DAN STEINBERG WASHINGTONPOST.COM/D.C. SPORTS BOG
Redskins Get Into Lottery Business
The Redskins' Clinton Portis says he could use an endorsement and a winning ticket via the Virginia Lottery.
(By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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"Redskins fans and lottery fans have an awful lot in common," the executive director of the Virginia Lottery said yesterday afternoon.
"Next to [Albert] Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall, this may be the most important investment that the team makes this offseason," added Mitch Gershman, the Redskins' chief operating officer.
Who says a news conference announcing new Redskins-themed instant lottery scratchers doesn't produce great sound bites? A few grumpy media members asked for water and cookies in exchange for attending, but really, snacks were unnecessary. As with any proper lottery news conference, there were cheerleaders and Super Bowl trophies and a massive unveiling of a massive lottery ticket. The card itself costs $20, is called "Redskins Mania," and offers prizes from $20 to $1 million and the highest total payout of any Virginia lottery ticket.
(I should note that I was happy to give free publicity to this particular effort because of my own history with scratchers. About a decade ago, I began a collection of unscratched, mint-condition scratchers from a wide variety of states and nations, a collection I dutifully brought to yesterday's event.
"What if you got a winner in that box?" Clinton Portis asked me. "That's some big money, and you're around here, asking me questions. You could be gone. I think you should scratch them off. One day, just sit down and scratch all the ones off."
Of course, as Virginia Lottery executive director Paula I. Otto pointed out, the tickets were all expired.
"But you know," she said brightly, "the unclaimed prizes go to the literary fund. . . . So you may have built a school or two.")
As for Redskins Mania, "Of course, not all lottery tickets are winners," Otto said, and so the second-chance drawing for non-winning tickets offers "the chance to win these amazing Redskins VIP experiences," including a VIP trip to Dallas on the team plane, a luxury suite at a home game for 20, autographed team helmets, club seats for 20 years, and so on.
"I know how hard it is to get tickets to the game," Otto noted.
A questioner later noted that the tickets have only logos, and no players' faces.
"I could definitely use the endorsement, though," Chris Cooley called out from the front row.
"That makes two of us," Portis added.
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