Candy-theme scratch tickets not dandy for Washington lottery

The Washington Lottery has pulled a series of scratch tickets with a candy theme because of complaints they might lure children into gambling.

The tickets that resemble candy wrappers were pulled Thursday after they were brought to the attention of the governor's office. She had asked the Lottery Commission in 2006 to avoid marketing to young adults. You must be 18 to play any Washington lottery game.

Gregoire's aide Marty Brown says he reminded Lottery Director Christopher Liu of the governor's position. Liu had rebuffed a request two weeks earlier from a member of the public.

A lottery spokeswoman, Jacque Coe, says sales of the candy tickets were below average. A total of 1.9 million went on sale in March and about 600,000 were unsold when the game was withdrawn.

The game was part of a promotion with Hershey’s and featured tickets that looked like candy wrappers. On the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ticket, for example, players would scratch the tops off the cups to reveal whether they'd won a prize. Other tickets promoted Milk Duds, Twizzlers and Jolly Rancher candies.

Gregoire was concerned about using candy to pull teens into gambling. In a Feb. 10, 2006 letter to the lottery director she wrote, "Because there may be little to no difference between marketing and advertising strategies directed at teenagers under 18, and those 18 and 19 years old, I ask that you refrain from using tools that entice those young adults to play."

Her letter was prompted by a lottery business plan that termed 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds "a key market the lottery intends to pursue" and said that this age group "represents the players of the future."

Lottery spokesman Coe says it's not going after minors. "We want it clear that we develop games for adult customers."

---

Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com