New Jersey lottery discontinues poker scratch-off game

<p>New Jersey lottery officials are discontinuing a new poker scratch-off game just three days after it was launched.</p>

News 12 Staff

Aug 17, 2017, 9:51 PM

Updated 2,454 days ago

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New Jersey lottery officials are discontinuing a new poker scratch-off game just three days after it was launched.
Officials pulled the High Card Poker scratch-off game from circulation on Aug. 10 because of confusion concerning rules.
Rahway resident Bill Masters says that he thought he won $2,500 playing the game. But New Jersey Lottery says otherwise.
“The rules [of poker] are a jack is higher than a 10 and the rules on the card say to have a higher hand than the dealer,” Masters says. “I had a queen/jack and the dealer had a queen/10.”
But when he went to cash in his tickets, he was told that he did not win $2,500, but instead only won $10.
The lottery pulled the game due to these confusing rules. A spokesperson for New Jersey Lottery says in statement, “The game win scenarios and rules on the back of the ticket are not entirely consistent with the rules of traditional poker, which is confusing to players.”
Masters admits that $2,500 is not “life-changing money,” but says that he and others are fighting for what they are owed. They say that the rules and their results are not confusing at all.
“They should honor it.  It's not my fault that they messed up,” he says.  “The New Jersey Lottery makes $3 billion; I think they can afford to pay their winners." 
The lottery says all winning tickets already in circulation will be honored, but they will be honored as determined by the game win scenarios and rules on the back of the ticket.
Lottery officials say that over 1 million High Card Poker tickets were sent to retailers. Workers spent time collecting tickets from stores across the state last week.
The misstep comes after three consecutive years of low sales from the private company Northstar that manages the lottery. Northstar has spent millions in allowance funds to cover financial shortfalls since 2013.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.


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