Lottery expands Keno with cartoon horses
Thoroughbreds replace cars as officials attempt to restore falling revenue
The Massachusetts State Lottery, which unveiled a $20 scratch ticket last month, is now dramatically expanding its Keno racing game and switching from virtual cars to cartoon thoroughbreds.
The new initiatives signal the lottery's determination to get back on track after a rare down year last year. Revenue overall at the lottery fell 1.4 percent in fiscal 2007 and lottery aid to cities and towns declined by $59 million, or 6.2 percent.
Lottery officials said the revamped Daily Race Game would be introduced as soon as possible at the existing 220 locations where the car racing game is being played and then be rolled out to a total of 1,500 locations by April. The game is expected to generate $160 million in annual revenue once fully operational.
Dan Rosenfeld, the lottery spokesman, said each location will have dual monitors, one for the regular Keno game, where players bet $1 and try to pick winning numbers, and one for the racing game, where players bet $1 and try to pick winning numbered horses.
The best odds, 1 in 4, are picking a horse to come in first, second, or third, yielding a payout of $2. The payout for picking the first three numbers in exact order is $900.
Rosenfeld said the two Keno games will play every four minutes from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., with a new game starting on one of the monitors every two minutes.
Originally, the car racing game was targeted at just bars and restaurants, but the more aggressive rollout plan means it will probably end up in additional locations. There are currently 1,750 Keno locations in the state.
"We're going to family restaurants, but not to convenience stores right off," Rosenfeld said.
The lottery revealed plans to launch the racing game with virtual horses in late 2005, but backed off after the state's race track owners and horsemen grumbled that the game might cut into their business.
State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who oversees the lottery and voted in favor of the Keno changes yesterday at a Lottery Commission meeting, has said previously that a horse racing game would be more profitable but he was willing to try something else to avoid hurting the state's struggling horse racing industry. Yesterday, Cahill declined to comment.
The lottery somewhat reluctantly shifted to a racing game with virtual cars April 14. That game brought in $2.3 million at 200 locations as of yesterday. "The feeling was that the horse racing game would do better," Rosenfeld said.
Rosenfeld said the lottery planned to work with horsemen and race tracks to make the virtual horse racing game work for everyone. He said the lottery might sell advertising time on the Keno monitors to tracks.
Chuck Andre, executive director of the New England Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, called the horse racing game "sort of like an animated simulcast" that could siphon business away from the tracks. The association's lobbyist said the group would fight the proposal.
Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer of Suffolk Downs, said he was not overly concerned about losing business to the lottery horse racing game. He said he would like to explore whether his track could somehow partner with the lottery to the mutual benefit of both.
Senator Michael W. Morrissey, a Democrat from Quincy who led opposition to the virtual horse racing game in 2005, seemed less inclined to lead the charge this time.
Morrissey, a supporter of casino gambling, which Governor Deval Patrick has endorsed, said he was sympathetic with the lottery's desire to bring in more revenue and willing to wait to see whether some accommodation between the horsemen and the lottery could be reached.
Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com. 