N.C. Lottery to Introduce New Drawing

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N.C. Lottery to Introduce New Drawing

Special Report - December 7, 2007
The North Carolina lottery plans to introduce a mid-day drawing for Carolina Pick 3 sometime this spring, according to comments made by lottery executive director Tom Shaheen during a December 5 meeting of the State Lottery Commission. The new drawing, which would supplement evening Pick 3 and Carolina Cash 5 drawings that currently take place, is another attempt by lottery officials to improve lagging ticket sales by offering more options to gamblers. In addition to introducing a variety of new lottery games with various themes, lottery officials have started increasing the prize payouts for scratch-off games in order to lure new players. During the Lottery Commission’s meeting on December 5, Shaheen said that the lottery’s goal is to attract more players to the games and not necessarily convince current players to play more.

Reacting to the report, North Carolina Family Policy Council President, Bill Brooks, said: "The North Carolina Lottery is following the same predictable pattern as has the lottery in virtually every other state. Gamblers become bored with the same old games and need a new reason to continue to voluntarily hand over money to the State. The Lottery Commission should end the myth that various 'games' are significantly different from one another, and should cease all theme based games as well as attempts to expand the lottery into new areas."