Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993 TAG: 9312150195
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
But he admits that the chance to win $15 million on a $1 bet in tonight's Lotto drawing is almost more than he can stand.
"You have to watch it," said Dick, noting that, like a siren's song, a big jackpot is alluring but may bring trouble.
He said he was hooked on Maryland's pick-three game long before Virginia got into the lottery business. Many times, he said, he played his last dime.
"I'm not broke now," said Dick, who didn't want his last name used. "I can afford to spend $10, $30, even $100 on lottery tickets. But it's like smoking. If you quit for seven years, all it takes is one and you're back again."
Lottery Director Kenneth Thorson said Tuesday that Lotto fever has struck Virginia again.
Sales, which normally drop as the holiday season approaches, have surged. Thorson attributes it to the attention - and players - a big jackpot routinely draws.
At $15 million, tonight's kitty is the largest since Aug. 25. A single winner would receive $750,000 annually for 20 years; after taxes, the prize would total $510,000 annually.
"I don't know what motivates people do to what they do," Thorson said. "But I have yet to have demonstrated to my satisfaction that we have a significant [gambling] problem in Virginia."
Still, he conceded that the size of the state's adult population and the number of tickets sold suggest there are some gambling addicts out there.
"I know it sounds unsympathetic, but the Lottery Department is not a social service agency," Thorson said. "The state Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services has some 40 clinics across the state. If someone has a problem, they can get help at any one of them. Questions should be directed to those agencies that deal with those problems."
But Dick, and Dr. Valerie C. Lorenz, executive director of the Baltimore-based Compulsive Gambling Center Inc., said the possibility of a big payoff, especially during a season when emphasis is on gift-giving, can cause a person with a gambling problem to go on a binge.
"In my opinion, people who don't have a lot of money may invest in this, thinking, `If I can win this, then I can put gifts under the tree.' So instead of buying a $10 gift, they buy $10 worth of lottery tickets. Some people may spend everything," Dick said.
"Any holiday is a dangerous time," Lorenz said. Family gatherings and monetary demands many times build pressures leading to a spiraling depression, she said.
"To escape those bad feelings, the compulsive gambler goes out and gambles," Lorenz said. "One of the difficulties is that money is the substance of their addiction. They've often borrowed, begged, even stolen to get it. The gambling dollar isn't shiny and gold on both sides as lottery officials would have you believe."
by CNB