http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/knau/local-knau-890904.mp3
Phoenix, AZ – A new audit shows that the number of people who participate in
state-run gambling is remaining relatively flat. About half of
all adults say they purchased a lottery ticket in the past month.
Arizona Lottery Director Jeff Hatch-Miller said he's not sure how
much higher he can get that number, given that 17 percent of
adults say they're morally opposed to gambling, a figure he says
is higher than most other states. So what's the answer? Get those
who do gamble to gamble more. One way of doing that is to get
Arizona into the multi-state Mega Millions game, on top of its
participation in twice-a-week Powerball drawings.
(People play based upon the size of the jackpot. More people pay
the big jackpot games than play the small jackpot games, or the
small winning games.)
The other big push is to get younger people to spend more. That
means finding scratch games specifically designed to appeal to
them and not the older crowd.
(We have one on the horizon coming up in the next few months
where you're going to be able to win not just money but music
downloads. Those and others are the kind of games that are more
attractive to a younger demographic, which we haven't really
spent a lot of time trying to attract.)
The Lottery also is going after another rising demographic: It is
running more ads in Spanish. For Arizona Public Radio this is
Howard Fischer