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Mass. Rep. says lottery funds should go to areas with highest salesNews Story
Lynn is one of the Massachusetts State Lottery's sales hotspots. Yet while Lynn residents spend $85 million a year on tickets and games, the old industrial city gets back just $15 million a year from a Lottery-financed state aid program. State Rep. Steven Walsh (D-Lynn) said it is this imbalance that drove him to file legislation that could revamp the way Lottery proceeds are doled out to cities and towns. Walsh's bill calls for a commission to explore whether the current formula used t
Feb 28, 2007, 8:38 am - Lottery News

Lotteries long for 'jackpot fever'News Story
To lottery players, $100 million ain't what it used to be. A seven-month streak of jackpots that were big, but not gigantic, has sent traditional lottery sales plummeting in many states. In the past six months, Mega Millions sales are down 30% in Texas compared with a year earlier and 38% in Massachusetts. Powerball sales are off 6% in Wisconsin. The USA is suffering from jackpot fatigue, lottery officials say. There was a time when $50 million created a stir. Then we needed $
Feb 13, 2007, 2:31 pm - Lottery News

Ohio Lottery panel rejects new Gov.'s call for smaller prizesNews Story
Ohio Lottery Commission officials say a recommendation from Ohio's new Governor that they reduce prizes to give their profits a boost would have the opposite effect. Lottery officials responded yesterday to a report from Gov. Ted Strickland's transition advisers that said the lottery has an inordinately high percentage of prize payouts. The advisory panel last month asked lottery commissioners to consider scaling back the 59 percent it returned in prizes, which was higher in 2004 than w
Feb 13, 2007, 9:21 am - Lottery News

Nationwide, lotteries pay for far more than educationNews Story
Martha Keller is a 78-year-old resident of Altoona, Pa., who frequently takes the bus from her apartment on Walnut Avenue to her doctor's office or the local senior center. Chandni Amin is a 19-year-old nursing student at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Keller and Amin have little in common save for one thing both are benefiting directly from money raised by state lotteries. Lotteries help pay for everything from education to economic development, buses to baseball stadiums. In Penn
Jan 31, 2007, 12:06 am - Lottery News

Lottery mega-jackpots generating less 'buzz'News Story
Rhode Island Lottery chief predicts Powerball and Mega Millions will merge in the future Just a few years ago, a $240 million Powerball jackpot would have drawn long lines at gas stations and convenience stores across the state. But last week there was little buzz. And forget about lines. Call it jackpot fatigue. Rhode Islanders' appetite for gambling has lowered. And we're not alone. Elsewhere in the region, sales of lottery tickets and other forms of gambling are either less th
Jan 27, 2007, 9:23 am - Lottery News

Mass. Lottery officials concerned about big revenue dipNews Story
The highly successful Massachusetts State Lottery experienced a $71 million decline in revenues in the first five months of the fiscal year, according to figures filed with the governor's office, sparking concern among municipal officials. Most lottery money is funneled back to the state's communities. The lottery right now is extraordinarily important to cities and towns, said Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. We're hoping that the lott
Jan 19, 2007, 12:36 pm - Lottery News

Mass. Lottery bets it can draw richer playersNews Story
It's not your average Joe Lunchbucket's state lottery anymore. The Massachusetts State Lottery is spending millions on an upscale advertising campaign aimed at reeling in upper-income folks with dreams of having even more money. Emblematic of this new, and some might say curious approach, is the Lottery's sponsorship deal with public radio station WBUR, a National Public Radio affiliate. You won't hear the latest scratch tickets hawked. But the Lottery gets a very powerful, soft sell
Dec 20, 2006, 4:09 pm - Lottery News

Millionaire lottery ticket trash-diver keeps most of prizeNews Story
The million-dollar question has been the talk of the town for months: Should an 83-year-old Blackstone man share winnings from a discarded Massachusetts Lottery jackpot-winning ticket with the man who said he accidentally threw it away? When Edward St. John found the $1 million ticket last October after sifting through a trash can at local convenience store, his answer was a resounding no. But the family of Kevin Donovan , who said he tossed the Hold 'em Poker scratch ticket, took matters t
Aug 28, 2006, 10:20 am - Lottery News

Mass. lottery addresses Asian gambling addictsNews Story
The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling is taking aim at a new group Asian gamblers. The council is dedicating $100,000 from the state Lottery to the new effort, the largest amount they've ever used to address a single demographic group. Executive director Kathleen Scanlon says compulsive gambling is a problem in the Asian community. Casinos have been aggressively marketing to Asians in recent years. Former counselor Ming Chang has worked with Asian gambling addicts and sa
Aug 23, 2006, 4:06 pm - Lottery News

Andy Rooney: Lotteries and lottery players are stupidNews Story
Editor: The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney, originally broadcast on March 19, 2006, and re-broadcast last night. The study that Rooney quotes, saying that poor people gamble the most, is completely false. All credible studies show that all demographics gamble roughly the same amount. Rooney's commentary is shown here to illustrate the ignorant and myopic arguments of some anti-lottery critics. I suppose it's true that I'm too easily annoye
Aug 7, 2006, 8:28 am - Lottery News