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Bob Newhart brings back Papa Elf in new Kentucky Lottery holiday commercialNews Story
Includes video report You may do a double take when you see the latest commercial from the Kentucky Lottery. Yup. Legendary actor Bob Newhart dusted off his Papa Elf costume from his turn in the Christmas blockbuster movie Elf to work with the Kentucky Lottery promoting its Holiday Gift Series Scratch-Off campaign. The 88-year-old actor's popularity spans multiple generations thanks to his television work on Newhart and The Bob Newhart Show, which aired in the 1970s and '80s. He was int
Nov 29, 2017, 7:10 pm - Lottery News

The USA's 'luckiest' lottery players may not be as lucky as they seemNews Story
On, Dec. 29, 2016, Clarance Jones did something that most Americans could scarcely imagine: He cashed-in 20 winning scratch-off tickets, collectively worth $21,000, one after the other. For the average lottery player, that would be the ultimate payday. For Jones, it was practically routine. In the past six years, the 79-year-old from Lynn, Mass., has won more than 7,300 lottery tickets, totaling $10.8 million. That establishes him, by far, as the luckiest lottery player in America. But
Sep 19, 2017, 8:49 am - Lottery News

Massachusetts has more repeat lottery winners than any other stateNews Story
Over the last six years, four members of the Jaafar family of Watertown have cashed in more than 7,000 winning lottery tickets and collected a cool $11 million. Statistics suggest it's nearly impossible to win the lottery that frequently. But Massachusetts has more repeat lottery winners than any other state, people who redeem so many winning tickets that they raise questions about the integrity and oversight of the $5 billion state lottery, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis of nearly
Aug 3, 2017, 7:01 pm - Lottery News

Lottery winner hands out winning tickets at favorite restaurantNews Story
A Maine man who won the lottery twice in recent months shared his winnings with employees and diners of a local restaurant he patronized nearly daily for more than a decade. Hal, who asked that his last name not be used, won a $2 million jackpot from the Maine lottery in April in a drawing among people who submitted their losing tickets. I was there in the audience with my son and my daughter, said Hal, a widowed father of five from central Maine. I said, 'Lord if you want me to win this
Aug 3, 2017, 6:40 am - Lottery News

Lottery game sparks gambling fever in eastern CanadaNews Story
A Canadian lottery game used to raise money for charity has brought gambling fever to the city of St John's in the remote eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Chase the Ace is a lottery game popular all over Canada's east coast, and often raises money for charity. The winner of each week's draw gets to pick one card out of a deck; the ace of spades wins the jackpot. A record-breaking-million-dollar game has attracted thousands of people to the Goulds area of St John's. How
Jul 24, 2017, 11:03 am - Lottery News

Flashback: Winners are drawn in New York state's first lottery in 1967News Story
The New York State Lottery is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. On Election Day in 1966, New Yorkers voted in favor to approve a constitutional amendment authorizing a government-run lottery, with its proceeds to be applied exclusively to, or in aid or support of education. It was the second state lottery in the nation, following New Hampshire's in 1964. Plans for the first lottery drawing were finalized in April 1967. One dollar tickets would go on sale on June 1 at hotels, m
Jul 19, 2017, 12:50 pm - Lottery News

State lotteries losing revenue to 'jackpot fatigue' and casinosNews Story
The biggest loser in the lottery game? Increasingly, it's the states that rely on lottery revenue, as fewer people are buying tickets of chance. In 22 of the 44 states with lotteries, revenue declined between 2014 and 2015, the most recent year for comprehensive data, the Pew Charitable Trusts reported Thursday. Twenty-one states experienced declines from 2013 to 2014. In 2016, lottery revenue fell 3.3% in Missouri, more recent data shows, while it fell 3.2% in Rhode Island and 2.6% in Wes
Jul 14, 2017, 11:02 am - Lottery News

New York seizes $20 million in lottery prizes from people on public assistanceNews Story
New York state has reclaimed nearly $20 million in lottery prizes since 2013 from winners who had received public assistance in the last 10 years. The little-known program, one of the toughest of its kind in the country, has grabbed back prizes from an estimated 30,000 winners in the last four years. At least six other states have similar programs, but New York is the only state that seizes prizes of those on public assistance, experts said. Other programs take back unpaid child support pa
Jul 5, 2017, 9:27 am - Lottery News

Iowa Lottery investigation highlights difficult balance between security and profitsNews Story
For more than a year while he worked at the Brick Street Market in Bondurant, Iowa, Matthew Hinrichs quietly stole lottery tickets, cashing in at least $28,000 in illegitimate prize money, prosecutors say. When he was finally caught in 2016, Hinrichs pleaded guilty to two felony counts of fraud and was ordered to pay back those winnings, plus nearly $5,000 more. Lottery officials say their layers of security allowed them to track Hinrichs' activity, providing data that was invaluable to pr
Jun 6, 2017, 2:48 pm - Lottery News

Top N.Y. lottery winners probably lost millionsNews Story
Millions of people play the New York state lottery every year. None of them won big more often over the past eight years than a guy sitting at two out-of-the-way lakeside bars in Oswego County. Randal Stier won Quick Draw prizes of $600 or more at least 1,400 times from 2009 through last year, according to data obtained from the state lottery by journalism students at Columbia University. It's a total of nearly $1.6 million. Other players won more money, but nobody won big more times.
May 30, 2017, 1:13 pm - Lottery News