Going for the Gold

The fun part of the promotions are the grand prizes you can only win if you play. John Martin of The Maryland Lottery tells Nestor about some fun winners who are going for the gold with the U.S. Olympic team and others who will be taking their shots with the Harlem Globetrotters at UMBC in March.

Nestor Aparicio and John Martin discussed the upcoming Super Bowl week in Baltimore, including events at Faidley’s, State Fair, Koco’s, Pizza John’s, and Acosta’s. They highlighted the Maryland Lottery’s promotions, such as the Harlem Globetrotters’ 100th anniversary event at UMBC, where Kierra Moten will sit on the bench. They also mentioned the Winter Olympics promotion, with Barbara Henderson winning a trip to the 2028 Summer Games. John emphasized the importance of responsible sports wagering, noting that Maryland’s sports wagering tax revenue reached $78 million in six months, surpassing last year’s total.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and run the Cup of Super Bowl week activities (Candy Cane Cash and related promotions), beginning activities at Faidley’s downtown on Monday and the schedule of promotional stops during the week
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and execute the Cup of Soup/Bowl fundraising events for the Maryland Food Bank and other charities, including the listed weekly stops (Faidley’s, State Fair, Koco’s, Pizza John’s, Acosta’s) and associated giveaways
• [ ] Attend the Harlem Globetrotters game on March 15 at UMBC, capture Kierra Moten’s VIP bench experience, and publish a story on MDlottery.com about her experience after the game
• [ ] Provide ongoing updates on promotions, winners, and new games on MDlottery.com and prepare to ‘get listeners caught up’ next week with the latest details

Super Bowl Week and Maryland Lottery Promotions

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the upcoming Super Bowl week activities, including a crab cake tour and raising awareness for the Maryland Food Bank.
• Nestor mentions the involvement of GBMC in telling stories about saving lives.
• John Martin, Executive Director of the Maryland Lottery, joins the conversation to discuss the current state of football and the Maryland Lottery’s promotions.
• John Martin talks about the unprecedented number of high-profile coaching openings in football, including the Packers and Buffalo Bills.

Harlem Globetrotters and Maryland Lottery Winners

• John Martin shares details about the Harlem Globetrotters’ 100th anniversary and their road show, including a special event at UMBC.
• Kierra Moten from Germantown, Maryland, is announced as the winner who will sit on the bench with the Globetrotters during the game.
• Nestor and John discuss the history and significance of the Harlem Globetrotters, including the team’s female members.
• John Martin mentions the upcoming Winter Olympics and a special promotion with the Maryland Lottery’s Kino product.

Winter Olympics Promotion and Maryland Lottery Jackpots

• John Martin announces a special promotion for the Winter Olympics, including a VIP trip to the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
• Barbara Henderson from Aspen Hill, Maryland, is announced as the first winner of the Winter Olympics promotion.
• John Martin discusses the current jackpots in the Mega Millions and Powerball, emphasizing their significance.
• Nestor and John talk about the impact of snowstorms on the Maryland Lottery, with John noting that people are more likely to play lottery games when they are homebound.

Sports Wagering and Responsible Gambling

• John Martin provides an update on the Maryland Lottery’s sports wagering revenue, noting a significant increase from the previous year.
• John emphasizes the importance of playing responsibly and setting a budget for sports wagering.
• Nestor and John discuss the exponential growth of mobile wagering and its impact on the industry.
• John advises people to educate themselves about parlay wagers and to enjoy the games responsibly.

Fast Play Games and Maryland Lottery Winners

• John Martin explains the concept of fast play games, which are similar to scratch-off tickets but played on computer terminals.
• John highlights the Maryland Lottery’s new casino-themed fast play games and their popularity.
• John shares details about a recent large winner at the American Legion in Edgewater, Maryland, who won $660,414 on a racetracks ticket.
• Nestor and John discuss the various ways to play the Maryland Lottery, including fast play games and racetracks.

Super Bowl Week Activities and Maryland Lottery Promotions

• Nestor Aparicio outlines the Maryland Lottery’s Super Bowl week activities, including events at Faidley’s, State Fair, Koco’s, Pizza John’s, and Acosta’s.
• Nestor mentions the Maryland Lottery’s partnership with GBMC and the Maryland Food Bank to raise awareness and funds.
• John Martin reiterates the importance of playing responsibly and checking the Maryland Lottery website for updates on promotions and winners.
• Nestor announces a special segment to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ravens’ Super Bowl win, with stories and events planned for the week.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Super Bowl, Maryland Lottery, Harlem Globetrotters, sports wagering, football coaching, Winter Olympics, Maryland Food Bank, GBMC, Mega Millions, Powerball, fast play games, racetracks, promotions, responsible gambling, Baltimore.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1, John Martin

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively getting ready. I’m a little giddy. You know? I woke up today and I said to my wife, we don’t have enough hot Koco and marshmallows for the pending Snowmageddon that we’re going to have here for the championship game weekend. I tell you what, I had a crab cake tour stop, almost ready to go, but we’re pushing it off a cup of Super Bowl begins. Super Bowl week on the second, we will begin our activities at faidley’s downtown, hopefully dug out by then. All been brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I have a handful of the it still smells like the seasonal all this snow. I want to build a snowman. Maybe, maybe it’s right. Candy cane cash I’ll have to give away all week long as we raise awareness for the Maryland Food Bank as well as dozens of other charities. I’m setting all of that up through the snowstorm. Our friends at GBMC are also involved in telling some stories about saving lives. As we enter 2026 this guy doesn’t have a coach of his team. I don’t have a coach of my team. By the time the snowstorm and everything settles here, John Martin is the executive director of all things Marilyn, lottery and gaming. I don’t know if you’ve been hiding from me, or I’ve been hiding from you, or you want to push the Steelers fan who also doesn’t have a coach as we speak, on to me. It is. It’s a wild football time. I’ll just say that. I’ll just leave it at your lap on that and let you speak to it however you want, because these are weird times from a football perspective, but also huge weekend for sports wagering, huge weekend for people who love football. Sit around eat chocolate chip cookies and buffalo wings and whatever we’re going to do here through the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1  01:31

But from the football perspective, it is sort of first and foremost in everybody’s minds. I think people want to talk to me about is about who Raven’s gonna hire.

John Martin  01:40

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You know, it’s interesting because on a number of fronts, and obviously there are betting lines on these things. I’m not going to go down that, that path. They said something the other day that and, and I didn’t bother to fact check it. You probably did that. This is the last time this happened. Was only like a few years ago, where they had so many openings. I don’t remember them, but even if they did, the number of high profile openings is unprecedented.

Speaker 1  02:07

Yeah, and you know, the Packers job almost came open, Andy Reid’s hanging in, and that job could have come open. I don’t think anyone in the stadium, as I sat there in Pittsburgh two weeks ago, and the ball sailed, looped right that we would have thought both of those coaches would have been gone at all. And, I mean, and then the buffalo chaos this week. So it has been, it’s been as much conversation about head coaching and people and John Harbaugh’s press conference in New York and Steve shot his press conference last week, as it’s even been about the games. But I know we get lottery activity. And one of the big things we’ve talked about your last couple of weeks, and I still have not found my picture with Meadowlark Lemon, as we finally speaking of sports that matter, the Washington generals, yeah, you know, like, by the way, I went to, I got to give love to Coppin State. They played South Carolina the other day, and I went to Coppins, my partner and I was over Dr Jenkins. We had all this fun. The South Carolina girls walked out on the court, and the cop and girls walked down the court, and the South Carolina girls were like, there were girls, 696, 11, and the cop and like, and I looked at him like it was Washington generals, which plays right in to the Harlem Globe. We have a winner. Somebody’s going to sit like in a couple of weeks at CFG Bank Arena, because they played, and they’re going to get the confetti, and I hope they get the confetti shower. John, please tell me. You know,

John Martin  03:30

we’ve been talking about this for weeks now. The the Harlem Globetrotters 100th anniversary in 2026 and they’re on their their road show, as they always are this time of the year. And they will be in Baltimore, actually will not be CFG arena. Oh, it’s not, that’s right, it’s UMBC. It’ll be at UMBC. Sorry, my bad. And we’ve been talking about that. In addition to about 30 winners of two tickets to the game and merchandise, one very special VIP person gets to sit on the bench with the Globetrotters during the game. And that is Kierra Moten of Germantown, Maryland. Kiera, come on down.

Nestor Aparicio  04:09

I hope she can shoot the three or whatever, because they might even bring her out on the court, right? I mean, like to do this up with the lottery, I think, right? I mean, I want to know what’s going to happen here this night, because the Harlem Globetrotters been doing fun for like, 100 years. They’re gonna, they’re gonna figure this out.

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John Martin  04:25

Yeah, so that should be a lot of fun. That should be a lot of fun. And we’ll, we’ll hopefully be there and capture it, and I’m sure have a nice little story on our MD lottery.com website afterwards to show how Kiera enjoyed that game on March 15 with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Speaker 1  04:42

Do you know the Harlem Globetrotters have females on the team? Do you mean yes, for years,

John Martin  04:46

they’ve hit that enough for them. For wasn’t what’s the girl from the woman from the Los Angeles sparks, what’s in there?

Speaker 1  04:53

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So I just read the names here. But hammer, Harrison, torch, George thunder law, jet, rivers, wham Middleton. And hot shot, Swanson, TNT, Lister. She’s female ace, Porter, sunshine, West. I mean, this is, I kind of want to go John like, what’s give me the date again. It’s UMBC arena, march 15. All right. Well, you know, I, I want to get in on the fun night now that I’m on the website, the meta lock lemon and the curly Neil, he comes back to me and me bothering my dad. Oh, my God, I begged my dad to take me to see the Globetrotters. So congratulations, Kira. Get over there. Put on a show. Let the ladies bring you out on the court. Hit the three. Win the car. Do whatever they have to do there.

John Martin  05:35

Get the confession. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Don’t get too far down that promo. Do that. No, I don’t buy the car thing.

05:43

Okay, hey, you

John Martin  05:44

know what else is fun? What’s fun next month, the Olympics. The Olympics begin in 2026 the Winter Olympics.

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Speaker 1  05:53

Can you say that I hear the song, is that terrible? Like, just you say the Winter Olympics begin? Yeah. And I hear that, and I’m like, yeah. I mean, I do,

John Martin  06:03

yes, yeah. And this year, we are doing a special promotion with our Kino product now through February 22 purchase and enter your keynote tickets into your My lottery rewards account. And you may be eligible to win a variety of offerings, but ideally you want to win the VIP la 28 trip to the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028 and we have our first winner. Barbara Henderson, are you ready for this? From aspen hill, Maryland, see Winter Olympics there. Aspen I was going for a little

06:40

Oh, okay. I like that. I like to have hills. There are friends of my ski there. Yes, I like it. I like it.

John Martin  06:45

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Aspen hill, Maryland. Barbara Henderson will be the first of our lucky winners who will be anxiously watching these winter games, but more importantly, dreaming about Los Angeles in 2028 and being one of our many winners that will will join us for for

Speaker 1  07:01

that activity I see, you know, Dawn Staley was the coach, that coach for South Carolina the other day when I went over to Coppin, and I kind of, like, thought she might still be the coach, and she’s not the coach of the current team, just like I had to go and figure all of this out. It’s Carol Lawson, just like, going to lead the team in 28 so winners are going to get, like, serious summer game hoopage In the greatest athletes in the world. So let’s go win, right, like USA, us. That’s what I want to say. That was my point.

John Martin  07:29

There you go. There you go. Well done. Well done. All right. So in addition, you know, it gets kind of lost, we have, we have some jackpots that are rolling at the Mega Millions and Powerball level, we’re in that nice, comfortable three digit range, over $200 million in both categories.

Speaker 1  07:43

I don’t know why we sneeze at that, by the way. You know what I mean? Like, it’s 260 6,000,200 9 million. Well, I’m gonna have John on the show this week. Should we talk about 260 $6 million but I mean, the play that we had last month was crazy, right? Like getting it to that number. But this is still significant. People should get out and consider this. And can I ask you a really serious because we don’t get blizzards here, and you’re, well, you’re a Midwestern guy, and my wife’s been laughing at me about the milk, the bread, the toilet bowl, that’s let’s feel the tank of gas up. Let’s get back up this and get more ice cream and all this other stuff. Yes, just due to the lottery, when, when we get a storm like this for like, like, three, four days where absolutely no, yeah, what happens to the Maryland lottery?

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John Martin  08:25

Well, it slows up. I’ll tell you that

08:27

it does okay. I

John Martin  08:28

thought it would. People are homebound. So, you know, being on the road during their errands, whether just go get gas, and we hope that when they they’re out and about, they consider the Maryland lottery play responsibly when they do, whether to scratch off game or a fast play game, or any of our many draw games, and certainly the promotions that go with that. But no, you would certainly expect a nutrition, you know, it’s just

Speaker 1  08:53

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moving around. Yeah, yeah. And, well, you know, we’re all, we’re all gearing up. John Mars, I just wanted to ask that, because I don’t get It’s not often that I’m asking my app, you know, like, what batteries the crazy things when there’s going to be two feet of snow, because I’m not from Buffalo, you know what I mean. So that’s, you know, for Baltimore,

John Martin  09:10

Buffalo also in need of a coach. But we digress,

Speaker 1  09:13

yeah, we digress. Back Back to sport. By the way, sports wagering here we’re coming up in the biggest couple of I said to my wife, there’s only three games left, and sort of, as a fan, I’m like, whoa, whoa. And one I’m gonna have a quarterback this week, like all sorts of things are going on. In addition to the purple plumes of smoke, we’ll have an Owings Mills. And by the way, we’ll give to you first on the wnsd tech service, if you’re if you’re out there, Luke will be taking care of that with our friends at cold roofing and Gordian energy. But, but there are a couple of games left here. We had a national championship the other night. Wow. Hope not that, huh? Yeah, you know, I would think an Ohio guy would never think he’d live the day Indiana win a football championship.

John Martin  09:54

Is weird. Woody and Bo are now spinning themselves halfway to China. How about

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Speaker 1  09:59

Bobby Knight? What’s. Think, oh, geez, yeah, exactly,

John Martin  10:03

yeah, yeah, wow, that’s something. But, you know, good, good on them. I, you know, I’m a firm believer, probably because my hopes have been dashed for for 60 plus years. Being a Cleveland sports fan is that I contend when, when you’re on a run, when you’re on a heater like this, you better go all the way, because you don’t get to start from that spot next year.

Speaker 1  10:23

There ain’t no tomorrow, baby. There’s just right now. So, yeah, don’t

John Martin  10:27

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think about, Oh gee, that’s how close I got. No no. You better win it. I mean, they, they, hats

Speaker 1  10:31

off to them. No greater example than how Sean McDermott, John Harbaugh, who’s ball sailed right, Mike Tomlin, who never had a losing season. Just, you know, it’s, it’s a tough gig, right? And I this is where I’m going to open the door for the executive director of all things Maryland lottery and and, and involved very significantly in the sports wagering side. To give some advice here, because this is the time of year where, like, even I said to my wife, there’s only a couple games left. I did a piece this week with a Las Vegas guy who set the original odds, who set the refrigerator, Perry, you know, 40 years ago, right? He’s written a book about how much sports wagering has changed. And I would say, and you know this, we’re not playing lottery games. Part of you said, slows down. Sports wagering still available on your phone now, in a way that it just was not four or five years ago, and you sit in front of that. So let’s talk about it a little bit. Because when you feel like there’s only a couple of games, let people go get a better locker. Please do this responsibly.

John Martin  11:34

Yeah, to put in perspective, I mean, here we are basically in January, so we have the first half of our fiscal 2620 26 year in the books, right July through December. And each year, we’re human. We measure ourselves year over year. How did we progress? What’s the situation last year? Total, fiscal 26 I’m sorry. Fiscal 25 we had about $90 million in tax revenue from sports wagering to the state of Maryland, which was a stepped, big step up from the year prior to that, and it began at 04 years ago. Just Right, okay? And every year it begins at zero. You go, you set the reset to zero, and on day one. So here we are, six months in. We are already at 78, million plus when we get our January numbers, which will be reported February 10, I fully expect the month of January, we will have eclipsed all of last year’s tax revenue contribution to the state on seven months in so without the Super Bowl, by the way, yet without Yes, yes, with that in the back pocket. So that gives you some indication that year over year, the Exped, I’d love to get this guy’s book, The exponential growth, and certainly mobile wagering, online wagering, has a big component of that. Anyone who, at this point has their head in the sand and says it doesn’t count, doesn’t matter, isn’t paying attention. But with that comes the increased mantle to play responsibly and educate yourself. You know, parlay wagers sound appealing. They sound boy. Be great to put five bucks down and win $5,000 but, but those, those things are long shots and that, and there’s a reason that they’re structured that way. So educate yourself. Play responsibly. Set a budget, set a budget, and dollar says to budget in time, doing more so social environment and way to enjoy the game, not as a way to make money or profit from it. And we hope that people will heed those warnings and be able to enjoy it through the last three games, you say, of the NFL season and beyond.

Speaker 1  13:43

And look, you love football. I love football. I kid you about browns. You kid me about ravens. We all, you know, whoever my Giants fans are, they’re all coming in. And these patriot and Broncos fans are back. I did these my only choices. I feel like I’ve had those choices before. But this, we do love sports, and I think you know, the the addiction to it for all of us, and the fun that we’re going to have this week, and the snow falling and all of that. Enjoy the games. I everybody’s gonna be a little homebound, I think, based on the forecast here this week. Please do it responsibly. One 800 gamblers also available out there. And I talk about this all the time. And the book is art man terrace is the the fellas name. I mean, it’s a name I know. Actually you set lines and very involved in the boxing circles out in Vegas. A great piece. I mean, I brought him on overtime because I was really interested in it. So you check that out at Baltimore positive. John Martin is my guest. He’s executive director of all things Maryland, lottery and gaming. Then we talked the Olympics. We talked about all of the but you have a whole bunch of other promotions out there as well. And I think the interesting things are the progressives and the feeling of and I haven’t been to Vegas in a while, I see games like poker and craps and three card poker and blackjack that are fast play games here, and fast play something I want to give you a minute to talk about a little bit, because we talk with Powerball Mega Millions that gets on the news. Fast play is one of those things. I think people who play. People use MD, lottery.com, it’s, it’s an interesting way to play, and I see people playing it, and I’m wearing my Costa shirt when I’m out. And I see in places, I see fast play being played.

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John Martin  15:11

Yeah, fast play is kind of that hybrid game. It plays a lot like a scratch off ticket, but it prints off the computer terminal, whether you’re at yourself a self service vending machine or at a clerk terminal in one of our 4300 lottery retailers around the state. So it’s a little different way to engage in this last announcement of new games. We had a casino theme tied around those, so we slight nod to our friends in the casino industry, and then, yeah, it’s a fun way to engage different players different segments on how to win. And we have winners every day at the Maryland lottery. You can go to MD lottery.com to read all about people who win it not only fast play, but at our race tracks game. Matter of fact, we had our largest race tracks winner ever, gentlemen, won at the American Legion in Edgewater, 660,400 $660,414 on one single racetracks ticket. How did you do that? Check out. MD lottery.com, for all the details. Or you can check

Speaker 1  16:11

out last week’s piece, because Seth and I went through this because I said the same thing. Edgewater. I had a crab cake there. I know Edgewater by Annapolis. I so you’re not gonna fool me on that. I know where edge mirror, I know where edge wood, and I know where edge water is. There you go. You got your edges covered. And I know where the edge of this segment is as well the Maryland Lotter. We’re going to be doing a cup of soup or bowl for the Maryland Food Bank, as well as a bunch of other charities. My favorite week of the year for 27 years, I went to the real Super Bowl this year. I’ve been to San Francisco. I’ve been to Santa Clara. I was there recently. It’s nice and all that, but we have mouths to feed. We got stories to be told around here, and we’re going to tell those as well as give away candy cane cash. We’re going to give away some soup as well. We’re gonna start our party at fays on Monday, state fair on Tuesday, Wednesday, we will be at Koco’s in the laurelville. Thursday, we’re gonna move it to Pizza John’s in Essex. Yes, they have a crab cake, and it’s delicious, and crab soup too, and really good pizza that I crave. And then on Friday, we’re going to be Acosta’s intimonium, in the big location at the racetrack where the OTB is there, and they have real racing on and race tracks on, and delicious Oysters Rockefeller. So come on out and enjoy that also with our friends at GBMC. John, I appreciate obviously, coming on all the time, and it’s what we do here, but the cup of Super Bowl is my favorite thing, because it’s the one week a year. We’re like, I’m allowed to cry and hear these stories and tell these stories that are tough to tell. So we’ll be telling a little bit of those, but also laugh a little bit. We’ll have a head coach by then and and a football game ahead. So did I leave anything out here this week? I think I got everything in, right?

John Martin  17:44

No, we cut everything again. All the details at MD lottery. Calm about updates on promotions, winners, new, exciting, fun games that are out and available, and we’ll get you caught up next week. All right,

Nestor Aparicio  17:55

John Martin is here. He’s the Executive Director of all things Maryland lottery and gaming. I’m excited about the Harlem Globetrotters winner as well. And we’re excited about the, you know, some people are excited about all this snow. I, you know, as long as I don’t have to shovel it too much, long as I got the right food, the right company and a big announcement for me next week, I should say, through the snowstorm, that I do want to get into this segment is that it is the 25th anniversary of the Raven Super Bowl. And Super Bowl 35 happens on Wednesday. So if you are snowed in, make sure checking out our Listen Live, because I am going to be inundating the airwaves with great stories of the first Purple Rain. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S D. Am 1570 to Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive.