saturday's drawing, ...
Jan 20, 2009, 8:43 am - - Lottery News forum
CT Lottery Sells Out Of 1549 After Crash
Hours after US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River, the lottery number 1549 sold out in Connecticut.
Lottery players who attempted to purchase a Play 4 ticket using the numbers 1549 Thursday night were told the number had sold out.
Diane Patterson of the Connecticut Lottery said that it is possible for a number to sell out.
Patterson said the state has an $8 million liability on the game. She said if a number is picked enough times where it reaches the liab ...
Jan 16, 2009, 7:25 am - - Lottery News forum
Many states' lottery sales are rising in recession
Even in these tough economic times, many people are feeling lucky.
More than half of all states with lotteries have reported rising sales over the past six months, and some researchers say financial insecurity might be driving people to risk more of their money than usual on $1 and $5 instant scratch-offs and other daily games in hopes of a big payoff.
Someday somebody is going to win and I hope it is me, said Albert Atwood of Nashville, who spends $100 weekly playing the Pick 5 and Lotto ...
Jan 12, 2009, 8:49 am - - Lottery News forum
Alaska lottery fundraiser hits the jackpot
With a half-million-dollar payoff as the lure, a lottery of unprecedented scale in Alaska has proven immensely popular, with tickets selling out in shops across the state as the initially scheduled drawing time approached Wednesday evening, according to organizers.
In the end, though, late-arriving ticket stubs from the Bush prompted organizers to postpone the drawing a week.
But liquor stores, pull-tab parlors and restaurants in nearly 30 communities had already sold about 130,000 tickets ...
Jan 1, 2009, 11:41 pm - - Lottery News forum
