I have a problem with the Washington State Lottery. The past few weeks, they’ve put up notices on machines saying you can’t play a multiple-day ticket. Why do you have to drive to lottery box and you can only play one day at a time? Something’s wrong somewhere. Charities are losing out. Why am I limited to a one-day bet?
–Eugene
There’s a simple answer for that, Eugene, and it all comes down to the government.
“Due to the potential of a government shutdown, when the budget was trying to be signed, we were not able to play multiple draws,” said Randy Warick, assistant director of marketing with the Washington State Lottery. “We’re back to doing multiple draws now.”
While budget discussions were going on, the lottery was one of the state departments that was facing a complete shutdown if things didn’t get ironed out. So, since the department possibly wasn’t going to be open if there was a shutdown, stores weren’t allowed to sell tickets for future days.
As part of the new budget, the state passed a new law relating to the lottery, which also halted multiple-day ticket sales for a little bit. The new law states that the lottery is required to reduce the compensation rates to lottery retailers, including a reduction in the commission paid to licensed lottery retailers and the elimination of retailer selling bonuses on jackpot games. These changes forced the lottery to update its payment system and test it to make sure there were no issues.
“After a shutdown was averted, a new law requires a change to how our retailers are compensated requiring us to make programming changes,” Warick wrote in an email. “This was completed on July 26. It is possible some retailers may still have signs up saying multi-draw/advance plays are unavailable, but they have been available since July 26.”
Hope that helps, Eugene. Good luck with your multiple-day plays, and if you ever hit the big one, remember which newspaper helped you out in your time of confusion.
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