FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Marlene Meissner
Phone: 503-540-1016
Email: Marlene.Meissner@state.or.us

If you visit Oregon during the first two weeks of April, you just might see large groups of people furiously scratching Oregon Lottery® tickets, followed by exuberant shouts of victory! Each year in April, the ice scrapers come out as the Oregon Lottery’s Scratch-it^SM for Schools promotion goes on the road to cities around the state.

This promotion provides adult representatives for Oregon K-12 public schools the opportunity to scratch Oregon Lottery tickets in a timed event, with each school keeping all the prize money they uncover.

“K-12 public schools all around Oregon look forward to this event each year,” said Media/Promotions/Winner Awareness Supervisor Thais Rodick. “Since the Scratch-it for Schools program began in 1997, the Lottery has awarded over $1,000,000 in prizes to participating schools.”

“Public education is one of the major beneficiaries of Lottery proceeds,” added Thais, “and this promotion is another great way to help Oregon’s schools.”

Planning begins in the fall of each year, when the Lottery sends invitations to the administrators of all K-12 public schools in the state. It’s up to the school’s administration to decide if their school will participate and the schools are directed to a special Web site to enter the event. If a school chooses to enter, its name is placed in the drawing and 75 winning schools are selected from the entrants. Seven events are scheduled throughout the state so every school will find it convenient to participate.

Winning schools are each invited to bring a team of two adult representatives – teachers, parents, boosters, etc. - to participate in the event. No one under 18 years of age can scratch in the event and the Lottery takes steps to discourage children from attending the promotion.

To make it even more exciting, each school is paired with a media partner that also brings two representatives to scratch. According to Thais, the event is very popular with those participating from the media. “Our radio participants talk up this promotion to their listeners and invite them to come out to watch the event,” she added, and televisions stations proudly display their oversize checks to viewers as they share stories about their success.”

“The Lottery has always received a significant amount of media exposure from this event,” said Thais, “and we have received an excellent return on investment through the media coverage.” The estimated publicity value for the 2009 events was over $260,000.

One of the goals of Scratch-it for Schools events is to remind Oregonians that Lottery proceeds benefit their public schools. To maximize exposure to the public, the events are held in busy shopping malls or other public areas. There may be as many as 15 or more teams involved at the larger events or as few as three teams in rural areas of the state.

“Members of the public are always interested in learning more about the Lottery,” said Thais, “and this is an exciting event that provides a great opportunity for dialogue with those who stop by to watch the fun.”

As the teams arrive, they are seated at long tables that face the emcee’s platform. Each team of four is provided with a generous supply of special Scratch-itSM promotional tickets that are printed just for this event. The tickets are similar to an actual game with a comparable prize structure, play style, and odds. Each team also receive four large ice scrapers - the only tools that can be used to scratch tickets. There is a one-minute warm-up period to allow scratchers to become comfortable with the process.

While there are some new participants every year, there are also some veteran scratchers who believe they have mastered the art of quickly removing latex from the tickets. You might hear them giving advice on positioning the ice scraper, handling the strips of tickets, or coping with a wrist that cramps up mid-way while there is still lots of time remaining to scratch.

Once the buzzer sounds to start the competition, each team has six minutes to scratch as many tickets as possible. A Lottery staff member assists each team by feeding tickets, cleaning latex from the ice scrapers, and cheering on the scratchers. In order to count toward the final prize amount, each ticket must be scratched clean enough to determine if it is a winner.

After six hectic minutes of scratching, the final step is finding and counting the winners. Lottery staff members help the teams find the winning tickets and add up the total prize amounts. When all the winnings amounts are tallied, the event emcee invites each team to the stage and presents them with an oversized check representing their winnings.

When it’s all over, each school keeps all the money they uncover. Most schools win $1,000-$1,500, although some are lucky and uncover a large prize and win $2,000 or more. Schools have used these extra funds for digital cameras, books, field trips, assembly programs, playground equipment, computer hardware and software, and many other things.

Sherry Patterson, Administrative Assistant to the Marcom Manager, has participated in Scratch-it for Schools events every year since it began. In additional to working at the event, Sherry makes staff travel arrangements and handles expense reports.

“I really enjoy working with the school teams,” said Sherry. “It’s great fun to watch them get more and more excited as we count the tickets and they find out how much money they have won.”

While you can find some sore arms and wrists for a day or so after the event, everyone agrees that Scratch-it For Schools is definitely worth the effort.

“Our schools always tell us that they can’t wait for next year’s event,” said Thais, “and it’s also a favorite of our staff as well.”

For more information, visit http://www.scratchitforschools.org/



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