CNHI
Somerset —
Dear Editor:
A recent letter to the editor from a Somerset resident (“Lottery Is a Bad Bet”, July 8) contained several blatant misconceptions about the operation of the Kentucky Lottery. I appreciate the chance to set the record straight.
The writer attempted to put forth a misguided conspiracy theory that suggests the Kentucky Lottery has some control over where winning tickets are purchased. His theory that “the less tickets bought in an area, the more winners will eventually appear” is not only incredibly inaccurate, but couldn’t be further from the truth.
We not only do not know where winning scratch-off tickets are located in a particular game run, but tickets are randomly selected and prepared to ship to retailers by staff members who have no idea where the orders are being sent. Our online games such as Pick 3, Mega Millions and Powerball all have winning numbers drawn randomly through a process with the highest levels of possible security. How could the writer possibly explain winners who have selected their own numbers and then won a major prize?
Based on sales, we show Pulaski County residents won more than $6 million during the last fiscal year. We go to great lengths to make sure players in every corner of our state all have the exact same chance of winning, and always invite anyone who is interested to come see our operation in Louisville, witness a drawing, and learn how our games are conducted.
Space prohibits me from going through the full laundry list of inaccuracies in the writer’s letter, but I will leave you with this. Kentucky Lottery proceeds pay for college scholarships and grants in the Commonwealth, and we are the sole funding source of the popular KEES scholarship program. In the last fiscal year, Pulaski County students received 1914 scholarships and grants worth $2,836,758 paid for by the Kentucky Lottery. Since 1999, young people right there in Pulaski County have received 16,077 scholarships and grants paid for by lottery proceeds worth $20,644,247.
So the true lottery winners in Pulaski County – besides the players who pocketed those $6 million in prizes from us last year – are the young people there who work to pursue the dream of higher education.
Chip Polston
Vice President
Communications, Government
and Public Relations
Kentucky Lottery Corporation
