AUGUSTA, Maine — 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 response was encouraging. But after a larger sampling of retailers and consumers, the negative concerns were clear. As a result, the Lottery has decided to abandon further pursuit of the Kwikies name.
"Kwikies was never officially implemented by the Maine State Lottery, and its assessment could have been handled better and faster," Reid said. "On behalf of the Lottery, I regret any inconvenience or confusion this may have created."
The Kwikies name came under fire from retail store owners and cashiers because of its similarity to "quickie." In slang terms, a quickie is a short sexual encounter.
Store owners and cashiers on Monday were happy to hear about the Lottery's decision.
"I think it's a good move for them," said David Welch, owner of Village Market in Fairfield. "If they read into the laws of sexual discrimination, they were borderline on that. They were pushing the limit. I think they saw that."
Kay Sinclair, a cashier at Village Market, said she refused to ask whether customers wanted a Kwikie.
"It's inappropriate. I have a 21-year-old daughter, and I don't want her at the register and asking people if they want a Kwikie," Sinclair said. "I will not use that term in any way shape or form. Some of the clientele would take it in a very inappropriate manner."
Kelley Sullivan, a cashier at Tom T. locations in Bangor, said she was also happy with the Lottery's decision.
"It was kind of gross to me to ask people if they wanted a Kwikie," she said.
A few weeks ago, the Maine State Lottery sent a pamphlet out to its 1,300 retailers, saying it planned to name the tickets "Kwikies."
Reid previously defended the Kwikies name by saying it was not the state's intent to be provocative.
"I fully understand that when someone saw this word in isolation, they thought, 'Oh, these guys are getting a bit racy,'" Reid said on Friday. "We're actually doing everything we can possibly do to not lead you to that place in your mind."
Maine State Lottery's scratch tickets do not presently have an all-encompassing name. Reid said the bureau was interested in finding one.
"Our instant game business is roughly two-thirds of the lottery business," Reid said on Friday. "It has no name. It's just instant tickets. It's not like the draw games like Powerball. That's a brand. It has an identity. It's an image. People know what to ask for. What we're struggling to do is come up with an identity [for the scratch tickets]. We do almost no marketing for it. Our job is to make money for the state."
Welch said he didn't mind the Maine State Lottery looking for ways to boost sales, but said the scratch tickets basically sell themselves.
"To me, I don't think they need to promote [scratch tickets] that much. The people who buy scratch tickets will buy scratch tickets. Period," he said. "It's the only game in town because there's no competition.
"I'm happy they took a stance and listened to the majority," said Welch.
Reid said radio and television advertisements had already been produced, but had not yet been released. The naming process took three to four months and the bureau went through 50-60 names before landing on Kwikies.
They should have gone ahead with a new motto "There's nothing like a good scratch after getting a kwikie!"
Good move. Wisdom is realizing that a mistake is about to be made and then acting to save the sitiwation. If only congress & senate would follow your fine example...I am not holding my breath lol
They must have been flooded with complaints. They are still big dummies.
Some of them could be members of LP lol
I hope they read our posts.
Yeah. I hope whoever came up with that idea gets teased for it for weeks..I don't think they should be fired though
They spent $ on ads and thought this was going to work. They are big dummies.
Big dummies, or spreading some pork around
1300 pamphlets sent to retailers, all the cost of that.
3-4 months of paying people to narrow the list from 50-60 names
For a product they say sells itself.
Sounds like padding someones pay on the tax payers dime
They also probably knew the controversy itself would promote some advertising
Makes you wonder how bad the other 50-60 names must have been...
The printable ones were:
The Red Light District scratcher (win $ for mom so she can retire!)
No-tell motel scratcher (self-explanatory)
I ain't your daddy! (Win $ to locate your real father).
The person who came up with the idea and pushed it through the production meeting despite resistance from others has lost face. They will be very quiet in the coming meetings.
rotflmao, hewhehehehehehehehehehehe, tears in y eyes funny
Exactly. This whole thing reeks of a publicity stunt.
Actually "Kwikies" was an apt name.
I can see the tag line - Get some Kwikies and get screwed real fast!
Krikee!!!
Right move Maine.
Lol you sooooo crazy
Yep......bunch of sorry S**
Haha! Nice title for this article: "That was FAST..." That's the idea--Kwikies are fast!
I was starting to plan a trip to Maine for a Quikie too. I guess I can continue to get screwed elsewhere.
Thank goodness it was smacked down. What's wrong with scratch-offs for a general term? Everyone knows that.
This was part of the sex sells brand of thinking. Who thought it was cute to associate instant games with something
that's been known for years to mean - like they said: a quick sexual encounter?
Personally, I'm glad PA won't have the chance to rename the instants with a term similar to this one. (one state
dreams up something and others tend to follow)
Can you imagine the 20ish young lady working behind the counter and all the reduced testosterone in the form of
balding, overaged, overweight, ugly men coming up looking for a cheap thrill and saying:
'Hey, honey, gimmie a Kwikie'. You know that a chew laced, crooked, no good smile along with a sick snicker would
accompany that request.
We have enough gutter minds. I'm happy some of the world still has some dignity.
WTG people of Maine!!
Did they figure that out on their own or did someone have to tell them the name was lewd. All in the name of profit.
Not so quick
Almost makes me embarrassed to say I'm from Maine. Not being a dummy myself I moved to the state next door.
They never had their chance to prove themselves.
are you talking for them or you
Like them that say "i got a friend"
Through the grapevine, I heard Maine's sister state of New Hampshire, is considering a name for a new $10 scratcher. "A Happy Ending"
LOL! I'll have to get me one of those.
From what I hear, if your not happy with the results after scratching the ticket, you can return for a $10 credit towards any local massage parlor.
I'm glad that they changed it. Women who plays for Maine Lottery will be more comfortable in purchasing tickets.
How did that even make it out of any sort of committee or let alone out of the lottery HQ's doors? Hell, how'd it even come up without the idiot thought thinking twice about it?!