Every year at the MACo event in Ocean City, John Martin and Seth Elkin of The Maryland Lottery give Nestor a full report and where all of the dough goes through casino and sports wagering and the many streams of revenue and distribution for the state’s gambling agency. It’s more interesting than you think…
John Martin and Seth Elkin from the Maryland Lottery discussed the fiscal year 2025 annual summary, highlighting the lottery’s significant contributions to state programs. The lottery generated over $1.589 billion, with $670 million going back to the state. Sports wagering contributed $89 million, expected to rise to $100 million next year. The lottery supports various state initiatives, including $600 million for Oriole Park at Camden Yards and $40 million for Frederick’s new ballpark. They emphasized responsible gaming, noting 96 cents of every dollar spent goes back to players, state, or retailers. The lottery also combats illegal gaming, which costs the U.S. $670 billion annually.
- [ ] Provide more details on the Ravens-themed lottery tickets being released at the end of August.
- [ ] Coordinate with the peer counselors at the Center of Excellence to have them participate in a segment about the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline in September.
Maryland Lottery Annual Report Overview
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the 27th anniversary and the location in Ocean City, Maryland.
- Nestor highlights the sponsors: Maryland Lottery, Curio Wellness, and GBMC.
- Nestor introduces John Martin, Executive Director of Maryland Lottery Gaming, and Seth Elkin, Communications Director.
- Nestor reminisces about the first annual report, which was a one-pager, and now includes pie charts and detailed financial information.
Growth and Evolution of Maryland Lottery
- John Martin explains the evolution of the Maryland Lottery, starting with pick three games and Scratch games.
- John highlights the significant sales figures: over $2 billion in total sales and over $670 million back to the state coffers.
- John clarifies that the Maryland Lottery generates the funds, and other agencies manage the distribution.
- Nestor and John discuss the various beneficiaries, including Baltimore City Schools and the Maryland Stadium Authority.
Sports Wagering and Its Impact
- Seth Elkin explains the distribution of funds from sports wagering, with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund as the prime beneficiary.
- Nestor and Seth discuss the rapid growth of sports wagering and its impact on the state’s revenue.
- Seth mentions the increase in sports wagering contributions from $60 million to $89 million in one year.
- Nestor and Seth talk about the transition from illegal sports wagering to a regulated market.
Responsible Gaming Practices
- John Martin emphasizes the importance of responsible gaming practices and the integrity of the Maryland Lottery.
- Seth Elkin highlights the 96 cents out of every dollar spent on lottery tickets that goes back to players, state, or retailers.
- Nestor and Seth discuss the best practices and models followed by other states in the U.S.
- John mentions the different beneficiaries for lottery and gaming funds, including the Education Trust Fund and other ancillary programs.
Impact of Lottery Funds on State Programs
- Nestor and John discuss the various state programs funded by the Maryland Lottery, including Baltimore City School construction and the Maryland Stadium Authority.
- John mentions the $600 million allocated to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and other stadiums.
- Nestor shares a story about the impact of the Maryland Lottery on the construction of Camden Yards and the football stadium.
- John highlights the importance of the Maryland Lottery Gaming Control Commission in regulating and allocating funds.
Challenges of Illegal Gaming Markets
- John Martin discusses the $670 billion spent annually on illegal gaming in the U.S.
- John explains the efforts to eradicate illegal gaming markets and the challenges faced.
- Nestor and John compare the illegal gaming market to the illegal market during prohibition.
- John emphasizes the need for legislative and law enforcement efforts to combat illegal gaming.
Responsible Gaming Initiatives
- Seth Elkin talks about the 1-800 Gambler helpline and its role in providing support to problem gamblers.
- John mentions the peer counselor program and the importance of education and awareness.
- Nestor and John discuss the impact of responsible gaming initiatives on vulnerable populations.
- John highlights the upcoming educational month in September focused on responsible gaming.
Upcoming Lottery Games and Promotions
- John Martin announces the upcoming Ravens-themed games, including Ravens Times Two and Ravens Times Ten.
- Seth Elkin provides details about the Ravens tickets and their availability.
- Nestor and John discuss the popularity of Ravens-themed games and the excitement around them.
- John mentions the travel with the team excursion contest for the Ravens-Bengals game.
Final Thoughts and Announcements
- Nestor thanks John Martin and Seth Elkin for their participation and the detailed information provided.
- Nestor highlights the importance of the Maryland Lottery in supporting state programs and initiatives.
- Nestor mentions the upcoming events and promotions related to the Maryland Lottery.
- Nestor concludes the segment with a light-hearted discussion about sports and personal anecdotes.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Maryland Lottery, fiscal year, sports wagering, gaming revenue, state funds, retailers, prize money, illegal gaming, responsible gaming, peer counselors, Baltimore City Schools, Maryland Stadium Authority, Oriole Park, Ravens games, education trust fund.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Seth Elkin, John Martin
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 task, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. We’re positively here in Ocean City, Maryland. I’ve got the lucky sevens doublers to give away as well as I’m putting the whammy on the pressure Lux. It is our 27th anniversary. My 27 favorite foods, including in Salisbury, Maryland, all over this great state. I went to beautiful hoopers Island yesterday to get a crab cake, a delicious crab cake at old salties. We are making our way back to Baltimore soon. We’re gonna have some fishers popcorn down here in Ocean City. It is all brought to you by the Maryland lottery, our friends at curio wellness, as well as our new sponsor at GBMC. I’ll be telling you more about that. This is our annual get together. John Martin and I usually get together virtually. Seth and I get together virtually, except when I’m not in his Pittsburgh Penguins office at the Maryland lottery. Maryland lottery and gaming fiscal year annual summary comes out here. Now John is here. He’s executive director of all things Maryland lottery gaming. Seth Elkins, gaming. Seth Elkin, of course, communications director here to communicate. He’s my interpreter. Welcome to Ocean City. Ain’t got no oceans like this in Pittsburgh or Ohio for either one of you guys, right? No, no, no, no, not at all. We got rivers. We got rivers. We got rivers and lakes, lakes and rivers, some mountains. From time to time. Every year this comes out. And I guess when I met you fellas and started doing this, there was no sports wagering year, fiscal year 2025 that didn’t start till 2223 right? It was a one pager. You handed this to me, and sometimes it’s a little wonky, and sometimes it’s two pages, but it’s literally pie charts and everything in four pages of where all of this money goes, all the 3100 how many? How many retailers? 3040, 340 300 now, obviously we’re up again and all the money, it’s got a lot of zeros and a lot of digits and all that zeros. But I think that the overriding thing for anybody out there that buys a Maryland lottery ticket is a the games on the up and up. So let’s start with that. Or if you’re wagering on your phone, doing any of these things that involve gambling in our state, casinos, let’s go through MGM, live, horseshoe, Hollywood, ocean downs, rocky gap, yes, I’ve been to all of them. I’ve been to all of them this year, I think. And then all the games, pick three, pick four. We got mega and Powerball and a half a billion dollars and all that. But where this money goes and how it winds up not being Louie the bookmaker or the mafia, it is it? This is real money that goes into this state, that helps everybody in the state. And today’s your day to kind of stand up, and I was a brag about it, but at least explain these hundreds of millions, if not billions, of
John Martin 02:46
dollars. Exactly. Yeah, no. Thank you for the opportunity to do that. Seth, and I enjoy talking about and bragging on what we’re able to do as a valued member of the Moore administration and what we do each and every day across the great state. You know, it’s really been born out of cobbled together over the years. I mean, as we started 50 plus years ago with our lottery pick three right pick games, and then we brought in Scratch games. And then, you know, things evolved to the point now where, on the lottery side alone, with the 4300 retailers, you know, we’re doing significant amounts of money each and every year, over a billion dollars in Scratch off sales, over $2 billion on in total sales, which, when you extrapolate that in terms of what actually goes out back To the state coffers, was over $670 million this year, and and we don’t, we don’t manage the distribution of it. A lot of people don’t understand that. We generate the funds, and then we have different beneficiaries, for lottery, for casino gaming, for sports wagering, and those are typically other agencies or other departments within the state, and they then disperse the funds,
Nestor Aparicio 04:02
general fund. No, what is that called? They they’re all earmarked
John Martin 04:07
general fund. Yeah, it used to be on the lottery side that it all went through the general fund, and over the years, and in the document that we shared with you, there have been a series of things that are that are set asides, and it could be things that relate to, you know, Baltimore City Schools. It could be the the Maryland stadium authority. You know, one of the things we’re proud of is our relationship with on, if you’re gonna have Terry on or talk to any folks from from MSA, but again, there’s a lot that we do hand in hand with them that helps fund things like the $600 million that goes to Oriole Park at Camden yerus, it goes to m t banks. I
Nestor Aparicio 04:47
just had the mayor of Frederick on, and he told me about 40 million for the new ballpark there. Yeah, literally just a and, you know, sounds like a ballpark or whatever, but you’re in Frederick and they put the keys back. Your sports guy, your sports guy, I’m a sports guy. Uh, there’s going to be 10s of 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of people that go there that it the stadium money comes from this, literally,
Seth Elkin 05:09
right? The number that I love when we talk about the lottery is that about 96 cents out of every dollar that gets spent on lottery tickets goes back out somewhere. It either goes to player prizes, to profit to the state, about about a quarter of each dollar goes into the state coffers and pays for all kinds of things. And then our retailers, there’s a portion that goes to retailer commission. So we run the lottery on just, just, just under four cents out of each dollar that we make. So think about that. Think about it in those terms, that 96 cents out of the dollar is going back out somewhere.
Nestor Aparicio 05:47
The winners get that 50% of the whole 63% 63% I just want to get the numbers
John Martin 05:53
right. Okay, and these things are fairly typical around the country. I mean, the Maryland lottery is one of 48 lotteries in the in the United States, plus the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and and those things you know, all all fall in the same category. So you look at our distribution of prices excess said in our profit portion, it’s pretty consistent, whether you’re in Michigan or or Ohio or Pennsylvania, that that distribution is pretty
Nestor Aparicio 06:19
much the same. There’s a model, yeah, sort of Yeah. And well, best practices probably more than anything else, right?
John Martin 06:25
Exactly. You know, that drives a lot of it, and not the least of which, I mean, you have to offer. The biggest portion of every pie has to be the prizes of the players. That’s what bits people in the front door. They have to
Nestor Aparicio 06:35
have guess, my wife to buy them, and we thank her for that.
John Martin 06:39
But again, it has to be on the up and up, as you say. It’s got to be fair and equitable and done with integrity and and with responsible gaming practices in place as well, so that that all gets melded together. But again, the lottery beneficiaries are different than the gaming beneficiaries, which are primarily the Education Trust Fund and and other ancillary programs there. And then, again, just to round it out before I toss it back to Seth, now, to Seth, is sports wagering. It’s a blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund is the prime beneficiary for for sports wagering, 90
Nestor Aparicio 07:10
million right? So this is brand new look. Everybody listening out here feels like every time I’m in a bar, they got their phone out looking at the when I’m in sports bars or restaurants. Now, seeing odds everywhere. Obviously, if you’re watching the games they got, they’re into all of that. I tell people to be careful with this, because I’ve been in the sports space 35 years. There are no experts, not even us, as much as we like things, knowing how the ball bounces. But it’s come a long way, very, very quickly, right? I mean, from illicit, you got to go to Las Vegas to it’s in the palm of your hand. Anytime along that continuum, there’s just a lot of money that’s been left behind that. Honestly, in my line of work, Louis the bookmaker, has been getting his money, you know, all those years, you know. And I think that that is when I answer to people about lottery. You’re taking advantage. I’m like, no, no, this is going on. The citizens want this, right? And this is a whole new page that didn’t exist 48 months ago, right? I mean, literally,
Seth Elkin 08:15
I think it’s interesting to see the ramp up that’s happened in the activity in sports wagering. You know, we had a year ago when we were here having this conversation, we were talking about $60 million in contribution to the state. It was $89 million in contribution for FY 25 so it’s a $30 million increase over over one year, and that number is going to be inflated a little bit somewhat artificially, because the percentage that the mobile operators pay to the state is going to increase now. It went up by 5% according to the new budget that was implemented for this year. So it’s going to go up again. We’re going to be here next year talking about probably $100 million or somewhere there about so but, but again, I think that that reflects what you’re talking about, that there’s activity out there that was happening, perhaps in the in an illegal market, in a gray market, and now is being brought into a legal, regulated market, which is what we want to see.
Nestor Aparicio 09:04
Well, you saw a shirt that you sweat through a couple years ago trying to get it done, right? I mean, it was, it was just a real process, yes, to bring it online, and there was a lot of pressure, and because of how much money the state wasn’t getting, that it wasn’t set up, right?
John Martin 09:19
Well, yeah. And fortunately, we had a lot of people involved. Our, our Chairman of the Maryland lottery Gaming Commission at the time, Randy Mariner was, was very instrumental, that our chairman today,
Nestor Aparicio 09:31
nice drink over there. I’m just saying, I’m just saying, had a few of his beverages.
John Martin 09:35
My our current chairman, ever brownie, is very involved. So you know, there’s so much Seth and I can do, but for a lot of the other things that have to relate across other agencies or, you know, interact with the Governor’s team, you know, we really rely on that seven member Maryland lottery gaming Control Commission to help us get things regulated, get things. Is put in place and allocate the funds properly.
Nestor Aparicio 10:03
Well, I was going to say what’s important to the lottery moving forward, but you’re always rolling things out like, I mean, even the fun we have every week talking about this art contest in regard to we’re here at Mako, and we’re going to do fun things like that, but just games that are getting rolled out, new things. And then the thing that stops everything is when a jackpot is six, $700 million right? They dollars, right there. There’s always the possibility of that, but next week, we’ll be talking about Raven scratch offs coming at that there is, there is some freshness to this as it rolls through.
John Martin 10:32
Always everything, there’s a season. I mean, the Things to Do do change, but yet they can some degree stay the same. So, yeah, it’s been a while, but it’s typically every every summer, the in August, we’ve got our next iteration of our ravens, family of games, two games out in the marketplace. I don’t know if you’re able to share any more details on what what players might expect.
Seth Elkin 10:56
They’re coming Friday. Ravens times two, ravens times 10. They gonna be purple. I think one of them is white. I believe I’ve seen that the ticket art. So I believe I’m trying to remember off top my head. All right, we do two, two ravens tickets every year, they start to run together on me. And of course, anything that’s got a Ravens logo or purple on it, you know, as a Pittsburgher, I’m not, I’m not really paying that close.
John Martin 11:17
Why do I bring him? I don’t know
Nestor Aparicio 11:20
either. How’s Joe Flacco looking in your camp?
John Martin 11:22
You know what?
Nestor Aparicio 11:25
I get to beat you guys up. Real good. Better than Kenny Rogers. Joe Flacco, many quarterbacks under 40? Anybody? No,
John Martin 11:33
did you sit say pro bowler? Snoop did you did get him in the mix too?
Nestor Aparicio 11:37
No, yeah. We’ll play twice. We’ll play twice, and it’ll be all good. Seth, Elkin is here. He communicates with the Maryland lottery. John Martin, Executive Director of all things Maryland lottery. Seth, bringing you in on this, and anybody can go up the line at MD lottery.com. Everything about this. It’s an interesting little pie chart, but I’m reading some of the fine print here, and I don’t know Is there anything that you would want to spotlight and circle, because there’s a lot going on here. So I want to give you some options you want. But I look down here to say where the money goes. That’s where my eye goes. Maryland general fund, five, $19 million Baltimore City school construction, $20 million Maryland stadium authority, almost 14 million. So I go through all this Maggie McIntosh, former guest on the pro arts every day, quarter million dollars. So, like, it’s itemized here in a way that I don’t know. I don’t see this the other 52 weeks of the year, because I don’t look for it. But I always try to figure out where this money goes. And this is sort of the oxygen we give to this segment
Seth Elkin 12:39
every year. Yeah, it’s, it’s a question. We get that question all the time, and we love being able to put this piece together.
Nestor Aparicio 12:45
Well, it’s not going to John Martin, Seth, Elkin Nestor, the way they think it
Seth Elkin 12:48
is. That’s what, like I said, we run the whole operation on 3.7 cents out of each dollar that we make. So there’s not that much to go around there. So, you know. But no, I love the prizes to players number because, as John mentioned, that’s, that’s what brings people in the door. It’s, it’s about $4.6 million a day in prize money when you average it out. So you know, 1600 38 prizes of $10,000 or more. We had 33 prizes, again, of a million dollars a year this week, we landed on 33 so you know, those prizes are being won on a regular basis. We keep an eye on that. We run a list of high tier prizes every week on the website, the weekend winners list, which I think you get in your email and lots of other sometimes we talk about that on this program. And yeah, the winner was I love putting that together because it highlights the fact that there are significant wins happening all the time. I love when people from Dundalk win, yeah, and we had one of those breaking news. We had it. We had a winner. We had a $50,000 Powerball winner. Somebody walked into a Dundalk resident, walked into a store just to get a cup of coffee and said, Well, you know what? I noticed that the Powerball jackpots getting up there let me get a ticket. My wife notices that too. And one fit, one of $50,000 prize, one of two that we had last week as the Powerball jackpot is has now risen beyond half a billion dollars. As we’re talking 50 grand.
Nestor Aparicio 14:08
Where are you taking me, hon, let’s get into cost. John, for you, with all of this and seeing the sports wagering side come into this, the numbers get a little heady, right from if you go back and look, five, 710, years ago, the numbers get a lot bigger because of what’s happened. But I would even go back to you and kid you about that pick three in 1973 right? And saying, what was the first one of these? When lottery all you know we’re gonna state’s getting into the gambling business, and I’m sure that’s the way it was 52 years ago. But just to pick three, it probably was a couple million bucks. And it sounded like a lot of money to the governor, then Marvin Mandela, whoever’s stealing it, then I’m making that up.
John Martin 14:45
You know, it’s funny, I come down here every year, and one of the things I count on is having breakfast with Stanley. Fine. Stanley is one of the historians of the lottery industry. You know what? He’d love that he was sure he would, he’d. Again, he would blow up. It would be about a three hour show. Would I learn anything you would do more than well, then
Nestor Aparicio 15:05
that’s all. He must come on. Well, we’ll
John Martin 15:07
work that next
Seth Elkin 15:08
year. Oh, my goodness, I could. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you a quick story. Not to interrupt you, but Randy, go grab Stanley. Let’s go get it over here. Let’s go Stanley. We somebody sent us when we were doing 50th anniversary, a couple years ago, somebody sent me a photo of some piece of giveaway memorabilia that we had. It was a baseball that had been printed with facsimile autographs of former Orioles players. And wanted to know the history the person wanted to where’d this come from, what’s the history of this? And neither one of us was here when this ball was definitely before our time. So we sent an email, we emailed a photo of the ball to Stanley, and about an hour later, I got a call from Stanley, and for like, the next 20 minutes, I got a dissertation on on how the lottery was, was, was helped out to pay for the construction of Camden Yards. So it was this long story that ended up at, yeah, this is this ball was from when they when they open Camden Yards, and that’s roughly when it’s from. So that’s, well,
Nestor Aparicio 16:03
I was on a radio beginning 91 so that stadium was revolution. I mean, I don’t even tell you guys, like, I mean, it’s our gateway arc. Just change the city. And they put $600 million into it this year, and they’re gonna change it again. But all of that and stealing the ravens, all happened on my watch in the early 90s, and then building the football stadium was all on my watch, and it was all taxpayer This is being funded by the lottery. You know, like we would just say that out loud, I don’t even know what that meant 30 years ago. Now I’m trying to with you guys get to the bottom and what that means. And I even learned an hour ago when the mayor Frederick comes over, talks about MSA and says, Hey, new Frederick ballpark, new Hagerstown. By the former mayor Hagerstown, Emily Keller here, doing drug work here in the opioid so Rs, should we buy tomorrow? These stadia are being done by this right? Um, I there’s all sorts of facilities that the Maryland stadium authority in schools that they’re involved in when I’ve had at former Maryland stadium authority chairman Tom Kelso, and he was educating me mandalorie, just the trickle down effect of where this money goes. It’s coming to Frederick in the form of a new stadium. It’s coming to Camden Yards in the form of that’s how the $1.2 billion gets here, right? So let
John Martin 17:18
me take an interesting tack here for you and go a little different direction. Our friends at the American gaming Association, who I reference frequently, just announced this week that with all these wonderful things going on in the United States, there is still over 670 billion with a B, dollars spent illegally in a variety of gaming vehicles, and that’s anything from what we call gray machines, which are slot like machines that are in they could be in convenience stores, in bars, in all over the state. I’m from
Nestor Aparicio 17:57
Dundalk, that machine pays. That’s what they would say, Yeah, I’m
John Martin 18:03
familiar. You have obviously, offshore sports wagering that’s not regulated. You can go to our website, Seth, can give you the details on this, but you can sit on your phone today and search online gaming in Maryland and get dozens of websites that pop up. None of them are legal. None of that money that you would invest in those goes to this type of process or or MSA, or anything like that. Those are strictly done through illegal channels. So we fight a fight every year to go after those illegal markets and have them cease and desist, have them leave, eradicate them as we can. But that is a proverbial Whack a Mole kind of strategy. We’re hopeful to get to work with Annapolis and get some some more legislative teeth to to have things in place that will treat these as criminal activities. They are but with $670 billion spent on illegal gaming in the United States, and you look at what that means in terms of the 10s of billions of dollars in lost tax revenue, it’s great to have these things printed when we look with the potential of what it could be, because players are going to are gonna find channels.
Nestor Aparicio 19:23
And sometimes shocks me. You know what? I mean, it’s you look shocked. You look like, I mean, I’m just sort of, it’s so easy to do it on the up and up, and not have to deal with Louis the bookmaker, his gun, or his heavier, his people, or or, How do I find my book like you’ve made it. I talked about this with the cannabis industry, I can’t believe there’s still a black market, you know, and it can kill you in that market, right? Like, literally, fentanyl and all that going on. I These vice things that have been made legal, and it’s not to brush it up or clean it up. It’s to keep it safe for the players, for humans,
John Martin 19:57
for instance. And that message does for us. Eight, that message is being heard, and people do migrate from the illegal to the to the legal and the regulated. We know that. We see that, but it’s not complete, and it’s really not fast enough.
Nestor Aparicio 20:13
Well, the same was sure prohibition on, right? I mean, you just don’t want a legal act. It’s
John Martin 20:19
funny. Sometimes I’ll talk to people, they’ll say, Well, like you just said, Why are they still doing that? And I kind of look at them think, you know what? Because these are illegal markets. It’s in their name, you’re there. They’re never going to say, Oh, you win. We’re not going to do this. No, they’re going to find the next illegal thing to do, and they’re going to continue to perpetuate that. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 20:37
if you were a bookie 10 years ago and you had clientele in Maryland, this coming online probably cost you a lot of money, right? I mean, because people just go to this, but there are still people that they did business which they’re like, this way, I’m comfortable doing it. I don’t want the state to know my money. I don’t want the banks like, there. That’s how it happens, literally,
John Martin 20:56
right? Sure, a third of all wagering is in the illegal market today. Still, still,
Nestor Aparicio 21:03
that’s a lot, all right, well, cracking down on that, how does that, that’s that involves law. It’s a
John Martin 21:08
legislate, it’s legislative, it’s law enforcement, it’s education, it’s, it’s beyond our tenure. I mean, that’s, this is, this is going to go, like you said, go back to prohibition. I mean, it’s, it’s not going to end, you know at a date certain in the future, no, the best you can do is is continue to fight the fight and do what you do, and preach responsible gaming. Put in place the regulations, the guardrails for players and and hope that you’ll you’ll resonate with them at some point in time. Speaking
Nestor Aparicio 21:35
of guardrails, you guys got anything on a couple of years into the sports wagering issue here for one 800 gambler, I know you’d like to bring those folks on with me. I’m always questioning because, and I’ve said this a million times, I’ve had a handful of people in my life very close to me that had a bookie gambled too much worried me as a friend, as an employee, as a citizen. I’m like, man, you’re a little too attached to that 10pm NBA game like, you know, between Utah and Golden State. You know, whatever it is, I’m like, you might have a problem dog. I don’t know where they even went if they had a problem 10 years ago, but you’re in their face about where they can go now. And at least that’s there, right? Yeah, that’s
Seth Elkin 22:12
the one 800 gambler helpline will connect you. The first person you’re going to talk to when you call that number is going to be one of the peer counselors at the center of excellence, somebody who has has lived experience with this and can talk to you from that perspective, they’re not going to judge, and they know the path that you’ve been down, because they’ve been down the same path themselves. So that’s a huge resource for the state. It’s available to people at no cost whatsoever, regardless of your ability to pay, regardless of your insurance status, anybody can call that number, whether it’s you yourself, or whether you know somebody that has a problem and you don’t know how to talk to them about it, you can get help from someone who’s been there.
Nestor Aparicio 22:53
By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation really, in my life, I’ve talked to a lot of people that stopped drinking, a lot of people that stopped drugs. A lot of people have been in prison and came, you know, a lot of reform, whatever, stop smoking, whatever. Stop lost weight, whatever it is, the gambling thing. I don’t know that I’ve ever really sat with someone, not even, like, at the Super Bowl, or any of the places I’ve been, and somebody sat down with me and said, I lost everything. You know, I lost this in here, like or I was having a problem, and I called, and this is what helped me, what helped
John Martin 23:27
me, you know, what I would suggest? Because September is one of those months of the year that we focus and shine the light on some of these programs. I’ve got a couple dates in September. I’m not available Seth, should probably either be prepared for what we can do, or have somebody else in that peer counselor group participate. But one of the things I’m proud of that we’re taking the wraps off is we have produced four separate video segments. They’ll be on our website in the month of September and and they are focused on vulnerable populations, underage senior citizens, people who live in rural communities, military veterans. And you look at each of those populations, they all suffer gambling harms. And some of them, you wouldn’t think, Wow, really? But yeah, they do. And to be able
Nestor Aparicio 24:14
no one could see a person with a gambling problem, right? I mean, it’s different than that person’s using drugs or that person might be eating or something physically about them. Often there’s nobody in the world. It’s completely you wouldn’t tell your friends,
John Martin 24:28
but September is an education month for Responsible gaming, so I would encourage you and Seth to pick a date that month and really do a deeper dive and maybe even share links to our videos. So yeah, if we can reach someone through this vehicle, and we can make a difference, the peer counselor program is amazing. The life stories of these people will tear you apart, I’m sure, and see how they have rebounded, and now we’re paying it back, and hopefully. Opening the door for somebody else’s
Nestor Aparicio 25:01
recovery. Well, I would just say this to any Browns fan or Steelers fan, this is where, when the seasons be responsible. Because, I mean, you’re not gonna win much either one of you. So, you know, be careful. I
John Martin 25:13
didn’t see, yeah, I see that one coming out.
Nestor Aparicio 25:18
Speaking of that, speaking of cheap shots from a Ravens fan. Tickets are coming out next week, right? Second the it is your most popular game, right? I mean, I guess you guys said that to me all the time, much to the chagrin of Steelers and browns fans and probably Bengals fans too. But you are offering a special way to get even with the bangles here, right? This year, right?
John Martin 25:37
Yeah, more details will come forth forthcoming when you go to MD lottery.com. Next at the end of next week, on the 22nd one of the fan favorites is a travel with the team excursion. So we enter into the contest. Hopefully you’re selected. We’ll have a couple, I don’t know how many, maybe two or three. Again, all the details on MD lottery.com
Nestor Aparicio 25:56
Yep. Well, I need to know is that they win. Don’t eat the chili. You’re an Ohio guy, you know this
John Martin 26:02
don’t Cincinnati on, I want to say the 14th, December 14. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 26:07
well, I think that’s going to be a potential Game of the Year kind of thing. I believe that. I mean, I think the Bengals, I’m not giving you guys a hard time because of your affinities, but I think the Bengals and Joe burrow and a bounce back this year, right? I believe in him. So therefore, if I win that trip, I think the 12 and two ravens meet the tenant for Cincinnati Bengals,
Seth Elkin 26:28
it’s gonna be a long fall, isn’t it? Geez, longer for you than for me, I guess,
John Martin 26:34
Hey, aren’t we at a time,
Nestor Aparicio 26:36
man? Well, I got Steelers guys cheap shot in the Browns fans on the show. It’s time to drop the mic and go back to lunch. Seth Elkin is here. John Martin, Executive Director of the Maryland lottery as well. Seth, of course, of the communication side, talking about $1.589 billion to support state programs in the fiscal year. 2025, all right. Thank you. Read up on all of this stuff. Get your pie charts out, find out where all the money is. Now that I know Maggie’s cause got 250 I got to get her back on to talk about arts every day as well. So you guys are giving me ideas around here. The Maryland lottery puts us out on the road in the state of Maryland. And I’ve been all over the state. And it’s a little homework for you out of state guys. I’m gonna give you a little this is where, this is my visit Maryland, part of the Maryland lottery segment here today, 27th anniversary, I’m doing my 27 favorite things to eat. I didn’t want to do them all in Baltimore. I didn’t think it’d be right or fair, and I knew this was built into August when I put all this together back in March and ixnayed the crab soup ID I was going to do cream and crab Debbie next year. 27 favorite things to eat. I’m like, where are the things on the Eastern Shore? Yesterday, I put up a status because I took a right hand turn on Woods road out of Cambridge heading south toward Harry Tubman trail and toward Blackwater refuge and toward hoopers Island. My destination was Hooper’s Island, which is at the end of the world. It looks a lot like Smith Island. Now that I’ve been to Smith Island, it’s kind it’s kind of a neat place. You can go drive Blackwater refuge, much like when I had the parks guy here talking about swallow falls out. It’s I told the Deep Creek. Lady Love Deep Creek. Black Water is the most beautiful place in the state, and I don’t know that it’s close, and we have mountains, and I’m two blocks on the beach. I like all of that. But if you’ve never been to Blackwater refuge, and I don’t know why you would, unless you’re an outdoors person or a fisher person or birds, just drive through there once. Take a add an hour to your Ocean City experience, and just drive a half an hour. You have to stop you don’t
John Martin 28:36
sure we go now
Nestor Aparicio 28:37
to go on the way home. Oh, okay, it’s just beautiful. They don’t have this in Pittsburgh. They don’t have this in Cleveland, no, they don’t have this in Baltimore. I love Baltimore. You gotta go to the Eastern Shore. You got to see this state. Question for
John Martin 28:48
you, did you have the cake in Smith Island?
Nestor Aparicio 28:50
Yes, I did. I was in her kitchen and I made the cake. We made it. You don’t follow the Maryland crab cake tour close enough, John,
Seth Elkin 28:59
apparently not. I’ve seen that one? Yeah, see,
John Martin 29:02
I know you eat it. I didn’t realize it’s
Nestor Aparicio 29:04
funny because Randy’s supposed to PR for Wicomico Wooster. Give me the right County, but I think it’s Worcester, Chris field and Smith Island. I had a relationship during the first crab cake tour. I wanted to have a crab cake in every county. And I did really hard. Denton Kent County doesn’t have a whole lot going on. I always did the food truck over here in smithsburg, the carnival, which is smithsburg, Smith’s town, whatever. No, you’re gonna you’re gonna crush sharps. Sharps down. Sharpstown Fire Department has an oyster and crab thing. But I wanted to go to Chris field. I never been there. I wanted to go to Smith Island. And what happened was, the county took me on as a cause, much like they did John Wortham from 60 minutes, they took him over there. So we took a boat tender from Chris field over to Smith Island, and we got out and I went into her kitchen. And, you know, they had that funny act. Scent over there. They kind of sound a little bit like that from England, but a little bit from the south. And it’s a strange Yep, the Smith Island accent is unique to Smith Island, and there’s only 200 people to live there. I went to her kitchen, and we made all of the little pants because they were little. They’re little cakes. It’s like a dozen little, teeny cakes. So we had to make all these little pans. She stacked them all up. She made them in her kitchen. Yeah, it was phenomenal. You can go find this, Google me and Smith Island cake. It’ll show up. Good. You don’t like chocolate. I love chocolate, all right. Well, then Smith Island cake, but go to Black Forest, all right, black water. I said black forest, black water, thinking of black forest
John Martin 30:39
cake. Yeah, you’re on the cake. Give me the cherry cake business.
Nestor Aparicio 30:41
John Martin is here. He will never return. Seth Elkin will be here at some point in September. They will somehow not be here if the browns or the Steelers lose that following week, but if they win, we don’t play to Steelers. So like December. Who’s gonna be your quarterback? Then Terry Henry, who knows Mike Tom Zack, come on if I start giving you quarterback troubles. Spurgeon, win. Yeah. What are you down to? Number
Seth Elkin 31:07
five, number six. Now,
Nestor Aparicio 31:11
Lamar show up on Wednesday for you guys. Seth and John joined me every week here. It’s all part of our educational part of the Maryland lottery and gaming and and and making sure that we’re doing this responsibly. I will be responsibly handing out pressure looks as well as lucky sevens doublers. I love the sevens because it’s our 27th anniversary here at W, N, S, D, I’m eating good stuff. We’re down here at the beach at Mako. We’re gonna come back and continue some conversations. All been brought to you by friends of the Maryland lottery and the newly minted GBMC studios, I’m back for more right after this at Baltimore positive, you.
