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Maine gives names of Hot Lotto winners to Iowa team looking into rigging schemeNews Story
The names of Mainers who won cash prizes in the Hot Lotto game between 2010 and 2014 have been forwarded to Iowa officials investigating a burgeoning jackpot fixing case that may have affected winnings in at least five states. Officials with the Maine State Lottery said Hot Lotto winners and prize amounts were shared with the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations. To date, investigators have not discovered any link between Maine Hot Lotto winners and Eddie Tipton, a former security offic
Dec 23, 2015, 2:25 pm - Lottery News

Some on welfare bet big on Maine lottery in pursuit of life-changing winNews Story
Murky state rules mean those who do collect larger prizes may not even lose their public benefits Maine residents on public assistance have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lottery tickets, according to an estimate based on the $22.4 million in large prizes they collected between 2010 and 2014, including eight jackpots worth at least $500,000 each. Yet state rules are so murky that the winnings do not necessarily disqualify anyone from continuing to receive food stamps and other be
Dec 16, 2015, 9:18 am - Lottery News

Maine Lottery won't be adding KenoNews Story
Maine Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday that his administration is backing off its plan to expand the Maine State Lottery to include the gambling game Keno at as many as 300 locations. In remarks to reporters during a maple syrup season ceremony at the Blaine House, LePage said he personally doesn't like gambling and supported the Keno proposal only because he thought Democrats wanted the lottery expansion. If they don't want it, then we'll kill it, he said. In fact, I told them to go kill it
Mar 11, 2015, 10:14 am - Lottery News

Couple wins $3M jackpot 27 years after wife's numbers last came upNews Story
He's finally forgiven, because last time he forgot to buy tickets In February 1986, Robert and Jeanne Gagnon had the winning Megabucks lottery numbers for the weekly drawing. Not that it mattered. I had all the numbers, Jeanne Gagnon said Wednesday. But my husband forgot to pick up a ticket that day. And I've been hearing about it ever since, her husband, Robert Gagnon, said, shaking his head. Now it appears all is forgiven. Two weeks ago, the retired couple learned they held t
Mar 7, 2014, 8:56 am - Lottery News

New England's 'Lucky for Life' game to gain second lifetime prizeNews Story
Lucky for Life, the multi-state draw game that offers lottery players throughout New England the opportunity to win up to $1,000 a day, every day, for their entire life, is going to get a lot more lively with the addition of another lifetime prize to its robust prize offerings. Beginning with the September 19, 2013 drawing, Lucky for Life's second-tier prize will be elevated to a $25,000 a year for life payout, making it the only game in the country that offers two lifetime prizes. This new p
Sep 5, 2013, 4:57 pm - Lottery News

Record Powerball winner offers $2M to fix Maine high school's roofNews Story
The 84-year-old Florida resident who scored the largest undivided American lottery jackpot ever wants to donate $2 million to fix the roof of a Maine high school in her hometown. Gloria MacKenzie, who took home a $590.5 million Powerball jackpot in June, has kept a low profile since she turned in her winning ticket. But the superintendent of schools in East Millinocket, Maine, says Mackenzie has offered to write a hefty check to repair the roof of the town's high school, where her daughter te
Jul 26, 2013, 11:00 am - Lottery News

New Tri-State lottery game debuting SundayNews Story
By Todd Northrop A new pick 5-style lottery game called Gimme 5 goes on sale Sunday in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont the states that collectively are known as 'Tri-State'. The first drawing for the new Gimme 5 game will be held Wednesday, May 15, 2013. The Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine Lotteries are once again joining together to offer our players a new draw game, said Greg Smith, Executive Director of the Vermont Lottery. Tri-State Gimme 5 is a fresh, easy-to-play game that car
May 9, 2013, 12:52 pm - Lottery News

That was fast: No more 'Kwikies' for Maine LotteryNews Story
The odds have dropped to zero for scratch tickets becoming Kwikies. The Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations announced in a Monday press release that it no longer plans to brand the state's scratch tickets as Kwikies. The Maine State Lottery is sensitive to the concerns of retailers and consumers alike, said Gerry Reid, director of Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations. We recently tested a new brand name for our instant ticket games, and the initial
Mar 19, 2013, 4:27 pm - Lottery News

Maine lottery scratch tickets may get new controversial nameNews Story
The Maine State Lottery may soon give a name to its scratch tickets for the first time, but the name isn't sitting well with everyone. A few weeks ago, the Maine State Lottery sent a pamphlet out to its 1,300 retailers, saying it plans to name the tickets Kwikies. I thought that's going to be real uncomfortable for my girls behind the register to have guys come in and say 'Hey, give me a Kwikie,' said David Welch, owner of Village Market in Fairfield. In slang terms, a quickie is a sh
Mar 18, 2013, 7:59 am - Lottery News

Maine man sees $2M lottery win as ticket to new jobNews Story
The story goes that when James Lovell picked up his wife from work last week he asked her if she wanted to kiss a millionaire. Lovell's wife, a school social worker obliged when he found out he'd won $2 million in Powerball. Then she told him they couldn't kiss any more in the schoolyard. The 59-year-old unemployed truck driver from Clinton, Maine, believes that his exposure from winning $2 million could be his ticket to a new job, according to the Maine State Lottery, which also made the
Mar 5, 2013, 10:21 am - Lottery News