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Mass. Lottery testing new Keno game this weekNews Story
The Massachusetts State Lottery revs up a new Keno game this week that gives gamblers the chance to place $1 bets on animated stock-car races, complete with roaring engines and spectacular crashes. The Daily Race Game will be tested at five locations with plans to expand to 200 over the next eight weeks, and ultimately to 1,300 establishments. The game, the first expansion of Keno since it launched in 1993, is being confined to bars and restaurants with Lottery licenses that serve liquor.
Apr 10, 2007, 8:04 am - Lottery News

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

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

Keno sales surge across MassacusettsNews Story
The regular clientele who stop the Eddie Coyle's Roadhouse Tavern in Dracut for a bite to eat after work are looking for some laughs and a family-friendly atmosphere. There are also several pairs of eyes watching a Keno television monitor as a series of 20 numbers pops up on the screen, hoping they will be the ones to go home a few dollars richer. It's a recreational thing people are just playing because it's something to do while they converse or have their meal, said Leslie Cox, th
Jul 10, 2006, 8:03 am - Lottery News

Mass. Lottery to target younger playersNews Story
State Lottery officials are wagering a new advertising campaign will persuade young adults to take a chance on the Numbers Game, a contest with an aging player population. The state Lottery Commission last week extended its contract with advertising firm Hill Holliday of Boston for one year at $10 million, Executive Director Joseph Sullivan said. Part of the strategy will be to focus advertising in a place where Lottery officials believe they can reach more people in their 30s and 40s th
Jul 7, 2006, 6:50 am - Lottery News

Clash over $1 million lottery ticket outlives buyerNews Story
What are the odds that a man could throw away a $1 million scratch ticket, lose his father and then his own life all in four months' time? The regulars who play their lottery tickets here at the White Hen Pantry grocery now shrug away the misfortune that started at the counter last October for one of their own, Kevin Donovan, as if bowing to the vagaries of luck they gamble against each day. But Donovan's run of bad luck has outlived him. Last fall, he filed a claim against the elder
Jun 19, 2006, 7:35 pm - Lottery News

Mass. Lottery licenses regainedNews Story
The Massachusetts Lottery Commission has reinstated operating licenses for seven of the 11 bars or clubs that were suspended last month after poker slot machines were confiscated May 3 in state police raids. In all, 38 poker video slot machines were seized by state police, along with $10,000 in cash, in the coordinated raids on 15 bars or clubs here, in Springfield and Chicopee. Although no criminal charges have been filed, the Lottery Commission quickly issued the suspensions. Lottery sp
Jun 15, 2006, 1:06 pm - Lottery News