Lottery machines to sell, cash tix at Wawas
The gambling guv is in town to announce "a new partnership between two longtime Pennsylvania institutions."
![The Wawa lottery machine, at right, dishes out vouchers instead of cash when a ticket is redeemed or the player wants change. The vouchers can be spent on items or redeemed at the register. (Peter Mucha / Staff)](https://www.inquirer.com/resizer/HKa7zMvzycfsSG5e6x2v_b-FyVk=/760x507/smart/filters:format(webp)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/IRITXXCGWRHFJCBEEN5I5QGFK4.jpg)
The gambling guv is in town to announce "a new partnership between two longtime Pennsylvania institutions."
Those institutions: Wawa and the state lottery.
The official announcement with Gov. Rendell, who championed casinos around the state, takes place at 3:30 p.m. at the Wawa at 11th and Arch Streets.
But the plan - to roll out lottery vending machines at Wawas across the state - has been in the works since spring.
Under a pilot program, 40 Wawas have been testing new machines, which dispense tickets for both instant and numbers games, including both Powerball and Mega Millions.
A player puts in cash - $1 to $20 bills, no credit cards - and selects games, any numbers and dollar amounts, then gets any change in the form of a voucher that can be used as cash at the register.
The machine can also scan tickets, and turn smaller winners into vouchers as well.
It's the voucher part - as well as Wawa being a source for tickets - that's new, not the idea of lottery machines.
Players can also fill out cards with their numbers to play jackpot games.
Other new wrinkles - as well as more details - might emerge from the afternoon news conference.
"We were actually the first state in the country to introduce the self-service terminals, back in 2004," said Pennsylvania Lottery spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell.
The kiosk program is expected to expand to at least 80 Wawas, and possibly Rite-Aid stores as well, said state lottery spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis.
"We began to test and pilot the program back in May," said Wawa spokeswoman Lori Bruce.
New Jersey has self-service machines as well, but only for instant tickets. Wawas in the Garden State don't sell lottery tickets yet, said state lottery spokeswoman Mary Ann Rivell.