The scratcher shortage is a self-inflicted wound that is only now beginning to heal. Created by a 2013 contract fiasco, it eventually cost the city $6 million in lost gambling revenue in fiscal 2014. And the fallout isn’t finished. Officials expect that the lottery’s contribution to the city coffers will be down $11 million in 2015, much of that because of the absence of scratch lottery tickets in the first half of the fiscal year that began in October.
On Thursday, the D.C. Lottery started to reintroduce the popular scratcher lottery tickets that had virtually disappeared from stores over the past 18 months. But the return is a gradual one. The 500 or so stores in the city that sell lottery tickets have received a shipment of $10 tickets, but it could be weeks or even months before a full range of tickets priced from $1 to $20 is available.
“I’m a gambler,” said Mario Cruz of the District, who on his way to work last week stopped at the D.C. Lottery outlet at Union Station to work to see whether scratchers were available. They weren’t.
