N.H. Lottery takes chance on New England-wide game

To increase revenues, the New Hampshire Lottery is teaming up with the lotteries of the five other New England states to launch a new game that gives players a chance to win $1,000 a day for their entire lives.The game is called “Lucky for Life,” and it’s the first multi-state lottery game to be played in all six New England states, “which gives kind of a nice feel to it,” said Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery.Last year, McIntyre – who before coming to the Granite State was general counsel for the Massachusetts State Lottery – was contacted by his former colleagues at the Bay State lottery, who were interested in launching a New England-wide game. Interested, McIntyre reached out to lottery officials in Vermont and Maine.”(We’ve been) working on it for so many months now, eight months now, there’ve been times it didn’t look like it was going to happen,” said McIntyre. “But it looks like we’re ready to go.”The $2 Lucky for Life tickets will go on sale starting Sunday, March 11, and the first drawing will be held Thursday, March 15th. After that first week, the drawings will be held twice a week, on Monday and Thursday nights, in Connecticut. Results will be posted at nhlottery.com. Here’s how the game works: Players select five numbers out of a field of 40, and one Lucky Ball number out of a field of 21. If all six numbers are a match, the player wins $1,000 a day for life, which is guaranteed for a minimum of 20 years, but will continued to be paid out for the duration of each winner’s lifetime. There are other cash prizes ranging from $2 to $2,000, as well as a second-place $25,000 prize.As for advertising the game, all the states pitched in to do a television ad, which hinges on the joke that participants “better stay healthy” so they can continue to collect the lifelong prize, said McIntyre.If this game is a hit, McIntyre said he would like to see more regional lottery games offered in the future, since regional pools make for larger jackpots, which entice more players and means more revenues.For more information, visit neluckyforlife.com. — KATHLEEN CALLAHAN/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW