Michigan Lottery replacing terminals statewide

Nov 14, 2008, 10:42 am (21 comments)

Michigan Lottery

Michigan celebrates 36th anniversary of state lottery

As the Michigan Lottery turns 36 this week, about 11,000 lottery machines across Michigan are being replaced with new state-of-the-art terminals.

The new Michigan Lottery terminals are smaller, faster and easier to use, with features including touchpad screens and laser printing instead of keyboards and the usual ticket paper.

About 3,420 retailers statewide already have converted to the new machines.

State's first lottery ticket sold in 1972

The technology upgrade is taking place 36 years after the first lottery ticket was sold in the state.

This week in 1972 the 50-cent green game ticket went on sale.  It was the first ticket sold by the Michigan State Lottery.

On May 16, 1972, voters approved a constitutional amendment by a 2-1 margin that enabled the establishment of a state lottery.  Public Act 239 was signed into law by Gov. William Milliken on Aug. 1, 1972.

Since its inception, the Michigan State Lottery has earned $37.69 billion.

Last year, the lottery reported $2.3 billion in sales.

The largest jackpot awarded in Michigan State Lottery history was $208 million, won by Port Huron couple Ralph and Mary Stebbins on April 22, 2005.

On May 12, 2000, small-business owners Larry and Nancy Ross of Shelby Township became part of U.S. gaming history when they claimed their share of the then-largest lottery jackpot in North America: the $363 million grand prize in the May 9, 2000 Big Game drawing.

Historic Michigan Winner Stories

The Rosses took their $181.5 million share of the jackpot winnings in a one-time, lump-sum payment for approximately $90 million, before taxes.  Their winning Big Game "easy pick" ticket was purchased at Mr. K's Party Shoppe in Utica.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

L J1's avatarL J1

The new terminal looks appealing. There's a new LCD monitor on the counter wired into the new terminal that faces the customer as they purchase tickets (not sure why the cost, or the need of the monitor). I'm sure with all the new bells and whistles these macines provide, customers are only concerned with the winning ticket. 

The tickets themselves are printed on a new type of paper (smoother to the touch), I do like the the text of info that's printed on the ticket, much of the same of course, the printing is crisp, well read, no confusion of printer running out of ink, (at least for now).

Interesting to see how well these new high tech machines operate at crunch time, when Mega Millions Jackpots reach well over 100m.   

DC81's avatarDC81

I haven't seen these new machines yet... I guess they haven't made it to my part of the state.

spy153's avatarspy153

Wow.  That's only 2 years younger than I am.  What is the longest any state has had the lottery?

sorensonfan41

Spy, I believe it's 44 years........with New Hampshire's lottery.

Bradly_60's avatarBradly_60

All of the stores around here (In the western UP) have the new machines now.  The tickets are a lot better then the old ones, like pointed out earlier a lot more crisp.  We have had some of the best scratch offs (I mean by the look and feel of them) in my opinion compared to other states, and now we finally got good terminal tickets.  Bought yeah that price tag must of been pretty expensive for all the new equipment at 10,000 stores.

Brad

DC81's avatarDC81

When did you get the new machines in your area??

diamondpalace's avatardiamondpalace

They look sexy. It will come in handy for those who grab and go.

Think's avatarThink

Quote: Originally posted by DC81 on Nov 14, 2008

When did you get the new machines in your area??

The Copper Country got em a couple of weeks ago.

  Marquette Area got em last week.  They also have ticket checkers so you can get lazy and scan your tickets before you check them yourself.  I scan my tickets then I check them by hand anyway.

The Dell Monitors on the counter show the ticket transactions.  They didn't clear it and I saw that somebody won 50 bux. They also show how much the total is for the tickets you bought (look in the lower right hand corner).  They also show the winning numbers for the games and the jackpot amounts.

If you read the back of the new tickets it says not to expose the  tickets to heat.

NoCompLotto!

Quote: Originally posted by Think on Nov 14, 2008

The Copper Country got em a couple of weeks ago.

  Marquette Area got em last week.  They also have ticket checkers so you can get lazy and scan your tickets before you check them yourself.  I scan my tickets then I check them by hand anyway.

The Dell Monitors on the counter show the ticket transactions.  They didn't clear it and I saw that somebody won 50 bux. They also show how much the total is for the tickets you bought (look in the lower right hand corner).  They also show the winning numbers for the games and the jackpot amounts.

If you read the back of the new tickets it says not to expose the  tickets to heat.

The reason why not to expose the tickets to heat is because they are now printed on thermal paper instead of a 3,000,000 BC-esque dot matrix printer LOL. Additional heat could actually damage the ticket info rendering it useless (and possibly void).

Most of the machines down by here in the western Detroit area have been converted too. The ticket checkers are pretty much the same ones as the Club Keno checkers, however, CK tix can only be scanned at CK locations.

I for one like the new terminals. They seem to be MUCH LESS noisier than the old ones. They are also much faster than their predecessors (THANKFULLY).

charmed7's avatarcharmed7

You know Michigan is broke!   Think that there was to many winners here

The machines are probaly  to cut down on some that money going out.

Hopefully they will generate more winners and have the opposite effect

LckyLary

They just got some kind of new terminals in Penna., also. Last time we were over there the tickets are on different paper, and not as "dotty" as before, and the game logo is printed on the ticket. They were having all sorts of problems before, where papers would either jam or not register or the play-ahead would wig out. Here in nj they prefer to live in the past with dull dot-matrix on dark pink paper that is difficult to read in other than direct sunlight. I kind of like the old school dot matrix, takes me back to VIC 20 days, but not the pink paper.

ICNUMBERS's avatarICNUMBERS

Quote: Originally posted by charmed7 on Nov 15, 2008

You know Michigan is broke!   Think that there was to many winners here

The machines are probaly  to cut down on some that money going out.

Hopefully they will generate more winners and have the opposite effect

I'm a little confused bcuz I think that the lottery should be keeping it alive. Did you ever go to there website and see the payout it is such a joke. And I think that just about any1 will agree with me in repeat city that there hard to beat and win if your not paying attn., and there are far more people who are playing who aren't paying attn.

Drivedabizness

They are quieter because of far fewer moving parts - especially printer pins.

 

I think the "don't expose to heat" warnings are simply for additional piece of mind. The requirements for "new" thermal paper require vendors to submit the paper to prolonged heat and cold. I mean, I wouldn't put one on my dashboard in the middle of summer and then go in to a movie...but they should be pretty rugged.

ICNUMBERS's avatarICNUMBERS

Quote: Originally posted by Drivedabizness on Nov 16, 2008

They are quieter because of far fewer moving parts - especially printer pins.

 

I think the "don't expose to heat" warnings are simply for additional piece of mind. The requirements for "new" thermal paper require vendors to submit the paper to prolonged heat and cold. I mean, I wouldn't put one on my dashboard in the middle of summer and then go in to a movie...but they should be pretty rugged.

Whoever thought of that paper was a genius. I think that it is the same paper that most store use today. Even if you keep your receipt but if you don't keep it in the right place it will fade the bar code and or date and that's like not having a receipt at all. I think it's just another conspiracy theory to keep more money in their pockets. Oh don't put it in your pop cup holder either. LOL

Todd's avatarTodd

Anyone concerned about lottery tickets being printed on thermal paper, there is no need for concern.  Many state lotteries use thermal paper.

One state near to me that uses thermal paper is Delaware, and if anything I find them to be much more readable than my own state, which uses the traditional dot matrix pinting method.

Thermal printers don't suffer from the same barely-readable ink problems that happen when the store neglects to change the printer ribbon.  Who hasn't seen that problem before?  I've had tickets printed so lightly that the machine could not scan them.  You would never have that issue with a thermal printer.

My personal opinion is that the switch to thermal is a good thing for Michigan.

DC81's avatarDC81

Tell me about it, even better is when they don't bother changing the ribbon for so long that when you buy a ticket it only shows up as being half there where not only are the numbers not readable but neither is the bar code or the uhh "serial number" or whatever it's called. Can't wait for when these new machines make it to my area and I hope it's soon. Big Smile

LckyLary

The money saved by not changing ribbons might be just enough to save the economy! As for the thermal paper it's nothing that new, it's been around as long as the old-school Fax machines, and it would be interesting to have the "fade-away" timed for when the ticket expires; receipts like that I have fade about 6 months to a year... but I will suggest this: scan-in or photograph your tickets so in case that did happen you could at least show them a copy they could get the time and date from. The new ones do print that. The only possible problem is it's near where the draw date is so it could confuse some people.

L J1's avatarL J1

I want to say New York was the longest state? Of course I'l have to call Alex Trebic of Jepordy to see if that's  the right answer.

L J1's avatarL J1

Quote: Originally posted by spy153 on Nov 14, 2008

Wow.  That's only 2 years younger than I am.  What is the longest any state has had the lottery?

that's my final answer :)

crystaltips's avatarcrystaltips

Yes, we already have these newer machines here in England :)

DC81's avatarDC81

I still can't wait for them to come to my area and I hope it's soon! The bar codes of a few tickets I bought yesterday at a store in a different town in my county were messed up by the terminal or maybe the ink was wet still as it was coming out and rubbed against a part of the machine but whatever, at least the numbers are still legible. Then I bought a couple more tickets else where and they're quite light due to low ink.

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