District Runs Out of Scratch-Off Lottery Tickets

The shortage has to do with a contract dispute in printing new scratch tickets

D.C. residents who play the lottery are having to cross state lines for a chance to win the big bucks. 

Popular scratch-off tickets are no longer on the shelves of vendors all over the city.

The District CFO announced Tuesday that the city is losing $15 million in lottery revenue because of a year-long contract dispute that prevented new scratch tickets from being printed.

That revenue loss is part of a greater $200 million potential budget debt addressed by the CFO in a new revenue letter. 

Vendors around the city are also losing money. 

"Our commission is 5 cents per ticket," said Dong Hun Han of King's Cafe. "We sell $1,000, [so] we lost $50 at least." 

Officials say new contracts should be signed soon and scratch-off tickets will be back on the shelves in early 2015. 

For D.C. residents, the tickets can't come back soon enough.

"We gotta get 'em back," said one truck driver. "We need 'em back."

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