ALBUQUERQUE – The New Mexico Lottery is very excited to announce that testing of a new pilot program has begun, which allows players who purchase gas with a debit card to make lottery purchases. A limited number of retailers are participating in the pilot program: 13 retailers with approximately 100 fuel pumps. Latitudes at 2401 NM Highway 528 in Rio Rancho and Murphy Express at 2730 Sunshine West Plaza Dr. in SW Albuquerque were the first fuel stations to offer Play at the Pump today. The remaining Murphy Express locations are expected to begin later this week. The pilot program uses software developed by technology company Linq3 to provide lottery players the opportunity to purchase Powerball® and Mega Millions® tickets at the pump when fueling up.
David Barden, NMLA CEO, said “The world is changing and lottery players have told us they want more convenient ways to buy our jackpot games. We want to see if there is a benefit to players through accessibility and how they will respond to this new opportunity.”
Lottery purchases are subject to limitations, including age verification. Other responsible play limitations include a weekly purchase limit of $75 and a daily spending limit of $20 per debit card. Additionally, the player must purchase fuel and can use only a debit card.
Wendy Ahlm, Director of Advertising and Marketing, stated “This is a tremendous benefit for both players and retailers, and this pilot program will help us determine the long-term feasibility of these types of sales initiatives in the future.”
Barden stated, “The bottom line is maximizing revenues for the lottery scholarship fund by increasing retailer sales so we can provide more dollars for scholarships.” In fact, in-store lottery sales have increased by over 4% in other states that have launched the program – in part due to jackpot advertising players see at the pump. Currently there are four other states selling lottery at the pump: California, North Carolina, Missouri and Pennsylvania.
Legislative Lottery Scholarships
The Lottery celebrated its 20-year anniversary on April 27. Since 1996, the New Mexico Lottery has raised $697 million for education and more than 100,000 students have attended college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships.
More information about Legislative Lottery Scholarships is available at www.nmlottery.com.