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By MEGHAN V. MALLOY Staff Writer 07/04/2008

Who says the lottery is a complete gamble?

Depending on where you live, your luck may be running on empty.

Recent reports in national media outlets have spotlighted state lottery systems that continue to sell scratch tickets to players after the prize has been claimed.

The practice has engendered in lawsuits from people who claim they bought tickets for a cash prize that no longer existed.

However, this is not the case for players who take a chance on scratch ticket games in Maine.

“No, it’d be our policy to stop the game if the prize were already won,” said Dan Gwadosky, director of the Maine Bureau of Alcohol and Lottery Operations.

Not only are scratch games ended the moment the top prize is claimed, but Maine players are able to get up-to-minute reports on which lottery prizes are still available by visiting a lottery agent’s office or going to www.mainelottery.com.

“To us, this is an integrity issue,” Gwadosky said. “Disclosure to our players is the key.”

But disclosure may not be common policy elsewhere.

According to multiple news outlets — including www.lot terypost.com, which offers news about different U.S. lotteries — several lawsuits have been alleging state lotteries continue to sell tickets after prizes are claimed.

One of the most notable was filed by a Virginia business professor who seeks an $85 million judgment and Virginia Lottery being banned from selling tickets after a game has been won.

Gwadosky said the concern was legitimate, adding if such practices are documented happening in other states, “people should be rightfully concerned.”

Gwadosky, who said the Maine Lottery contracts with Scientific Games Corp. to purchase the tickets to sell to players, believes the protocols state lotteries execute with their contracted companies could explain why tickets are sold past payout.

“We only pay for the tickets we sell,” Gwadosky said. “In many other states, they pay for the number of tickets printed. They may have an incentive to keep those on the shelf longer.”

While Gwadosky wishes “there was a more consistent policy” for how long tickets can be sold for a particular scratch-off game, he said he was pleased with Maine’s protocol.

“We introduce four or five new games each month,” he said. 

Furthermore, nonscratch-off games such as Powerball and Megabucks prevent expired tickets from being sold, since the game automatically starts over once the winning ticket is claimed.

The game restarts twice a week, as drawings are on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Still, as the old adage goes, you can only please half of the people part of the time, Gwadosky acknowledged.

“We do get complaints from people, but it’s because a game is over and players want to still try for a lower prize,” he said. “But we stay consistent with our policies.”

Meghan V. Malloy — 623-3811 Ext. 431

mmalloy@centralmai

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