Mark Michalko: Lottery is not a kid’s game

Here at the N.C. Education Lottery, we know that our scratch-off tickets make popular gifts during the holiday season. They are fun stocking stuffers. They can be the gift everyone wants to walk away with at the White Elephant Gift Exchange.

All gifts can carry a small risk. Will they like it, you might wonder. Is it the right color? Should I have gotten something else? But some risks are bigger than others. And a risk we want to make sure all parents and gift givers know about is the big gamble of giving someone under 18 a lottery ticket.

We know from research that many young people say their first gambling experience occurs around the ages of 9 to 11. Research also shows that the earlier a person first plays a game of chance the more likely they are to develop a gambling problem later in life.

For adults, a lottery ticket is a gift with the potential to keep giving. Adults can enjoy the lottery and still set limits on their play. Kids don’t have a handle on that. For anyone under 18, a lottery ticket could cause harm.

While we want to raise another $1 billion for education this year, we want just as much to sell and market our games in the most responsible way possible.

One of the ways we operate responsibly is by doing our part in an annual holiday prevention effort organized by the National Council on Problem Gambling. We join the campaign, supported by more than 170 lotteries and organizations around the world, through our Play Smart program, calling our holiday initiative, Play Smart Gift Smart.

How do you Gift Smart?

Never give or share a lottery ticket with kids.

Only give lottery tickets as gifts to adults in your life.

Help us keep lottery tickets, even scratched ones, out of the hands of children.

Sure. We hope you get a lottery ticket in your stocking or that you get to take one home from the gift exchange. We want to keep that tradition alive. But when you make your gift list, remember lottery is not a kid’s game. Let’s keep the fun 18+ this holiday season.

For more information on our Play Smart program, visit ncplaysmart.com.

Mark Michalko is the chief executive officer of the N.C. Education Lottery.

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