Mass. Lottery advertising will focus on jackpots, not scratch tickets

Oct 3, 2003, 2:46 pm (1 comment)

Massachusetts Lottery

Sometime before the end of the year, television viewers will be treated to their first glimpse of advertising for the Massachusetts Lottery in nearly a decade.

The new $5 million advertising campaign will focus on encouraging casual players to plunk down money for jackpot games like Megabucks and Mega Millions, while steering clear of plugging games like scratch tickets and Keno, according to state Treasurer Tim Cahill.

Cahill said he wants to boost Lottery revenues among higher income and casual players while avoiding criticism that he is encouraging players who can't afford to gamble to dig deeper into their pockets.

"It's always a fine line to watch and it's a challenge that I'll have to deal with throughout my term. How much is too much, and when do we draw the line?" Cahill said in an interview with The Associated Press this week.

"Studies show that when jackpots are high, people who don't normally play the Lottery will play, so we want to reach those people who normally aren't going to the conveniences store on the way home from work," he added.

The Lottery has already tested the waters.

Last week the agency spent a small amount of the $5 million on two days of radio advertising leading up to a Mega Millions jackpot, Cahill said. Sales jumped by 82 percent compared with the prior week, a jump Cahill attributed in part to the advertising.

Cahill said he hopes to generate an extra $25 million in sales with the $5 million in advertising.

Besides trying to encourage casual players, there's another reason why the Lottery is hoping to boost sales in lotto games, Cahill said. Scratch tickets account for about 75 percent of the Lottery's take while Keno accounts for another 20 percent. Lotto games account for just 5 percent.

For most of the past decade, lawmakers have been reluctant to approve any Lottery advertising dollars, worried that they would be seen as encouraging people to gamble.

But as the state looks for ways to generate new dollars in the ongoing fiscal crisis - and as talk of casino or slot machines grows on Beacon Hill - that reluctance has waned.

Cahill concedes the extra advertising could have a downside, but said the positives - a boost in revenues for city and towns - outweighs the negatives.

Kathy Scanlan, executive director of the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling, credited Cahill for focusing on jackpot games.

"We get a lot of calls from people with scratch ticket and Keno problems and not as many calls from people who play the numbers game," she said.

Scanlan said she was more concerned about Cahill's decision to speed up the pace of Keno games from every five minutes to every four minutes.

Cahill said that change is already bringing in more money, but Scanlan said the move could encourage people who can't afford it to spend more money.

"My guess is that increasing Keno from five to four minutes isn't going to draw in new people, but will keep the same people there playing more often. For some people that isn't a problem, but for others it is," she said.

Speeding of the pace of Keno isn't the only change Cahill envisions for the game.

"We're going to look at upgrading the screens ... and maybe adding more types of games to those screens so Keno might be every four minutes and in between that four-minute run there might be something else on that screen," he said.

Cahill and Scanlan both agree that more should be spent on counseling programs for compulsive gamblers. Funding for the counseling programs has been cut back from about $1 million to about $600,000.

AP

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CASH Only

The only real way MA can improve its 6/42 and 6/49 games is to give winners a lump sum option.

If MA wants to advertise, it should focus on Mega Millions.

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