It’s Super Bowl time again and it remains the biggest sporting event in America to lay wagers on along with the food, drink and party. John Martin of The Maryland Lottery educates Nestor on the modern ease and cautions of betting on The Big Game and ways to get help for those who will miss the football season a little too much after its over.
Nestor Aparicio and John Martin discussed the evolution of sports wagering, emphasizing the shift from illegal to legal betting. Martin highlighted that $1.7 billion will be wagered legally on Super Bowl 60, with Maryland having 26 legal online sports wagering vehicles. Martin stressed the importance of betting responsibly and legally to ensure consumer protections and state revenue. They also talked about Maryland Lottery promotions, including trips to the Milan and Los Angeles Olympics, and various prizes like smart home upgrades and grills. Nestor shared personal experiences of giving away lottery tickets and winning small amounts, promoting responsible gaming.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend and host Maryland Lottery community outreach events (Pizza John’s in Essex on Thursday and Costa’s on Friday) and distribute lottery tickets/promotional materials during the visits
- [ ] Follow up next week to report results from this week’s Maryland Lottery and community outreach activities and provide an update on outcomes
- [ ] Run the ‘Smart Home Upgrade’ Maryland Lottery promotion with entries accepted through April 7 and the drawing on April 8, and oversee prize fulfillment for the $10,000+ package
- [ ] Run the Pit Boss grill/smoker promotion with entries accepted through February 10 and the drawing on February 11, and oversee selection and notification of the two winners
Big Game Week and Community Engagement
- Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and mentions the ongoing community charity conversations.
- Nestor shares a personal story about winning $3 at El Guapo and giving away lottery tickets, emphasizing the excitement of small wins.
- Nestor promotes upcoming events, including appearances at Costas on Friday and Pizza John’s in Essex, and thanks new sponsors like Comfort Keepers.
- Nestor introduces John Martin, Executive Director of the Maryland Lottery, to discuss betting on the Big Game and share winner tales.
Discussion on Sports Wagering and Responsible Betting
- Nestor and John Martin discuss the evolution of sports wagering, comparing it to the transition from illegal to legal activities like prohibition and cannabis.
- John Martin highlights the significant increase in legal sports wagering, estimating $1.7 billion will be wagered legally on Super Bowl 60.
- Nestor and John emphasize the importance of responsible and legal betting, noting that more money is still bet illegally.
- John explains the legal framework in Maryland, mentioning the 26 legal online sports wagering vehicles and the importance of consumer protections.
Legal vs. Illegal Betting and Consumer Protections
- John Martin stresses the importance of betting legally to ensure player protections and revenue generation for the state.
- Nestor and John discuss the types of bets allowed in Maryland, emphasizing that non-game-related bets are not permitted.
- John provides information on how to find legal betting options on the MD Gaming website and the consequences of betting illegally.
- Nestor shares his experience of seeing gambling-related content at Radio Row and the shift towards more responsible betting discussions.
Maryland Lottery Promotions and Winners
- Nestor mentions various Maryland Lottery promotions, including Candy Cane Cash and the Raven’s Tickets for Life.
- John Martin talks about the MD Lottery’s Olympics promotions, including trips to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
- John announces recent winners of trips to the Milan Olympics and the upcoming opportunity to win a trip to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
- Nestor and John discuss the importance of the My Lottery Rewards app and the various promotions available to lottery players.
Community Engagement and Second Chance Promotions
- Nestor shares his experience of giving away lottery tickets at El Guapo and the positive reactions from the community.
- John Martin explains the benefits of joining the My Lottery Rewards club and the various promotions available throughout the year.
- Nestor and John discuss the importance of checking tickets before discarding them and the excitement of winning.
- John shares a story about a Cambridge woman who won $100,000 on a $10.50 scratch-off ticket, emphasizing the importance of playing responsibly.
Upcoming Promotions and Winter Winners
- John Martin announces upcoming promotions, including the Smart Home Upgrade prize package and the Pit Boss Electric Smoker and Pellet Grill.
- Nestor and John discuss the appeal of these promotions and the importance of entering for a chance to win.
- John shares stories of recent winter winners, including a $100,000 winner on a $10.50 scratch-off ticket and a $100,000 crossword winner.
- Nestor and John emphasize the excitement of winning and the importance of checking tickets for potential prizes.
Final Thoughts and Super Bowl Predictions
- Nestor and John discuss the upcoming Super Bowl and the excitement surrounding the game.
- Nestor shares his thoughts on the new stars that will emerge after the Mannings, Brady, and Mahomes.
- John and Nestor talk about the importance of wagering responsibly and legally, with John predicting a win for the new and improved Patriots.
- Nestor concludes the segment by encouraging listeners to enjoy the Super Bowl responsibly and to stay tuned for more updates on Maryland Lottery promotions.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Super Bowl, sports wagering, Maryland Lottery, John Martin, legal betting, player protections, revenue generation, responsible gambling, fantasy sports, MD gaming, lottery promotions, Olympics, scratch tickets, fast play tickets, community charity.
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SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, John Martin
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive. This is a cup of soup or Bowl week. We’re not at the big game out in Santa Clara. We’re here where it’s chillier. We’re out doing the show all week long. We hope you’re enjoying all the community charity conversations we’ve had here. I have been giving these away, and I had someone scream at El Guapo on Tuesday. I won at lunchtime, and I ran over and I did take a picture. How much you win? Three bucks. Hey, it’s three bucks. You did. It’s more than two, is what I said. Candy Cane cash also had a $20 winner at El Guapo on Tuesday as well. We’ll be at a Costas on Friday, and if you catch us in time Thursday at Pizza John’s in Essex, it’s also brought to you by friends at GBMC. And we have our newest sponsors. First time I’ve worn my farnin in Dermer a shirt to comfort guys. They’re going to be sponsoring all of our sports reporting and all the things that Luke is doing downtown, and hopefully maybe a little Sarasota sunshine. This guy always brings sunshine. He’s been gone a couple of weeks, they have a new head coach with the Cleveland Browns. He hails from Ohio. We welcome executive director of all things, Marilyn lottery and the important part of the gaming, because of the big game this week, we welcome John Martin back onto the program. Hey, Ben, been a couple weeks since I’ve had you on we, you know my Steeler thing with Seth and the Raven. We all have coaches now, and you took our coach, what’s, what’s going on with that?
John Martin 01:22
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, let’s, let’s not, let’s not go down that path. Do we? You know what I’ve been chiseling out? How about this? You know, people tell me you’re from Cleveland. You’re used to this. Oh, this is not Cleveland weather.
Nestor Aparicio 01:34
8You know what it is? It’s New Hampshire weather. And my wife looked out the window and she said, it’s like a day 10, when it was 20 degrees and it was and I’m like, You’re nuts. You’re polar bears. This is not, not even Pete Alonso real polar bears, not the ones they have at the zoo. So look, it’s big game week. I want to have a little fun with some football. And we all have new coaches, and we’re all you know, looking at the offseason and watching these teams play. I couldn’t help us make a coffee this morning. I was thinking, Oh, I’m gonna talk to John. I’m gonna talk to John about. I’m like, it is amazing that this game, for most of our lifetime, was this thing that, you know, people would have a pull card or a bar would have a block pool, or my dad would, you know, bet 10 bucks on the game, or something like that. It was sort of the ubiquitous sports thing underground in our country that everybody talked about. Some people did it was fun. We threw parties. We did all that. Now that it’s on the up and up and anybody, I don’t even know what to say about it, because it’s not some once a year thing, and I don’t know that the whole world runs and bets on the Super Bowl. I’m sure you’re going to tell me differently at this point, but it is a good week to talk about sports wagering and how far it’s come, and give you some oxygen to talk about what we do for Westmore we do for citizens, because being on the up and up, there’s a whole lot more money it’s going to be in the states coffers on Monday than there was at, let’s say Super Bowl 35 or Super Bowl 47 and we’ve been having fun with that around here, but there was no opportunity to do that back in the Day where it was on the up and up,
John Martin 03:03
this has really gotten beyond anyone’s wireless expectations. If someone would told you at Super Bowl 35 or Super Bowl 47 that there would come a day at Super Bowl 60 where the world would look like this, you would not it. Would have been speaking a foreign language. We estimate we being the industry over 1.7 billion. That’s a B, $1.7 billion will be wagered legally on Super Bowl. Well, for 30
Nestor Aparicio 03:30
years at the Super Bowl, when I went, it was illegally, illegally, unless you’re in Vegas, unless you’re in Vegas, you know, that’s literally the way it was forever. Now that I look back at it, it’s sort of like looking back at prohibition, or cannabis, or anything that was illegal that became legal at any point in the last 100 years in America. And I’m like, All right, but then there’s the guardrails, and then there’s the how much is too much? And this is a week to talk about. I think doing this responsibly, because my wife and I haven’t the DTS, like, this is the last football game. What are we going to do after this? I can’t imagine if you felt like was your last chance to bet. It’s not. But we want to make sure people are doing this responsibly.
John Martin 04:07
I stress legally for two reasons. Number one, there’s still more money bet illegally on the game than legally. And 1.7 billion is a staggering enough amount. Here in the state of Maryland, all gambling is illegal by nature, unless it is carved out, set aside, if you will, identified in statute. And so far, we have 26 legal online sports wagering vehicles. You have primarily 12 online sports books, and you can probably recite most of them by name. We also have 14 registered fantasy sports competition operators in the state of Maryland. Anything beyond those, you can go to our gaming website at MD gaming.com to see the illegal versus the legal sites. If you’re not one of those 26 options, or you’re choosing to wager with one of those 26 options, you. You are wagering illegally in the state of Maryland, and why is that a big deal? Well, there are a lot of reasons. One, you don’t have the player protections. You have the consumer protections that you have with a legalized entity. The revenues that are generated do not go to the state. They do not go to the good causes that the the the regulated and they
8Nestor Aparicio 05:21
don’t go to bookmaker salads, from what I can tell, you know, so, yeah,
John Martin 05:27
so just buyer beware again. Be informed. Be responsible. Understand you’re going to see plenty of language out there and ads and information telling you to plan your spend play, play within your means, and have some fun. Enjoy the game. We have the last few years kind of thrown out those non game related bets. You know, what color is the Gatorade going to be dumped on the coach. You know, how long is the national anthem? You won’t find those wagers in the state of Maryland, we only have things in our sports wagering catalog, and there is such a thing called a catalog that you can find, again, at MD gaming.com that we set the guidelines as to what the operators can, in fact, accept wagers on if it does not involve the outcome of the sports event, directly, it’s not going to be in the state of Maryland catalog. So get educated. Understand play responsibly, play within your means. Have some fun. And you know, hopefully we’ll be able to talk about a successful campaign after the fact.
Nestor Aparicio 06:38
You know, I’ve been doing this so long, and I say to people I can’t speak in terms of, like radio row. One of the last time I was there, four years ago, it was all gambling. It was all internet, it was all podcast. It was sort of dude bro gambling talk in those terms of not talking about who’s going to win the game or the draft, literally just talking about bets all day. And I can’t speak of it that way. But this week, for the first time with baseball and spring training, I saw the Orioles over. Under was somewhere between 85 and a half and 89 and a half. And I thought, you know, this is where you could get some value and have a little bit of fun here. But I know, please do this responsibly. One and under gambler, if you know someone, if you are having DTS about betting this week, it’s a little crazy. But we got lottery business as well. MD lotteries out there. I’ve been giving away candy cane cash. These are leftovers from the holidays for me, and they’ve been a very, very lucky batch I’ve been getting at I know we found the cash for life winner and we found tickets, but you have all sorts of things going on. When I went to MD lottery, I saw that with the Olympics around the corner next week, we’re sending people to the LA Olympics, but I know you got winners going to Milan next week too, right?
John Martin 07:42
8Well, week too, right? We do, and that should be a whole lot of fun. We have three winners and their guests going to Milan to participate in the excitement there. And hopefully when they get back, they’ll have great stories to tell, and we’ll proceed along that path. But we also have, for people who are watching this year’s Winter Olympics, the opportunity to participate and play with the opportunity to get into the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics by first of all, buying a Kino ticket between now and February 22 and you can enter in those tickets into your My lottery rewards account. And once you do that, hopefully you’ll have a chance to win a trip for two to the 2028, la Olympic Games. So that’d be a lot of fun. And then we’ve had already three winners. Let me see if we can find them right here. Yeah. Bonnie Hyson from Pasadena is our most recent winner, and she will be joined by so far, Jocelyn Johnson of Fort Washington, Maryland, and Barbara Henderson of aspen hill, Maryland, we have two more winners to go, and all five of those lucky winners will then have a great package to spend in 2028 in Los Angeles, watching the much warmer summer games. We hope it was a little chilly
Nestor Aparicio 08:59
everywhere here this week, John Martin is here. He’s executive director of all things Marilyn, lottery and gaming. As we get you know, I did mention my lot of rewards and empty lottery in the app. I gave a lot of tickets at El Guapo during lunch on Tuesday. We did a turnover there for a couple of Super Bowl. And I gave a ticket to a lady at the bar. She’s having a drink, having some lunch. She said, I love the lottery. I love the play. Hold on. You know, she knew educating folks about the app and the ease of it, but all of these really cool Promotions we talk about, whether it’s ravens tickets for life or second chance, or Harlem Globetrotters, any of these things, going to Jurassic Park and going to Hawaii and eating real snow cones and real poi, all of that really does take the effort of digital and the effort of second chance. And I want to give you a little auction talk about that, because when I like, when I’m out in the community, I give somebody a ticket, they not only know what it is, they’re like, I play, you know, they know what it is, and they’re telling me about it, and they’re showing me their phone. And I’m like, that’s cool. And.
John Martin 10:00
When you become a member of the my lottery rewards club, if you will, it’s not always the big prizes. It’s not always the trips to the Olympics and going to Hawaii and those things. There are a number of other promotions throughout the year. Matter of fact, if you go to MD lottery.com click on the promotions page. Here are some things coming up, Nestor, I think one or two of these may appeal to you.
Nestor Aparicio 10:21
Warm weather. They could all right,
8John Martin 10:27
here’s one we’ve done from time to time. We have a lot of fun with this. It’s called the Smart Home Upgrade, and it’s a prize package in excess of $10,000 which includes an Apple iPad Pro, a Samson 70, Samsung 75 inch Q LED Smart TV. I need one of those bad a Samson surround sound system, a pro robot vacuum. I can see you with your feet up on the ottoman.
Nestor Aparicio 10:58
Sold them when my cat followed around, or we should be afraid of it. You know, I don’t know, she probably sit on it. Awesome. Let’s go. I want one
John Martin 11:05
and Nintendo Switch to bundle with Mario Kart, an outdoor home security system. This is all the same package, and an iPad, an Apple home pod, smart speaker. So check that out. We’ll have one winner of a package grant over $10,000 and you have between now and April 7 to get your entries in, and the entry will be on April 8.
Nestor Aparicio 11:30
8So that’s a little man cave kind of thing, right? Kind of, sort of, yeah. Well, I tell you what, here’s something. It could be a woman cave too. I mean, you know, I mean, it’s good, whatever you want to do, yeah, I got it.
John Martin 11:38
Careful. Be careful. Hey, you. Can you impress me as kind of guy with that chef’s hat, the apron, the spatula, the grill going, how about a pit boss electric smoker and a pit boss Pellet Grill, something to enhance the spring, summer, fall, outdoor cooking months, we will have two winners of the pit boss and smoker randomly drawn. You can get your entries in between now and February 10. Drawing on February 11, and spring is going to start on February 12. So you’re in good shape.
Nestor Aparicio 12:13
Well, you mean to mention me being gender neutral here, my wife is the pit boss when it comes. Oh, yeah, definitely the man cave thing. All About me with the digital like but the grill and making brisket and stuff and some ribs in the summer, that would be all about her. Go to empty lottery.com. You can learn more about all that. John Martin is our guest here as always. All right, so I want to give you some auction to talk some winners, some stuff, because we have all sorts of stuff on the table right now. You get a lot of competitions going on, and I haven’t even mentioned home run riches. I’ll wait a couple of weeks on that. I know you’re baking something big boarding this week. You know? How is that possible? How is that possible? I just want warm weather. That’s all I want. Winners. But I know you got some good winter stories as well.
John Martin 12:55
We do. We do, and it’s always fun. You get the winter stories at MD lottery.com, and people winning in on scratch offs on draw games, on promotions. We have a a Cambridge woman who has won $100,000 top prize on her $10.50 times the cash scratch off. That just launched last month in January, from Dorchester County. She just finished her grocery shopping, stopped at one of her retailers, played her number, said, You know what? Maybe I’ll try one of these scratch off tickets. They’re new and originally scratched it. And said, Oh, may I won $500 and then she realized she had won more than that. And what she had won, in fact, was $100,000 so she got a little nervous, left the store, scanned it there, just to make sure, you know, I love that people see a number pop up and they don’t believe it, right? Human nature is that can’t be possible.
8Nestor Aparicio 13:52
I always say, imagine when Doug Lloyd calls you and tells you you won one of these Second Chance things, or emails you, and you’re like, Nah, you know, nah. Can’t be me, right?
John Martin 14:01
Well, yeah, that’s that’s part of the fun. That’s why people play these things. If he
Nestor Aparicio 14:04
ever retires, that’s my next gig. I want that gig where I call people and have him tell me they didn’t really win.
John Martin 14:10
8You know what you keep doing, what you’re doing, you’re on the right path. You are on the right
Nestor Aparicio 14:15
try to make people happy. John, you know, I do that. That’s all. You make people happy at El Guapo with lottery tickets this week. It’s awesome. You know, that’s what you do. You’re a different kind of guy. Thrill when people win. I mean, these people want three bucks and they were out of their minds. I can’t imagine winning $50,000 and maybe throwing your ticket away. I saw that on the line too.
John Martin 14:33
Yeah, yeah. Please, please get make sure before you start to discard tickets. And of course, if you’re a my lottery rewards player. You know those tickets have valued, and enter them in for some of these promotions and prizes. We had another $100,000 winner on a let’s see which ticket was this. I don’t know, a crossword. $100,000 crossword winner, someone
Nestor Aparicio 14:59
you can win on all. Them, right? They all, it’s like, which, which machines, the lucky machine in the casino, right? It’s like, and I, when I see people win, I saw online, by the way, this fellow won. I want to read a story here, because it sort of appealed to me. He said he almost threw out his winning ticket. He had a $5 fast play game, snowflake cash. And he says, I don’t really care about winning big. I just want to have a prize every once in a while, even if it’s just $1 people love to win.
8John Martin 15:25
People have of course, of course. It beats the alternative, as we say, as we say, so, yeah, please check that out. We have lots of fun tickets, up and down line, whether they’re scratch tickets, like we’ve talked about here, whether there are fast play tickets, we have a nice family of casino style games and our fast play lineup. You can check that out at MD lottery.com,
Nestor Aparicio 15:44
and how will those work? I know how to play craps and three card and blackjack. Those are games that like back her at so when I see those, I’m like, Alright, at least I’ll know if I won in poker.
John Martin 15:54
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So hopefully people will play responsibly along the way and have some fun with it, getting out once again, renewing their normal weekly routines, getting out from the snow and the ice, and getting back out and having some fun with Maryland lottery.
Nestor Aparicio 16:09
8Are you doing home run riches? Yes, we’re doing home run riches. I’m just asking, I you know, because I’m trying to think of warmer thoughts here.
John Martin 16:17
But we are doing some again each year. We try to do a little something, a little different. And we’re not ready to announce the little different for 2026 but it is. It’s a fabulous option for our home run riches.
Nestor Aparicio 16:31
Players. Well, you’re a baseball fan, so I can imagine you get creative about all these things. John Martin is here. He’s the Executive Director of all things Maryland, lottery and gaming. We have him on every week. We’ll be out doing a cup of Super Bowl in the Maryland crab cake tour later in the week, Thursday at Pizza John’s Friday, where it cost is five in a row. We’ve had winners every single day on the candy cane cash. Also our friends at GBMC. I want to give them some love for putting us out on the road. Did I cover everything here? Do we have anything else we have to cover that’s official Maryland lottery business this week?
John Martin 16:59
John Martin, we’ve covered everything Nestor and then some. So looking forward to following up next week and see how we how we done for the week before.
8Nestor Aparicio 17:07
Can we feel in any way even remotely decent if Bob Kraft has the trophy again on Sunday night? I mean, I don’t want to take sides here, but they are the Patriots, right?
John Martin 17:19
You know, it is interesting. Well, they are the new and improved patriots, I guess, to be determined if they’re new and improved, I don’t know. I mean, it’s Sam darnold. What a story that would be.
Nestor Aparicio 17:28
It’s amazing. And I think the amazing part is number zero here, number zero here. A lot of people. And Luke and I’ve talked all week. This is like a game where new stars will be born after the Mannings and the Brady’s the mahomes is so I’m excited about the game. Everybody eat responsibly on Sunday night. Don’t overdo it. Have a good party out there and make sure you’re wagering responsibly and doing it legally on the app. If you’re betting on the game this week, we appreciate it. John Martin, Executive Director of all things Marilyn, lottery and gaming, as we get back out on the road for a cup of Super Bowl. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore, positive. You.
