{"id":94772,"date":"2018-12-13T20:11:09","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T04:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=94772"},"modified":"2018-12-13T20:11:09","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T04:11:09","slug":"lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Lottery Tickets Not Appropriate Gifts for Children at Christmas, Officials Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas is right around the corner, and that means shoppers everywhere are scrambling to find last-minute stocking stuffers for friends and relatives. But if you\u2019re buying for children, officials say that lottery products belong on the naughty list.<\/p>\n

\"Lottery
While scratch off tickets are a popular gift at Christmas, lottery officials say they are not appropriate for children. (Image: NBC New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lottery officials in several states and provinces have issued warnings this week to parents and other gift-givers, saying that scratch-off tickets<\/a>, casino chips, and other gambling products aren\u2019t appropriate presents for children.<\/p>\n

Officials: Lottery Tickets Worse Than a Lump of Coal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Almost all parents would agree that they don\u2019t want their young children developing gambling habits. Still, that hasn\u2019t stopped many from buying a handful of scratch-off tickets for their kids at Christmas, seeing it as a harmless and fun gift that has the potential to pay off with a surprise reward.<\/p>\n

But lottery officials say that even these seemingly innocuous gifts have the potential to do harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderage gambling is a serious problem and we discourage youth involvement in any form of gambling, including Lottery scratch-off tickets,\u201d New York Council on Problem Gambling Executive Director Jim Maney said in a press release.<\/p>\n

Those words were echoed by officials in the Massachusetts Lottery, who said kids need toys, not the potential to scratch and win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho in the world would not rather receive this as a gift than a casino chip or an instant ticket?\u201d asked Michael Sweeney, executive director of the Massachusetts Lottery, while holding a plush rabbit. \u201cAnd that\u2019s really what the message today is about: being responsible in your gift-giving and in the culture that you\u2019re setting around people who are under the age of 18 and modeling appropriate behavior for young people who, quite more often than we realize, are keen observers and listeners to both our actions and our words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadians Join the Chorus<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Those same warnings were issued north of the border as well. In Nova Scotia, officials said that while lottery tickets can make fun gifts for adults, they should never be given to children, especially as youngsters are particularly vulnerable to instant gratification. Meanwhile, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation<\/a> (BCLC) pointed out that just because festive tickets are sold around the holidays doesn\u2019t mean that they are meant for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile [lottery products] are fun for adults, they\u2019re not meant for kids, especially in the lead up to the holidays when you see Scratch & Wins in stockings or in Christmas cards,\u201d said BCLC spokesperson Lara Gerrits.<\/p>\n

The key issue, said acting New Jersey Lottery director James Carey, is that children aren\u2019t yet ready to fully understand what gambling entails.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdults can recognize that a winning Lottery ticket is a stroke of luck, a random chance, but kids and teens have difficulty putting a win into perspective,\u201d Carey said. \u201cThey do not understand how gambling works.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While the message is well meaning, not everyone is convinced that a couple of gambling-themed gifts will risk turning a child into a compulsive bettor.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. Life is a gamble,\u201d wrote New Jersey 101.5\u2019s Judi Franco earlier this month. \u201cA kid\u2019s gonna figure that out whether he scratches that ticket or not.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas is right around the corner, and that means shoppers everywhere are scrambling to find last-minute stocking stuffers for friends and relatives. But if you\u2019re buying for children, officials say that lottery products belong on the naughty list. Lottery officials in several states and provinces have issued warnings this week to parents and other gift-givers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":94773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLottery Tickets Not Appropriate for Children at Christmas, Officials Say<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lottery tickets aren\u2019t a good gift for children at Christmas, according to officials in several states and provinces across North America, despite their popularity as stocking stuffers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lottery Tickets Not Appropriate for Children at Christmas, Officials Say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lottery tickets aren\u2019t a good gift for children at Christmas, according to officials in several states and provinces across North America, despite their popularity as stocking stuffers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-14T04:11:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Lottery-Tickets.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/\",\"name\":\"Lottery Tickets Not Appropriate for Children at Christmas, Officials Say\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Lottery-Tickets.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-14T04:11:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-14T04:11:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Lottery tickets aren\u2019t a good gift for children at Christmas, according to officials in several states and provinces across North America, despite their popularity as stocking stuffers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-tickets-not-appropriate-for-children-at-christmas-officials-say\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Lottery-Tickets.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Lottery-Tickets.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"While scratch off tickets are a popular gift at Christmas, lottery officials say they are not appropriate for children. 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