Ringing in the New Year with an Anniversary

John Martin of The Maryland Lottery rings in the New Year with the agency’s 50th Anniversary celebration all year long.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

lottery, tickets, maryland, sports wagering, year, oysters, state, sports, big, numbers, mobile, prizes, win, final segment, talked, play, holiday, scratch offs, conversation, january

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

What about W, N S, T, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive now I’m gonna say this. This is the final segment I’m doing for the calendar year of 2022. We’re putting in the books so I brought to you by the Maryland lottery now for that I stole a handful the holiday cash crops. I still I’m one of those guys still drinking a little bit of eggnog in you know, in a little bit of pumpkin eggnog. I’m still getting all that in. Because we’re about to like, have the ball drop. We got big jackpots, we got a big year ed for the Maryland lottery. But this is our final segment of the year. And I’m gonna celebrate it with John Martin. He’s the Executive Director of all things, Mary lottery and gaming, and of course, mobile sports wagering and all that fun stuff that we talk about here each and every week. Happy New Year to you. How was your holiday? I love your sweater today. It’s very pink Crosby. Thank you. Thank

John Martin  00:49

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you very much like that like that. Yeah, it’s, it is very comfy. Yeah, I tend to be a freeze, baby. So anything I can do later on is always a good thing. anytime of the year. Did I understand you correctly that this is your last segment, not just a lottery segment. All of your segments. This is the final segment,

Nestor Aparicio  01:08

the final segment of 2022. Right. I mean, I’ll be back at it Monday morning rounds in the Steelers like all of that. But you are my final. I mean, I could sing a little Guy Lombardo to you if you’d like or maybe a little Dan Fogelberg if you wish, you know.

John Martin  01:20

Hey Dan Fogelberg. God rest his soul that that that’s a great song that I

Nestor Aparicio  01:24

interviewed him back in the 80s. And that’s available at the Baltimore positive cops. I don’t say that all the time. But all my old music interviews just put a focus on Oregon. And you can hear me and Dan Fogelberg talk 28 minutes about his heartbreak album exiles, which I love very much, by the way. So but it is New Years. And you have a lot of things going on next year. Next year. As much as this year was mobile and sports wagering and new games and all that. Next year is like up. Even Even you’re making it a big deal. You’re ready to start. Oh, absolutely.

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John Martin  01:51

Absolutely. It makes it and we still got some of this year left on the books. We have two huge jackpots. megamillions, as we are speaking, $640 million dollars, Powerball $246 million. Both of those would make wonderful, New Year’s Eve prizes.

Nestor Aparicio  02:11

We’re not you know, I’m going to ask when Raskin, my financial advisor that if I hit on 1231, and I want to under $46 million, whether I would want to claim it in in 22 or 23. You don’t have to figure that out when you hit it this late. Tell you

John Martin  02:25

what, let me help you with that. But I sent out a call. Yeah, hit the snooze alarm. Roll it over to the 23. Because then you’d have all of 23 to figure out how you’re going to take it and play your other winnings and losses against that. So yeah, don’t you got time you got 182 days.

Nestor Aparicio  02:44

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I got other things to think about here. If I won, I mean, I’m sure. But I was just thinking like, that’d be a heck of a way to go out, you know, you win the lottery the end of the year. That’d be better than doing the show with you this week. And

John Martin  02:56

I know it’s hard to imagine for guys like us anything better than this. But I have to agree with you. Hey, you know what else is better? Every day Marylanders winning prizes at Maryland lottery and go to NBA lottery.com We have some great winter stories, you know, and sometimes this story is right themselves and you you being a journalist of some renown, you know it right? Sometimes you struggle and other times ever normal

Nestor Aparicio  03:19

guidance never says I’m gonna go buy a ticket or bring it back. Oh, I won. That never happens that way. Right? Yeah. And

John Martin  03:25

just by just by, you know, sharing with us their unique stories, you don’t even have to put pen to paper. It’s done for you. And because this is on our website, and npr.com I feel like I’m not you know, telling stories out of school here. Tales. We had gentleman who claims that a psychic, don’t get ahead of me. A psychic predicted that he would win the Mega Millions. Jackpot, not the big jackpot. A $40,000 take home price, which is still significant change. But it came to him and a conversation he had with a psychic where the players father deceased told him that he wanted him to start playing in Mega Millions and Powerball. Okay, you know what, whatever you need to do to rationalize that I suppose is fine. So, there you have it. 40 grand, he’s doing something right. He’s doing something right. And then a shout out to his Father God rest his soul that he’s always looking down and helping him. For many other folks. They don’t have that that. That benefit they have to do it the old fashioned way. Just buy a ticket and get lucky at the store. Young lady here who is a bartender in Pasadena been playing lottery for a number of years, wins on a $3 Diamond bingo ticket $30,000 top prize, a nice way to spend the holidays You know, and again the stories go on and on, you can find all of them. MB lottery.com. But we certainly do do advocate that at this time of the year, you know, gift giving and getting all excited about holidays, please, please play responsibly whether it’s scratch offs, Powerball Mega Millions or sports wagering whatever your game of choice happens to be.

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Nestor Aparicio  05:21

I you know, I must say because I’m holding up these tickets and Ross gave me a few weeks ago, we gave away cos have a handful left we had a great pre, we’re, by the way crabcake toward continues into 2023 People keep asking me is crabcakes we’re gonna end them like, not crabcakes aren’t gonna and so I’m gonna be there. I was back across this last week. So, um, my sister in law and I found this so long story short, I know, you know this. My wife had cancer in 2014 and 15, a guy from Germany saved her life. He spent the holidays here with us. We were up in New York, and they brought all their bags down from New Hampshire, it was five degrees. I picked them up the airport, all that and I looked down and I saw lottery tickets. And they had so much my wife had a couple and it turns out that my sister in law now this is the one that I shouldn’t tell the Director of the Maryland Lottery but statute limitations back back in the 80s in New Hampshire different state if they were doing things the wrong way. But my but she still plays the lottery and gifts lottery tickets to everyone at Christmas because she won. So it turns out that now our German friends they did not win the New Hampshire state lottery, but But giving tickets is still it’s it’s a it showed up in my family literally this week. It happened.

John Martin  06:32

It does. It does. And a lot of families do partake in that again, as long as they are gifting it 18 years of age or older and making sure that they’re having fun me always

Nestor Aparicio  06:41

wondered if he hit the jackpot being German whether he would get it I’m like, No, I get to keep it.

John Martin  06:47

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Nice to me. I’m sure he bought that. I’m sure he took you.

Nestor Aparicio  06:52

He’s now he’s not full. He’s done. He’s been on the internet. He knows better. John Martin serious structural things. We Maryland lottery and gaming. Of course, we have football playoff football coming up here. Everybody is very aware of mobile wagering chatter that you want to say about that on the front of because we’re only Gosh, a month into it feels like a long time. But it’s only been Thanksgiving since this really came online. How are you feeling about it at the top of this and moving into the new year?

John Martin  07:18

Yeah, we certainly want to talk about sports wagering. But before we leave our lottery conversation, I want to remind all of your fans out there that we are waiting down on the Ravens Second Chance promotion the last day to enter in your non winning ravens tickets would be on January 2 2023. Because on January 3, we have our final drawing, not the final, the final drawing for entrance into fabulous prizes, we will pick two lucky winners on January 3, to round out our team of six for the eventual drawing on the 20 years of ravens tickets. So we have two more finalists picked on January 3, we’ll have a couple of $10,000 winners, and also two lucky winners of 2023. season tickets. So lots of winnings still to happen on the second chance ravens ticket, as our host will now be showing

Nestor Aparicio  08:14

Oh yeah, we absolutely. So this is this, these are the tickets. But let me ask you, the big prizes, not the tickets and the non financial prizes. But do you know when when these two are redeemed? Like how many could still be out that you mean you have you have numbers on all of this stuff for these because these don’t stay out? Right? They sell out and then they go away? Right.

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John Martin  08:37

Right. Right. And that’s a good point. I want to remind every every listener there that we still have top prizes available on the scratch off tickets. So even though I’m talking about a deadline for the second chance contest on January 2, the ticket will still be available for purchase for any of the prizes on the scratch off ticket itself up to $50,000. I hold that up again.

Nestor Aparicio  09:00

What do you have the 20,000? Yeah, 20. I have a two.

John Martin  09:03

Yeah, that’s a two is $20,000 to five is $100,000, I believe. So those prices will still be available? Well into the the 2023. So we have not we’re not going to close the tickets out by any means. So run easily through the several months of the new year.

Nestor Aparicio  09:19

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Okay, good. Good enough. So I still had a handful these while we’re putting America crabcakes we’re back together. We will have some dates in January sort of weighed in on ravens playoffs and where they are they’re definitely in the playoffs now. So we’ve heard about that.

John Martin  09:32

And players certainly will feel good about sports wagering during the playoffs. And again, you asked me a minute ago, how things have gone certainly 2020 22 was a roller coaster, you know, go back 12 months to when we talked in December of 2021. And we had just launched a five casinos for four retail brick and mortar wagering and we were all excited about that. And the cautionary tale I was telling people is look, we need to get this ready for the beginning of NFL season 22 When he too, and have mobile in place, I kind of missed it by a few months. But there was a very real danger that we’d miss it all together in 2022. So it was November 23, that we launched seven mobile licenses for sports wagering. And we will have more to announce here in the beginning of 2023. So stay tuned each and every month, Maryland lottery working with our partners at the sports wagering application review commission, the spark will be continuing to evaluate license applicants and issuing licenses for both mobile and retail businesses. Well, throughout calendar 2023.

Nestor Aparicio  10:42

Well, it felt a little glacial over 31 years of me doing radio, but now that it’s here, it’s becoming quickly ubiquitous, right? I mean, it gets into my head now on numbers. And could you bet right now on whether, you know, Justin Tucker is going to make this field gold or miss his field goal, we’re heading in that direction, certainly, with baseball, and in different sports, it’s changing the way and I you know, see this at the Superbowl six weeks from now, it’s changing the way we’re talking about sports, as fans, and I have seen it just out in my daily walk here, even during the World Cup. I mean, I had a friend of mine saying, I bet on Morocco to win and an extra time and over under on goals, and you get better to one fine, all those kinds of things. It’s changed the conversation in a bit a big way. I think it met in a way we were not sure of what that’s going to be look like for three or five years from now. Because I’ve been on the radio 30 years talking about sports one way, I think people are gonna see it a different way, John, I really do.

John Martin  11:39

Oh, absolutely. And as new licenses, new jurisdictions come on board, we all are gaining more knowledge and wisdom, it’s typically when things get launched, you know, you kind of turn the page, sports wagering is very different. It’s the first of the year we’ll have the Ohio casino commission, with with mobile and retail betting in sport in the state of Ohio, Massachusetts, right after that. So we have two very big markets coming on board, and we will all learn from their successes, and maybe not so much successes, depending on what the situation is. And we will all be reflective of that. You know, it used to be that, you know, we just thought one way and that that was it. Well, as we’re finding out more and more that we don’t know yet what we don’t know. And we continue to evolve and build a better product, build it with with better protections for players build it with better expectations on tax revenues for the states and the jurisdictions that we support. And hopefully making it a just a better product all the way around.

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Nestor Aparicio  12:46

Joe Martin is here it is the end of the calendar year, it’s kind of the end of the 49th year for the Maryland lottery, we’ll be celebrating the Maryland crab cake tour with the 50th and maybe up to 250 crab cakes, I told Ross I’m gonna get the holiday tree next year with 50 tickets on it is what I want to do to give away 50 scratch offs. But speak to me about this is a big big initiative, such a big initiative that I remember two or three years, it being talked about that this was coming up. So there’s been a lot of preparation for this. And I think everybody will see it. And also the way you’re picking winners is changed to that. That sort of a lot of changes happening in your agency right now. Back in

John Martin  13:23

1973, when the lottery started, we were the eighth lottery in the country. So we had learning experiences of seven that went before us. And it was very much a collaborative process back then. Well before my time in here in the Maryland lottery, but

Nestor Aparicio  13:42

also maybe controversial as to whether it was going to work, right. I mean, it’s always in beta as the kids would say, right?

John Martin  13:49

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Yeah, and get a whole different mindset. I mean, back then it was a very much a manual process. And today, automation and the ability with technology, you know, exponential growth, 15 years has been fairly good growth anyway, but certainly the last five years has been exponential growth in terms of just what’s available to us and how, you know, last month you saw or just last week, you saw us migrates from our numbered lottery balls and mechanical machines being used every day to draw the numbers to a computer based random number generator system and our NG system. And we kind of brace for what the public would would think about that. And we now hear crickets chirping. And week two, there were a handful of people who said, Hey, what happened to the drawings on television and we redirected them they said, Okay,

Nestor Aparicio  14:36

well, let’s have trust that you’re on the up and up. I mean, we were right. I mean, that that’s how this whole thing started 50 years ago was there was a lot of activity. He made a lot of movies about it, you know, about it not being on the up and up in America and what the consequences of that would be right and 50 years into this, all of these lotteries, no matter how you feel, politically, spiritually, whether you play or don’t play, they’ve been successful. And, quite frankly, stopping organized crime in the beginning for 50 years ago, but more than that, giving money back for schools and helping, and so that money isn’t in the in the criminal element, it’s actually put to great use, quite frankly. And I think all these people doing mobile sports wagering in the end, three 510 years now, when you start adding that money up, it’s going to be bricks and roads and schools and making our society better, right. So that’s the whole goal. And that’s

John Martin  15:26

really where the next 50 years will evolve to, and we’re already there now, I mean, as I said on the outset, 1973 were the eighth lottery today, there are 46 lotteries, 45 states plus the District of Columbia, in operation and annually, we’re talking $100 billion, with a B $100 billion that these lotteries conducted. I mean, it is it is a thriving and huge business entity. And we are now the fourth largest contributor to the Maryland state coffers. So right behind individual tax, corporate task, sales tax, and then lottery in terms of what what gets control.

Nestor Aparicio  16:10

It’s almost like that’s the lead don’t bury the lead. That’s that’s all

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John Martin  16:14

it is. And it’s like that in most every jurisdiction. I mean, we’re gonna get bigger with sports. Mobile wagering, too, right. Exactly, exactly. I mean, you don’t put the genie back in the bottle now. No, you can have the discussion and I welcome the discussion on on behaviors and, and putting in place protections and and watching out for vulnerable populations. Absolutely. That’s a necessary conversation. And I’m not, I’m not belittling that at all, or or pushing off to the side it has to be in the forefront. Which is why we do things like sports wagering, you know, we’re making sure that things are in place to have people play responsibly and have the guardrails and the support and the services that they need. And as we look forward to our 50th year, I mean, we’ve got a lot of new games, new promotions, exciting things, I’m not going to spill it all here in in 2022. But in the conversations we’ll have throughout the year, we’ll be introducing some fun things engaging things, a little look back on the Soulja, but also look ahead, so stay tuned for more fun stuff. from Maryland lottery and gaming in the months ahead. We’re really looking forward to our 50th anniversary year,

Nestor Aparicio  17:21

I took a picture with your ball soccer that you know the one that you have out in the lobby, the old one, that’s where the little balls would come up and you pull the thing you all

John Martin  17:30

the technical term is ball machine,

Nestor Aparicio  17:33

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oh machine. It’s not used to have one of those at the bingo hall, back in Dundalk back in the 70s. And with that a money win machine that crazy thanks. But I always wanted to do that my wife was always giving me a hard time and I think we’ve talked about it. But I did steal a picture in your office of me pretending to do it. So I want to put that out when the when the 2023 festivities all begin around here. John Martin is here. He’s the director all thanks Maryland lottery and gaming and couldn’t clean me up when I say the wrong things on the air here. football playoffs are coming obviously around the corner as well. And in the next year in Super Bowl and all of that for you on this monthly basis where you do the math, and all the money that’s being given away. I think I’m doing a real disservice to our audience. But it’ll give you at least one minute to talk about all of these crazy offers that everybody is seeing because you can’t be on social media without and be a sports fan to some degree without being offered the next chance to join the club in some way. And there’s just offers everywhere. And once these things even out, I think it’s going to even out that the state’s going to get a bigger card, right?

John Martin  18:43

Oh, yes. And this none of this is unexpected. I mean, we know from what the behaviors have been in other states, and we knew what it would be like here that the minute you you have the the the starting the starter pistol and the in the in the gun sounds and you start off that the promotional activity from the licensees, the sports books was going to be immense and and our December numbers will be available sometime around the 10th of January. So we’ll see how December went. But we know in November, the very first month and there was only nine days. Technically in that month. The sports books invested more in it than the players did. So they ended up showing negative returns because they had thrown so much promotional free play at that is not sustainable. That’s not something that we should get comfortable is going to be the norm month in and month out.

Nestor Aparicio  19:38

Let me say this because I have a friend who you know, I’ve known my whole life who grew up together and Dundalk. He put his status up last week. He’s like, I joined this when he got $200 I joined this one I joined this one I joined this one and I’ve lost it all now and I don’t know. But but the state didn’t get a whole lot of money out of that.

John Martin  19:53

No, no. And again, we’re still you know, what we’ve said all along for the last 12 months plus is that when it’s fully operational, we are not fully operational and won’t be for probably fall of 2023. But when we have all of our mobile licenses in place, all of our retail applications in place or applicants in place, and we kind of stabilized where we are in the sports calendar, we expect 25 to $30 million each and every year to go to the blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund for education programs. But that may not be realized until 2024. So 2023 is very much going to be a transition year, we still have more people to bring on. We still have more mobile applicants bring on more retail applicants to bring on. We still have people wanting to invest on the sportsbook side with their promotional offers, but at some point that will normalize your friend won’t have seven different offers each and every day to pick from that that will kind of quiet down and calm down and stabilize to the point where we’ll be able to look at the the true return. And again, we’re expecting it to be in that 25 to $30 million range on an annual basis. I think

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Nestor Aparicio  21:03

it’d be larger than that because I think you’re gonna predict a lower number that’s just me.

John Martin  21:08

Well, you know me you know me well sir.

Nestor Aparicio  21:11

John Martin is here we’re going to end the year with with me singing all links at No, we’re not challenge can be found out in front of Baltimore positive.com The general crabcake tour at some point this year, I’m mixing some ideas up here. This is my time of year when I don’t do a whole lot of radio and it’s Christmas. I strategize next year and the things I want to do and dream up things like Baltimore positive in the crabcake toward fun ideas. I’m thinking about I’m gonna run this by you, but I’ve done I’m gonna continue to crabcake tour, but I’m thinking about the summer tour that I do where I go all over the states my 32nd year going into now Radio, I’m thinking of doing 32 oysters in 32 days. And the reason for that is you can do oysters in different ways I can get soup one day get Rockfeller one day, I can get kid you know, I can get eaten raw. Right. So I think to promote the state because the oyster beds a lot of folks don’t know this. The oysters in the grass and the oxygenation is why the crabs exist. So I’m gonna do a little educational thing next year. That’s my blueprint for education. What’d you think of that?

John Martin  22:12

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Wow, I felt I just learned something right now. You didn’t know that. I did not know that.

Nestor Aparicio  22:17

Oh, see, I’ve learned all this because I went over the eastern shore during the first crab cake tour. And we talked about crabbing. And we talked about JTP visas. And who picks the crab we talked about all of this stuff. But the number one thing all of them said to me and the reason that the oyster shells the recovery, it’s to see the bay it has to do with Sally nation growing grasses. The oysters oxygenate the water that allows the craps to live science and lottery together, John, it’s amazing.

John Martin  22:47

Wow. Wow. Thank you for that. Little Thank you, Mr. Wizard for that science.

Nestor Aparicio  22:54

You know what? You guys sell your tickets every time I go to wise markets. When I sold wise the promotion, I said we call the intelligent conversations, wise conversation. So there’s a little wisdom for you. How about that?

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John Martin  23:06

Nice. Nice. I like it. I like what you did there. Thank you. Happy New Year to you.

Nestor Aparicio  23:09

And I appreciate all that you do. And I know you’ve worked really hard this year, and trying to get all this together. And now we have a 50th anniversary. I’m looking forward to seeing in the new year for crab cake and get some fresh scratch offs to give away as well. So we’ll have those for winter and springtime as well. John, I appreciate you Happy New Year.

John Martin  23:25

Thank you same to you. Happy New Year.

Nestor Aparicio  23:26

Always great segue John Martin, the director of all things may win the lottery and gaming. He’s out in front of Baltimore positive.com along with a lot of our sponsors, a lot of great voices and of course, Luke out and Owings Mills as we get ready for Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and would have to worry about making the playoffs like they do with some of these other places. We’re already in on Nestor, we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. And we never stopped talking 2023 and Baltimore positive.com