It’s a big week for the Ravens scratch-off winners gathering for the grand prize of “Tickets For 20 Years” and John Martin of Maryland Lottery gets Nestor ready for the culmination of the biggest promotion of the year as well as the rolling jackpot of “Rich Uncle Pennybags” and the current Monopoly game.
Nestor Aparicio and John Martin discussed the Maryland Lottery’s recent activities and upcoming events. They highlighted the success of the “Tickets for 20 Years” Ravens promotion, where six semi-finalists will compete for the grand prize at M&T Bank Stadium. John mentioned that January sports wagering contributions totaled $8.2 million, with a 13.4% hold on the mobile platform. They also talked about the Monopoly Second Chance contest with a rolling cash jackpot over $70,000. Additionally, John previewed changes to Mega Millions, including a new starting jackpot and improved winnings, effective April 4.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Maryland Lottery, Ravens tickets, TJ Humphreys, addiction recovery, semi-finalists, M&T Bank Stadium, Super Bowl, sports wagering, January contributions, Mega Millions, Powerball changes, Monopoly tickets, second chance contest, Rich Uncle Pennybags, Baltimore Positive
SPEAKERS
John Martin, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We’re having a heck of a week around here. It has been a cup of soup or bowl all of it brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. We had a great week last week because I bonked on Tuesday and it snowed on Wednesday, and we had to cancel libs grill in Bel Air, we are going to be doing a couple more shows. We’re going to be doing up in fadelies in Lexington market next Tuesday. That’ll be on the 19th. Also, a big day for the Maryland lottery. I’ll let John Martin tell you about that in a minute. Also, we’re going to get back up to libs grill in a couple of weeks as well, up in Bel Air, with Nick also Harford County Executive, Bob Cassidy. Whole bunch of electeds and folks like that that we had up in Harford County. So my apologies, but when I get there, we will have magic eight balls scratch offs to give away. We had a lot of winners last week. Cocos. I had several winners at Coopers, north up in Timonium. Great, great conversations all week long, including and you know, I remember when our lottery relationship really began about five years ago with John Martin. I said we’re gonna have winners on we’re gonna tell stories. I’m gonna hold tickets up. We’re gonna give away with all the stuff we’ve done. Crab cake tour. Didn’t know about the oyster tour. I have a crab soup tour coming. But then you give me these winners? You know, Doug Lloyd and you know, Seth, who’s never really a winner because he’s a Pittsburgh fan. They put together these folks who win sometimes to come on the show. And sometimes it’s folks who win tickets for life or win a Ravens promotion. And we bring them on and they have a great story to tell. We had the lady who won the home run riches a couple years ago, Barbara Jean. She was awesome. Big Oriole fan, fan of my cousin, which I appreciated. But John Martin, this TJ Humphreys character that you sent out last week to me tickets for life. He’s won several times. He mentors young people in addiction. His story was magnificent. And when I met him last year online, I said, you mentored people in addiction up and you gotta come back down to do the show. I met him and his wife at Coco’s last week. I know you haven’t watched it yet. You need to go well, I just platformed it. Um, how are you? John Martin, Executive Director of all things, Marilyn, lottery gaming. I know you love the winners stories as the dude who runs it, and have to worry about all the math and winners and legal and all that stuff. But then there’s the humans that come in and wear a purple bow and win stuff. And I think that that’s part of the joy of you coming on the program from time to time, is to talk about people. And then I get to meet them, and I’m like, these are like, real people doing really great things in the community, and they have great stories to tell.
John Martin 02:24
Isn’t that something? I mean, that’s, that’s really the beauty of it, and that’s why we, we, well, first of all, we exist to raise revenue for the state of Maryland, but, but secondarily, it’s, it’s to, it’s to be able to tell these stories. And I hope they’re not too good, because, you know, I, I’d be out of a gig here. I mean, are they gonna button me out of the spot? Is my is my show gone? Well,
Nestor Aparicio 02:44
I would think at the end of every year you could come up with the top five or 10 fun winter stories, because you put a lot of them on. And some people dream up a number. I mean, it’s like the old commercials. I dreamed up a number. I play my birthday, I play my zodiac, I you know, whatever the the thing is, but there is that moment where you win something big, and I see people with a scratch off when they’ve won $100 in my presence, or 50 something more. You know, when they went two or five, they come up and bump and give me, you know, laugh, we have a good time. But when somebody wins something big, especially when they’re just in Coco’s having a bowl of soup, and they’re not expecting it, or when they scratch off a lottery ticket, as TJ Humphries did. Um, didn’t even win non winning ticket. Second Chance gets picked, gets into the competition, wins 10 grand, wins the tickets for life. Um, that, that’s the fun we talk about here with the app and with second chances. And you’ve got me shouting out in Cocos, that’s a non winning ticket. There are no losers. And I know we always
John Martin 03:40
try to nice the system works. Hey, just, just to bring that Raven story to a somewhat of a pause or a close, next week, on February 19, we will be welcoming the six semi finalists, people like TJ, who last this year’s TJ, right? This year’s TJ, right, right. These are people that throughout the season, and they’re not winning tickets and MD or their my lottery rewards account. You can check all this out at MD lottery.com and they will be our guests at Mt Bank Stadium. And one of those lucky six will have a chance to be the 2025 TJ, and win 20 years of Raven’s tickets. So standby,
Nestor Aparicio 04:21
it’s not tickets for life. What is the promotion? Because I always get the words right. Listen, don’t tell the executive director that. But I used to call the tickets for life, but it’s tickets for 20 years. Is really what
John Martin 04:32
it you know what? And I think we may even call the tickets for life at the beginning, but, but then, you know our legal folks, God bless them, each and every one of them. They keep me sitting in this seat. They said, Yeah, you know, you really can’t do that. It’s 20 years. There’s a finite number. Okay, fine. I’m
Nestor Aparicio 04:48
gonna have to change the headline at a bottom of positive. But it feels like life, but it doesn’t when you’re TJ’s daughter and you’re just a little girl, and Dad’s got the tickets and doesn’t feel like life for her because she’s like, eight years old. But John Martin is here easy. Executive Director of all things, Marilyn lottery gave me. So we have the the finalists give run folks through what that is, because you only do it once a year. By next year, it’ll be over with. We’ll have a winner next week as well. Um, six finalists. They’ve all won a bunch of money, just like TJ, they come down to the stadium, hopefully you serve them some wings and some beverages, and everybody’s excited.
John Martin 05:17
And don’t get ahead of yourself there, right? Don’t start making promises we can’t keep, but the yes, they to be selected as a semi finalist. They have won $10,000 cash, so they could probably go get their own wings and bring it yeah, these all the way down, yep, yep, and but so they will show up. And, you know, it’s kind of exciting. It’s almost like, you know, Oscars night, right? I mean, they, they’re all sitting there, bringing their hands and looking at each other, and, you know, making casual conversation, but I’m sure there’s a little bit of nerves, a little bit of excitement, because they don’t know. And then, weather permitting, we’ve done it this way in the past. Hopefully it’ll be able to do it again this time, we’ll put their name up on the screen. There it is on the big jumbo tron, or whatever we call it.
Nestor Aparicio 06:00
The confetti flies, and I hope it doesn’t snow. I mean, I hope it’s nice, you know, at least, folks, but it is. It’s a culmination of and one last thing, and we’ll get the football and the wagering on Super Bowl as well. This is, it’s your biggest promotion. I have a ticket here, so it’s the last, the last remaining ticket, the last one on my desk. This is your biggest promotion of the year. You mean, all of you always say that to me, it’s nice. We do monopoly, and there’s game, and there’s a lot of things, but this is,
John Martin 06:26
this is the big one for you, right? Yes, of course. And just to put it in context, yesterday, I started looking at the artwork for next year’s ticket. Is it purple? I cannot, I cannot refute or, or concur with that, but yeah, I have it in good authority. There’s probably a little bit of purple somewhere on it. I hope it
Nestor Aparicio 06:47
looks as good as this. This was always the best logo that the front facing kiss bird. That was always the one for me. You have anything on Super Bowl that you we’re trying to wrap through sports here, and at some point, imma start getting after you on the home run riches and
John Martin 07:01
like, yeah, right, we’re just about there, but, but football’s
Nestor Aparicio 07:05
not, you know, it’s over, but there is some bean counting to be done at your level. On really the biggest and we talked about this last week, you proved me wrong once again when I said, is it still like that far ahead of everything else? Apparently it is.
John Martin 07:19
Yeah, it is, and we’ll have that final accounting next month. So right now, we just wrapped up our January, which was pre Super Bowl, our January sports wagering numbers and and I have them right in front of me here. The month of January, we had $8.2 million in contributions to the state. To put that in context, that was the fourth best single month of sports wagering since we launched in December of 2021 so number four on the hit parade at $8.2 million and it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, because again, think back January, we had playoffs in the NFL early in the month of January, We had college football playoffs. We certainly had both commanders and ravens for the vast majority of the month of January. By saying the
Nestor Aparicio 08:07
Ravens played early in the month, not too far late in the month. But the Maryland commanders did really well.
John Martin 08:13
I see what you did there. Yeah, they did
Nestor Aparicio 08:17
do that, as long as Jay Daniels is wearing a jersey. I don’t even know they were there for 30 years.
John Martin 08:25
And the thing that says testimony that and things that I look at little bit be, you know, beneath the numbers beneath the surface, behold, which is the amount of money that the sports books keep after the wages are made and prizes are distributed. Behold, was a fairly healthy 13.4% on the mobile platform, which tells me that the House won a fair amount of the time. And that can certainly happen or until the end, because when the ravens, the commanders, were playing their last game, they didn’t know it at the time, but when they were playing last game, I’m sure there’s a lot of action on them. And so when they lost, that money goes to the to the house. So
Nestor Aparicio 09:03
that’s what you’re saying, is the Pennsylvania State Commission might be a little different after the Eagles win, right? Yeah, they’re just in a general sense, right? They’re probably taking a hit. I mean, yeah, everybody bet on them. I mean, our audience, it doesn’t understand gambling whatever. Everybody in Maryland’s betting on the home team. When the home team loses the house eventually wins, unless the home team wins,
John Martin 09:25
tease again. We’ll get the final numbers then by the 10th of March, where February, and that’s where the Super Bowl numbers will be embedded in that. But just the early returns from from people who know this kind of stuff, is that Philadelphia and the over are both were very popular picks, and clearly Philadelphia won, and the over was was pretty well crushed as well. So yeah, that means you’re not going to see 13% hold coming out of the Super Bowl, probably closer to that mid, 456, percent range.
Nestor Aparicio 09:59
Wow, that’s a big. That’s a switch there, right over holds of 10s of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. John Martin is here teaching me esoteric math. He’s the Executive Director of all things Maryland, lottery and gaming, as much as we did football. And I’m doing the magic eight ball promotions, which has really been fun, because I get guides swirl around on the magic eight ball can say all sorts of funny things. Um, this is the sort of numero like what I am with my cat. Number two, the monopoly is number one right now, because this is the scratch off that’s out there. We’ve talked a little bit about this. I am not gaming with these. These are not only non winning tickets. These are sample tickets, and they’re very colorful. And when I was in Costas last week, all the young ladies that are there and play and serve, and we talk about the lottery, and they know I have lottery tickets. They all love the colors of monopoly tickets, so you did good with its design on this one, John,
John Martin 10:50
I had nothing to do with that which, which both our products, people and our players should appreciate. I have nothing to do with that. But yeah, they do rather look rather nice. And again. MD, lottery.com, will explain the monopoly Second Chance contest that’s going
Nestor Aparicio 11:05
they smell like winning. Is that good? Nice someday to be talking about smelling like a snowflake, though? By Yeah,
John Martin 11:13
right, right. So the the thing that’s unique about this second chance contest with monopoly scratch off tickers the tickets is that we have a rolling cash jackpot so you can enter your non winning scratch offs into your My lottery rewards account, and we will have five winners of $5,000 each in six separate drawings. The first one just happened, and we will then pick it three times during this six drawing period for a rolling cash jackpot. Right now, it’s over $70,000 in the first of our three rolling cash jackpots will be next month in March. So check out online, MD lottery.com and be prepared to to get in if you choose, on the second chance monofi contest. Alright?
Nestor Aparicio 11:57
So this is the $100 ticket which I am.
John Martin 12:01
It’s not 100
Nestor Aparicio 12:03
it’s 100 it’s a $20 ticket. Sorry, this is a 20. I’m getting it wrong. $20 ticket, the 100. So I see the little man on here, and I had the he looks a little bit like Super Mario, but I know he’s 100 years older than that. And I wondered if he had a name, because I mentioned the Community Chest last week and how I always bought the orange things i Ai, is great. I Googled this. You ready? His name is Rich Uncle Penny bags. He’s also known as Milburn Penny bags. He’s also known as the monopoly guy, which is what I’ve called him, and Mr. Monopoly. But he really does have a name so fair have that there is I did not know about, believe that I knew about Game of Thrones, and I did well, 2025,
John Martin 12:45
you? You? Yeah, you kind of embarrassed both of us on Game of Thrones, but, but yes, $1
Nestor Aparicio 12:49
ticket that says times five. This is I’m just trying to get right, because I’m I was all screwed up. This is the $2 ticket, which, if Roz is nice to me and I run out of these magic eight balls. And I am Roz, I might be get the two. It’ll say times 10. So these are fun. These are fun.
John Martin 13:06
They are fun. And please play responsibly when you do choose to play. I’ve always called them Mr. Monopoly, so I did not know about all those other aliases,
Nestor Aparicio 13:15
Rich Uncle pennybags. I don’t know was it developed by British people. It certainly sounds that way. John Martin is here. He’s not British, but he is, you know, foreign to some of us in baseball season, when the Guardians get on the field and the Orioles get on the field and pitchers and catcher, I haven’t had a chance talk baseball with you at all, not even off season signings this that there’s going to be a home run riches thing, maybe. Or am I wrong? There
John Martin 13:39
is, again, I cannot confirm or deny it right now, but I my sources, my people tell me, and I do have people Nestor. You know that my people tell me that there will be a yet another promotion coming up that’s themed tied into the baseball season here in Baltimore. So don’t know that I’ll be ready to announce it next week, but, but very soon, you know, pitchers and catchers reporting that whole thing is starting up.
Nestor Aparicio 14:05
I was worried about you. You know, they moved the fences back in. That cost you money. When that happens, there are more home runs when this happens. You do know this, right? I’m going to bring this up. Yes, of course, that that can happen, that pitching also makes more home runs happen too. Well, bring that up too, just for the general Alright, so we got more winners. It’s, it’s really sort of dead of winter. You have this huge thing going on with the Ravens next week. You have jackpots, Mega Millions, Powerball. There’s some changes coming structurally in those games coming in the spring as well. I just want to open up, what else do we have going on here this week? Because, you know, it’s kind of the slowest week of the year, which is why I love doing cup of Super Bowl. Which is why we did it for the Maryland Food Bank, because it’s snow on the ground, cold out all of that stuff. But you’re really ramping up for a pretty big year here.
John Martin 14:47
You know it is that brief period when we can catch our breath, and like I said, Not for long, because while we have the culmination of last year’s ravens contest, we are just ready to get take the wrap. So often gearing up for the next season, Homer and riches will be coming down the pike. We have the monopoly program, which is obviously very, very strong, and people are enjoying that with its second chance drawings, as we’ve already talked about. Yes, we will have, in April, an updated and new and improved Mega Millions, and we’ll have many more details as we get closer to that April launch date, which will be the first week of April. Do not lose your tickets now. They are still valid. We are still working our way through what we call a step down process. Nestor, so it’s time for the education. Time to get back in the classroom. So when you buy, hold on. Let me get every ticket notes. Here we go. May need a clean sheet of paper for this one. When you when you some people choose to buy their Mega Millions tickets and their Powerball tickets, but we’re talking on Mega Millions over a period of time. They don’t want to go to the store every other day to get a ticket. They want to buy them in advance, as we call it. So you can buy up to 15 mega million drawings. You can also buy subscription packages, which is a whole nother thing we’re not going to talk about today. But when you go into stories say, I want the next 15 draws of Mega Millions, well, at some point, and that point will be this, this weekend, you can’t buy 15 anymore, because you’re going to overlap with the new game. So we have to start to shorten it down so you can’t buy as many. When is the day? April one. April 4 will be the last. April 4 will be the last, okay, of the current Mega Millions game. So that means, after this Friday’s draw, after Valentine’s Day, february 14. Just gave everyone that little heads up. It is coming up this week. Folks, after that drawing on Friday will then have 14 draws. You can’t buy 15 draws anymore, by 14, and then after the next draw on the following Tuesday, 13. So every time we have a draw, the amount that you get in the future makes sense, right? And then the
Nestor Aparicio 16:47
game’s going to start from fresh, because it’s going to have a different jackpot. It’s going to really just have a different prize pool. Am I saying that word the right way? Yeah,
John Martin 16:55
you’re close. I mean, yeah, it’s a whole different mechanic. I may even get a new suit for the whole thing. I mean, everything’s new. Everything’s new. So, but the game will play the same, but new starting jackpot, new price point, new ways to win, improved winnings for for all players. So yeah, a lot, a lot going on there. And we’ll, we’ll devote a show to it. Maybe we can bring some special guests
Nestor Aparicio 17:19
in. Well, I would think the one thing I would say about it, just as a citizen, asking, like, Why? Why? Because my wife asked me right about it. And I just would say, you don’t think the $20 million starting points that, you know, everybody got together and thought, let’s make the game more appealing. I mean, literally, right?
John Martin 17:36
You know, as much as they we sell both Powerball and Mega Millions. There are some people who view them as as competitive as opposed to complimentary products. So they both have the same price point. They both have similar styles. And so for many people out in the marketplace, they don’t even make a distinction. They just look for the one that’s got the larger jackpot at that point in time, and they buy that
Nestor Aparicio 18:00
ticket that is my wife, by the way. Yes, well, that’s fine, and we appreciate that. And she always corrects me when I’m wrong. I’m like, Mega Millions. She’s like, No, it’s Powerball. She does give me the brand
John Martin 18:10
thing. Very nice. Good, yes, good, good. But we’re looking for ways to differentiate the two so that there’s some some people will know, oh, no, that’s Mega Millions. Oh, that’s Powerball. And one way to do that is to change it up just a little bit. Not so you alienate a player, but so you offer them something, something different. Powerball will not change. So if someone says, You know what, I don’t want to make that change, then they’ll still have a game that is drawn three times a week with Powerball, and will continue to to work as it does today. So stay tuned for a lot more details on the evolving, upgraded Mega Millions. You’re always doing
Nestor Aparicio 18:45
stuff. Last year, I’m learning cash pop, and I’m still trying to figure out the race tracks when I’m over at Costas. Uh, he is John Martin. He’s the Executive Director of all things Maryland, lottery gaming. I am running a little short because I gave a lot of these out because I was doing radio e every day. We were out for a couple Super Bowl. We’re going to be at Faith leagues next Tuesday on the 19th, uh, we’re also going to make good on our date from libs grill that we had to postpone on the 12th from the snow. But I’ll be have these, and if I get really lucky, maybe I’ll get a little monopoly and I can talk about, let me get the name right again here, because I don’t want to call him Mr. Monopoly, rich uncle Penny bags. I have to work on that. That’s kind of fun. Um, we will get together again next week with John Martin. And by the way, if you did not you did not hear a couple Super Bowl and hear just a really cool conversation with TJ Humphries, who runs a group called Voices of Hope up in Aberdeen for addiction recovery. He was he was recovering. He told his whole story. It was unbelievable. Listen to the story. Check it out at Baltimore positive. It has a lottery beginning and a Coco’s crab cake ending. And I’m not sure it’s all done, because he’s still doing good work out there. And I’m getting to meet some really cool citizens who win lottery jackpots, and then come on and sort of give back and do other things. So there’s all that, John, you and I will give back again next week, and we will have a winner next week, right for the the the overall, if. Tickets 20 years. I want to make sure I get that right next week. So I hope everybody has a good time down at the stadium and we get the jackpot right for this ticket that I gave away all fall. One day, I’ll give a ticket away to a grand prize winner, John Martin. That would be
John Martin 20:15
nice. And you know, I’ve gotta go out shovel some snow now, but you know, hopefully things will be very, very very nice and sunny next week for our ravens final you Hardy Midwesterners
Nestor Aparicio 20:25
are getting ready for spring training action. Luke and I are getting ready for spring training as well. A lot of cup of Super Bowl around here. A lot of stories of inspiration, perspiration, never desperation, although overcoming that in many cases, all of it brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery as well as Jiffy Lube, liberty, pure solutions, all of our sponsors making this thing happen. We call them wise conversations around here. You can find them all out at Baltimore positive.com Stay with us. You.
