Lottery Advises Against Giving Lottery Tickets to Minors

The New Jersey Lottery has launched its annual campaign that seeks to deter the gifting of lottery tickets to children.

"Tis the season to gift responsibly," the campaign says. "Lottery is not child's play."

Neva Pryor of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling says any form of gambling can potentially be addictive.

"First of all, it's illegal for anyone under 18 to participate in a lottery," she said. "The other thing is, we find that the younger a person participates in an addictive behavior, the more likelihood they're going to have one or later on in life."

The New Jersey Lottery points out that while state law requires that lottery ticket purchasers be at least 18 years of age, the law does not prohibit adults from giving tickets to minors.

Pryor says the New Jersey Lottery plays a key role here.

"They educate the sellers of the lottery tickets to not sell to minors and to let their people, the people that come in and buy, to not give them to children," she said.

She says the effort to keep lottery tickets away from kids also is an effort in other states.