The West Virginia Lottery will soon start selling instant scratch-off tickets up to $20. That means a bigger payout if you win.
Up until now, state law only allowed the sale of tickets of up to $5. There were exceptions like the West Virginia Lottery 25th anniversary ticket a couple years ago.
Lawmakers passed legislation this past session that increases the maximum limit from $5 to $20. West Virginia Lottery marketing director Nikki Orcutt called it a revenue generator.
“It will provide us with incremental sales growth, which will ultimately return more money to the state,” said Orcutt.
Lottery officials said they have been hearing from customers who wanted to play bigger tickets like ones sold in Virginia and Maryland for several years. With the change, starting July 1, the lottery can offer scratch-off tickets up to $20 with bigger payouts.
“We’re excited that it will also be another opportunity for us to offer tickets with top prizes in excess of $100,000, which is currently where we are right now.”
Those jackpots could go as high as $250,000 depending on the demand for the tickets.
Orcutt said the lottery will roll out the $20 tickets at a pace of about one every six months, as officials don’t want to saturate the market. The key, she said, is to keep players purchasing the $2 and $5 tickets along with a $20 ticket.