Photo By BOB ROCHE
Steve Tansey, left, holds up the holiday lottery ticket he bought from Barry Nardune at Cal’s News Store in Lynn.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — ’Tis the season to test your luck with the Mass State Lottery.
Barry Calvani of Cal’s News Store on Central Street said many of his customers have been buying more tickets than usual during the holidays.
“Over the last few days we’ve been selling a lot of $30 tickets,” Calvani said.
“The holiday season is one of our biggest selling periods of the year,” said Christian Teja, spokesperson for Mass Lottery. “We could see up to a 20 percent increase in sales compared to an average week.
“For instant ticket sales, the past two weeks have been the biggest sale weeks of the year,” he said.
“We’re hopeful that this week will be another very productive sales week,” he said. “Instant ticket sales, scratch ticket sales, are our biggest sellers.”
Some of the most popular lottery sales, Calvani said, are the $10, $5, $2, and $1 holiday theme tickets ,as well as the seasonal tickets.
Lynn resident Francisco Manci, who said he doesn’t buy tickets very often, chose to invest in a $10 ticket at Cal’s last Thursday.
“I don’t (buy them) too often,” he said. “I had a feeling about getting one, so I had to get one.”
“There used to be a ticket a couple years ago with a Christmas tree on it,” he said. “I kept winning on it and my friend kept winning on it. I won a couple of hundred dollars on it ,but my friend won a couple of grand.
Hopefully this (ticket) replaces that one for me,” Manci said.
“Every year the lottery introduces a set of holiday themed instant tickets,” Teja said. “This year we have a family of Holiday Bonus tickets available at four different price points.”
The Holiday Bonus ticket was also a popular choice at Cal’s Thursday.
“These are going to be stocking stuffers for my wife,” said Steve Tansey ,of Lynn ,who bought two of the $10 Holiday Bonus tickets and one $30 Supreme Millions ticket.
“I’m going for the big bucks,” he said. “There’s nothing on the ones or twos ,so I don’t play with them.”
“Also a hit this holiday season are the $2 Frost Cashword Instant Game tickets.
They have proven to be very popular,” Teja said.
“This time of year lottery tickets do make great gifts for a variety of reasons,” Teja said. “They’re one size fits all, no-one is going to return them unless of course they are a winner.
“People enjoy giving them and they enjoy receiving them,” he said.
For those going in for the big kill, the estimated Powerball payoff is $300 million, with the next drawing Wednesday. For Megamillions, with a drawing Tuesday, it’s $117 million. The Megabucks doubler, which will be drawn Wednesday, the estimated payoff is $8,100,000.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]
