ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997 TAG: 9704040043
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
By all means, buy tickets, the Virginia Lottery says in its new advertising - just be responsible about it.
The Virginia Lottery is pumping up advertising to get more people to buy tickets for the record-breaking $77 million Big Game jackpot.
But at the same time, it's warning customers to play responsibly for the first time in its history.
``I worry that 77 million sounds like so much money that people might get carried away. ...We don't want people to overspend,'' said Penelope W. Kyle, director of the Virginia Lottery. ``We don't want that, and we don't need that in order to have good revenue for this game.''
When the Big Game jackpot rolled over for the ninth time last week - making the jackpot Virginia's largest ever - lottery officials decided to add a cautionary message to their advertising.
Television and radio spots released this week are capped by a stern-voiced announcer who says, ``The Virginia Lottery reminds you it's a big jackpot, but the odds of winning are one in 53 million, so play responsibly.'' Newspaper ads in thirteen papers across the state have a similar message.
``We don't want to dig into the pockets of people who already buy tickets,'' Kyle said. ``What we do want is all those people who sit back and never bought a lottery ticket to see that $77 million and come out and buy a ticket.''
On an average week, about 10 percent of Virginians play the Big Game, said lottery spokeswoman Paula Otto. But when the jackpot reached $56 million last week, the number doubled to 23 percent.
Otto said the lottery will continue to add the ``play responsibly'' message to its advertising as long as the jackpot is high. ``It's more effective and has more impact if you don't use it all the time,'' she said.
Peter Brawer, project director at the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, D.C., said there are no studies on the effect warning messages have on problem gamblers, but said he is pleased with the new warning.
``The Virginia lottery has been calling us over the last six months, asking for information on problem and pathological gambling,'' he said. ``We think this is an excellent first move.''
The General Assembly this year passed a bill requiring all lottery tickets sold in Virginia to have a helpline number for people with gambling problems. The Virginia Lottery will begin adding the toll-free number to tickets on July 1, Otto said.
Six states participate in the Big Game. This week's drawing will be held in Chicago tonight at 11 p.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB